My Story...
There was a time when I believed I had lost myself.
My journey through addiction and into recovery wasn’t just about putting down drugs and alcohol. It became a path of healing from unhealthy relationship patterns, an abusive marriage and painful divorce, family wounds, and the lingering effects of trauma that had shaped the way I moved through the world. Recovery taught me far more than sobriety—it taught me how to live. The darkness became an unexpected teacher, showing me courage, humility, connection, and the kind of freedom that can only come from walking honestly through what hurts. I didn’t find my way alone. It took a village of people who believed in me until I could believe in myself.
Over time, I realized that the lessons I learned in recovery aren’t just for addiction. They’re the same lessons that carry us through grief, heartbreak, trauma, burnout, career changes, identity shifts, and every season that asks us to let go of who we’ve been so we can become more fully ourselves. Recovery didn’t give me a new life—it gave me a new way of living. It taught me how to embrace a life that is bigger, richer, and more beautiful than I ever imagined possible.
I’ve also lived many different lives. I’ve earned a BFA in Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder, spent a year studying at the Laban Conservatoire in London, taught movement and creative expression through nonprofit work in schools, prisons, nursing homes, and communities across the country, become a certified yoga teacher, a CPFS-certified peer coach, and trained in Brainspotting. Each chapter has shaped the way I hold space for others and deepened my belief that healing is both an art and a practice.
When I look at a childhood photo of myself—with wild curls, bright eyes, and a spirit that hadn’t yet learned to shrink—I don’t see someone I’ve left behind. I see someone I’ve been finding my way back to.
I don’t believe healing is about becoming someone new. I believe it’s about remembering the wild, awake person who has been there all along.
