Recognizing Sherri Beatty as a SHE RECOVERS Gem SHE RECOVERS® Foundation Volunteer Recognition “SHE RECOVERS put me on the road to recovery by introducing to me the most important part of recovery, connection!” – Sherri Beatty, SHE RECOVERS Volunteer...
Recognizing Nicole Pinky Patterson as a SHE RECOVERS Gem SHE RECOVERS® Foundation Volunteer Recognition “Being a SHE RECOVERS Foundation Volunteer means that I have an amazing platform in which to be a voice for recovering women. It means that all the pain I...
Recognizing Jen Olmos as a SHE RECOVERS Gem SHE RECOVERS® Foundation Volunteer Recognition “I was so isolated in my addiction. I am living proof of what a welcoming and supportive community for women like me can do. Being a volunteer in this community is the...
73 ways to celebrate and create connection with yourself ( body, mind, emotions & spirit!) “Recovery is a journey to wholeness. We learn to take care of our body, mind, and spirit.” ~ SHE RECOVERS Foundation, Intention & Guiding Principle ~ In celebration of...
Mending Hearts: Healing From Addictive & Exploitative Relationships | Mental Health Monday With Marissa Boyce Monday, December 6 @ 11:00 am PST Mending Hearts: Healing From Addictive & Exploitative Relationships With Marissa Boyce During this session of...
Entrepreneurs Igniting Change Through Recovery | Mental Health Monday With Elora Kindred & Emily Lynn Paulson Originally Aired on Monday, November 29 @ 11:00 am PST Entrepreneurs Igniting Change Through Recovery With Elora Kindred & Emily Lynn Paulson...
Overdose Awareness Day 2021 | SHE RECOVERS Community Stories By Kelly Fitzgerald Junco | SHE RECOVERS® Foundation On this overdose awareness day we honor those who have been impacted by overdose. We thank the members of the SHE RECOVERS Community for courageously...
From Shaky in Sobriety to Rooted in Recovery : Celebrating One Year of SHE RECOVERS Together Online By Kaitlin Walker Before SHE RECOVERS I had been on my recovery journey for a few years but felt really shaky in my sobriety. ~ Kailtin Walker ~ In 2017 I sent an email...
Giving Thanks for Recovery Community Stories of Hope & Healing | SHE RECOVERS® Foundation Since becoming a part of the SHE RECOVERS community my life has significantly improved. I attend as many retreats and SHE RECOVERS Together Online Gatherings that I can....
Recovery is a Gift Community Stories of Hope & Healing | SHE RECOVERS® Foundation It is my greatest wish that other women still suffering may find this [ SHE RECOVERS® ] movement and have access to all that is offered. ~ Jessica Foody | SHE RECOVERS® Coach...
First of all – and this is an important point – I am one of you. For the past thirty years I’ve attended and been involved with a twelve-step recovery program for people who struggle with addiction. I’ve probably attended thousands of meetings, done years’ worth of...
You can listen to this blog here: This story has a happy ending. I need to tell you that here at the top of the page, because things will happen in the paragraphs below that will make you doubt the ending. I don’t care for tension, so I am taking it out here for both...
My 200-year present I recently heard a theory about how we each live in a 200-year span of history. You mark the beginning of your span, your “200-year present,” by thinking of the oldest person who could have held you as a baby (my great grandmother, born in 1900)....
My sons are 12 and 14, and they are fully and completely their ages. This means they are constantly engaged in testing both their limits and mine. A few weeks ago, report cards came home. Things escalated quickly and I could feel my 12-year-old digging his heels into...
“To succeed, most people need a community of support.” – Cheryl Strayed Many of us are working on our recovery alone or piecing it together from various programs, therapies and online resources. These tools are powerful, but they do not replace the need for actual...
It’s Day Six of 2018. Is your resolve shaky? Are you rethinking your decision to change? To stay sober, stay sane, stay steady on your new course? Are you starting to give into the voice that says: “Maybe it wasn’t that bad. Maybe I can stay the same.” I get it. I...
The truth pattern of recovery: Clarity. Rock Bottom. Acceptance. Gratitude. Lately I have developed a healthy fear of answers. Answers seem to have too much rigidity around them. Black and White. You’re Wrong, I’m Right. Answers tend to turn ugly, quickly. I much...
“Relationships change.” My father-in-law’s new wife gifted me with this life truth a few months after she married into our family. I had just honestly and gently shared with her that my husband, her new son-in-law, and his brothers were feeling abandoned by their...
