Qualitative data were collected over a 6-month period of intensive interviews with 35 professional counselors who were former deviants and who worked in diverse occupations prior to becoming substance abuse counselors. The individuals exited deviant lifestyles but did not put their deviance behind them in exchange for conventional lifestyles, values, beliefs, and identities. Rather, they used vestiges of their deviant past as an explicit occupational strategy. The process of exiting from deviant lifestyles involved four stages: (1) emulation of one's therapist; (2) call to a counseling career; (3) identity realignment with respect to both recovery and career; and (4) credentialization. 45 references and 4 notes