Community Member

IMPACT STATEMENT SUBMISSION FORM

If SHE RECOVERS’ programs, events, recovery touch-points, and/or the community as a whole have made positive impact in your life, we invite you to create an impact statement so we may inspire and empower other women in or seeking recovery. Whether you include your full name or wish to remain anonymous, your words may be the reason another women finds hope and healing from substance use and/or mental health issues.

SUBMIT WRITTEN STATEMENT

SUBMIT VIDEO STATEMENT

Your voice matters

and we want to empower you to share your experience in your own words.

Need a little spark of inspiration to get the words flowing?

Consider the following:

What does SHE RECOVERS® Foundation mean to you?
How has the community helped you?
What has been most impactful?
What connections, transformation, or growth have you experienced as a result of being part of this community?
What is one thing you wish other women in or seeking recovery knew about SHE RECOVERS Foundation?

Group of diverse women looking at their laptops

Need a little more to get the creative fire going?

Here’s what other women have to say:

After a terrible relapse five years ago, I was desperate to find a community I could relate to, be inspired by, and feel safe in. When I discovered SHE RECOVERS I immediately felt like I had “come home”.

Frightened and alone, I tried to hurt myself. I wanted to feel something – anything. I found safety in SHE RECOVERS® – women who saw me when I couldn’t see myself.

There is something powerful about a community of women coming together, online from wherever they may be, to support each other in the common goal of recovery. I love the practical advice, and the creative alternatives to meetings like dance and yoga. I feel supported, encouraged, and safe here.

Connectedness is one of the most powerful things I get from SHE RECOVERS. It is true we are stronger together.

If you wish to contribute a longer form ‘Community Story of Hope & Healing’ blog post please reach out to Community Engagement Specialist Lisa Wall with ‘I would love to share my impact story’ in the subject line.

Submission Form

If you wish to contribute a written impact statement, please complete the form below. Brevity is powerful so we encourage you to keep your submission to a maximum of 50 words. For questions, contact us.

If you are comfortable recovering out-loud please consider creating a video of your impact statement here.

Name*
First Last
Email*
Impact Statement:*
Privacy
Please keep my submission anonymous.
Consent*
I hereby grant permission to SHE RECOVERS Foundation, the rights of my submission.
I understand that text may be edited, copied, exhibited, published or distributed and waive the right to inspect or approve the finished product. I also understand that this material may be used in diverse educational settings within an unrestricted geographic area. I understand that SHE RECOVERS Foundation has the right to use the text for any use. I acknowledge that my submission will not be given to any third parties outside of SHE RECOVERS.
Comments
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SUBMIT A VIDEO

If you are comfortable recovering out-loud please create a video of your impact statement through our video submission form.

VIDEO SUBMISSION FORM

TIPS FOR RECORDING:

In order to make an impactful video, please:

Record yourself in landscape mode
Ensure you have good quality audio inputs ( i.e. through a dedicated microphone, headphones, or speakerphone with little background noise)
Play your video back to review audio and video quality
Remember…done is always better than perfect!
Brevity is powerful so we encourage you to keep your submission to a maximum of 60 seconds.

YOUR VOICE MATTERS

And we want to empower you to share your experience in your own words.

Please do include one of the following statements in your video:

“This is our movement. This is our cause.”
“SHE RECOVERS Supports”
“You don’t have to recover alone.”

What’s Next?

We will review your IMPACT STATEMENT submission and use it for advocacy purposes on our respective platforms (including but not limited to: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, and Sherecovers.org).

Thank you

As a public charity we rely on donations from individuals, companies and foundations to fund all of the great work we do. The best way to inspire those outside of the community to support us is through YOUR voice. We thank you for taking the time to share your impact statement so we may reach all who wish to support our efforts and all women who may benefit from a community like ours. We are truly stronger together!

Shelly Dimitrijevic

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.

Kirsten Newquist

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 O'Connor

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

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 Carter

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

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.

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