The post below, originally published at The Fix, was written by Rebecca Rush who attended a She Recovers retreat in Bali earlier this year. (This fantastic picture is a favorite from that trip!) “I knew something needed to change in my life and originally signed up...
Please help us welcome Erin W. who will be writing for and managing our She Recovers blog. She is amazing. Read on and see for yourself. ~Dawn~ The Reasons It started with Baby #1. I like a routine; a schedule. And I read that babies do, too. So every night at...
Guest Blog Post by Lucy Rocca Exactly six years ago, I drank my last alcoholic drink. It was a bottle of strong cider (I didn’t even like cider but had found it lurking in my fridge), and I consumed it on top of the three bottles of wine that I’d been working my way...
GUEST POST BY CAROLINE BLACK Most of us recovering from addiction are open to the idea of accessing extra help. Regardless of whether we need constant or occasional help, having access to innovative resources and tools can only be a good thing. If you need help...
Relapse is common in early recovery from drug or alcohol abuse. Many long-term alcoholics and drug addicts fail the first time they attempt to quit. This is because the intense cravings experienced by substance abusers are actually due to changes in brain chemistry....
I felt the crack split slowly beneath my feet as it gave way and I plunged into the deep freezing water. Grab my camera! I shouted as the weight of my wool coat got heavy and my body began to sink into the lake. I looked up at my friend Rae standing just a few feet...
Years ago when I heard people got massages, or went to meditation, or took a “me” day I would scoff. How do they have time or money to do that? Seems like a complete waste of time to me. No one takes bubble baths in their 20s. Sure a massage might be nice, but it’s a...
No matter how far down the road to recovery I go, I find myself from time to time, in a hole. Or, I notice that I am acting out in behaviors that are unhelpful to me. When these things become apparent to me I nearly always discover it’s because my balance is...
We don’t break habits; we replace behaviours. This truth is at the heart of everything I have done since getting sober. From the moment my drinking life finally came crashing down around me, I have gone about the business of creating an entirely different...
Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. Just writing that blows my mind. About 27 years ago I walked into a marathon meeting at a 12 step convention being held for recovering addicts in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) and a male voice from the corner of the room said...
Unless you have personally witnessed a loved one suffer from alcoholism, it’s very difficult to identify the characteristics of an alcoholic. If I was to ask you to identify the female alcoholic in a lineup of 10 people, it would be impossible. Alcoholics come in all...
I’m going to tell you a story that, in all the years I’ve been writing about addiction and recovery, I’ve never published anywhere. It’s the backstory to my new book, Sex in Recovery. Two or three years into sobriety, it became impossible for me to take my clothes...
Shelly Dimitrijevic’s professional and philanthropic activities have always focused on improving the lives of others. She began her nursing career at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis and went on to become a LifeFlight nurse specializing in neonatal, pediatric, and cardiovascular intensive care.
Shelly has been involved with numerous charities focusing on children and education including the Charlee and the Chocolate Factory gala, The Venus Orbit, Design For A Cure, Jackson Memorial, and Impact Oasis. In 2010 she founded the Lotus program, a program that focused on educating parents on the nutritional needs of children and basic child development. Shelly also served on the Frost Science Museum gala committee for 7 years before Co-Chairing the event in 2015.
After a diagnosis of Celiac disease and subsequently receiving Certification as a Nutritional Consultant, Shelly recognized that topically applied products have an effect on her Celiac Disease and overall health. She turned her focus to developing skincare that was free of toxic and hormone-disrupting ingredients.
Since she lost her only sibling in 2012 Shelly has been determined to find a way to contribute to the recovery community in a way that can make a great impact and ensure that others have the resources necessary when they are struggling.
Shelly's substantial contributions to SHE RECOVERS of both time and resources have been instrumental and deeply appreciated.
As a result of being introduced to SHE RECOVERS through retreats and meet-ups, Kirsten will be starting her yoga teacher training in the fall. These retreats also led her to become more deeply involved with SHE RECOVERS in a volunteer capacity. Kirsten was instrumental in setting up some of the Foundation's grassroots groups and currently volunteers her time helping SHE RECOVERS Foundation to design and implement the Volunteer Chapter Network.
Kirsten and her husband recently moved from Southern California to Roswell, Georgia to be closer to Kirsten's sister and two young nieces. When she isn't spending time being an aunt, you can find Kirsten hanging out with their rescue Labrador or exploring their new state.
Mary Beth is a founding member of SHE RECOVERS Support for Legal Professionals and is active at the local level with SHE RECOVERS in the Bay Area. Mary Beth has been living a sober life in recovery for over 26 years. She also has a history of trauma and abuse, from which she’s worked hard to recover as well. 6 years into her recovery, Mary Beth attended Berkeley Law. She worked at a large firm in Silicon Valley, then litigated class actions for the federal government. In 2014 Mary Beth was appointed an Administrative Law Judge. She recently retired, so she could devote her time to completing her writing and being more active in the recovery community.
She regularly speaks on behalf of LifeRing and develops relationships with organizations supportive of the multiple pathways approach. In August 2020, Mary Beth had an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, I Beat Addiction without God, where she described building a personal recovery plan by combining ideas from LifeRing, Women for Sobriety, and Narcotics Anonymous. In November 2020 she had an op-ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, I was a federal judge, and I support Safehouse. Here’s why. She is currently working on a full-length memoir.
Taryn Strong is a founder of SHE RECOVERS® Foundation as well as a trauma-informed yoga instructor, recovery coach, aromatherapist, and herbalist (and daughter to Mama Dawn). Taryn has developed a unique yoga retreat program and led over 40 yoga for recovery retreats since 2012. She is also the host of the SHE RECOVERS Podcast and most recently created and taught the inaugural trauma-informed SHE RECOVERS Yoga Teacher Training Program. Operating from a trauma-informed lens and a firm believer in anti-oppressive practices, Taryn brings an empathic and invitational approach to healing - empowering women to find and follow individualized pathways and patchworks of recovery.
Taryn's courageous vulnerability and passion for recovering out-loud has made her an influential voice in the global recovery movement - smashing the stigma often associated with substance use and mental health issues. Taryn creates and lives with her beloved and two dogs within the ancestral and unceded traditional territory of the Hul’qumi’num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples (Saltspring Island).
Susan is an architect of hope and healing with over 30 years of experience in providing executive-level leadership to heart-centered teams in the non-profit realm. Since joining SHE RECOVERS® Foundation as Executive Director in April 2020, Susan continues to weave her experience with her passion to help other women receive what she has been so graciously given – long-term recovery from substance use disorder, body image issues, codependency, perfectionism, and moral injury.
Susan’s work in the treatment industry quickly revealed how stigma kept women struggling with mental health issues and addiction from seeking help, and the lack of resources available to them once they did. Having served as a founding employee of Susan G. Komen for the Cure for 20 years, playing an integral role in creating the global grassroots movement that changed the way breast cancer is talked about and treated, she felt called to utilize that experience to do the same for women struggling with mental health and substance use disorders.
Celebrating more than 27 years of continuous sobriety, Susan is a Certified Peer Support Worker (CPSW) in the state of New Mexico to provide resources and peer support to those in or seeking recovery. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her fur family of four, Alex, Chaco, Bodhi, and Gracie.
Dawn Nickel, Founder of SHE RECOVERS® Foundation, is a thought leader in the women's recovery sphere as well as an accomplished leader, dedicated researcher, and visionary in the recovery moment. She holds a Ph.D. in health care policy with extensive experience in researching and writing about women experiencing substance use disorders, mental health challenges, and intimate partner violence. Dawn started her own journey of recovery from a substance use disorder and domestic violence in 1987. She is also in recovery from anxiety, grief, trauma, overworking, and cancer. Dawn's tell-it-like-it-is wisdom has created a ripple effect where you will often hear her quotes "the shit you did is just the shit you did - it's not who you are" and "recovering from all the things" resonating throughout many recovery realms.
Currently working on her first book, Dawn is living proof that in a world where all women in or seeking recovery are celebrated, supported, and deemed essential to healthy communities - anything is possible. She is fondly referred to as Mama Dawn in the SHE RECOVERS Community and to her daughters Taryn and Ashley. Dawn lives, works, and plays with her beloved grandchildren on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen speaking peoples on Vancouver Island.
Nika is just one of more than 325,000 women in the She Recovers Community.
“Alcohol is what brought me into recovery but for me, it didn't tell the full story. That is why I love SHE RECOVERS so much. We don't just talk about our demons and the drugs and the alcohol, we talk about the real issues that led us to using those things in the first place.”— Nika
When she was ready to deal with her past traumas and what drove her to drink, SHE RECOVERS was there. Sadly an estimated 34 million women are suffering from mental health/substance use disorders.