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, BA, JD

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
she / her

In addition to being a board member, 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 since 1994. She has a history of trauma and abuse, from which she’s worked hard to recover as well. Six 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, from which she retired in 2020.

Mary Beth’s award-winning memoir, From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction, was published in 2023. She also writes opinion pieces, such as I Beat Addiction without God for the Wall Street Journal and I was a federal judge, and I support Safehouse. Here’s why for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Mary Beth advocates about multiple topics related to trauma, substance use disorder, and recovery. She has appeared on television, radio, and podcasts; speaks at conferences and other events; and trains judges, attorneys, and medical professionals.

Taryn Strong, RYT, CPRC

FOUNDER AND BOARD VICE-CHAIR
she / her

Taryn Strong is co-founder of the SHE RECOVERS® Foundation and a Certified Recovery Coach, Somatic Coach, and Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher. Her work is grounded in the belief that healing must include the body.

Through somatic practices, Taryn supports others in reconnecting with their bodies, releasing patterns shaped by trauma and survival, and expanding their capacity to feel embodied, present, and alive. This approach is deeply personal, rooted in her own recovery and reconnection after years of disconnection.

She is also a Certified Aromatherapist, AromaPsychologist, Botanical Perfumer, and Community Herbalist, with a deep respect for the emotional and psychological power of scent.

Teaching yoga since 2007, Taryn has hosted over 60 women’s recovery retreats, presented internationally, and co-taught with leading voices in the field of behavioral health. She currently leads the SHE RECOVERS Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor Certification, SHE RECOVERS Embodiment Studio, and SHE RECOVERS Podcast.

Susan Carter

CEO
she / her

I am recovering from:
Alcohol use disorder, codependency, disordered eating.

The Identity-based group I belong to:
Chronic pain & auto-immune disorder, healthcare & allied professionals.

My personal definition of recovery:
My personal definition of recovery is the continual process of expanding my awareness to grow spiritually, mentally, and physically enhancing my life-long journey to wholeness.

What led me to SHE RECOVERS:
A desire to give back what I have been so graciously given that has led to an amazing life of sustained recovery and spiritual growth. I truly believe that every moment in my life has led me here. One of my favorite stories to share is how I came to find SHE RECOVERS – or rather, how they found me. In short, it involves a spark of curiosity over coffee and a remarkable moment at a SHE RECOVERS Conference that changed the trajectory of my life both professionally and spiritually. You can hear all about it here.

Why I love being a part of this team:
It brings me immense joy to work alongside such smart, passionate and committed colleagues and volunteers. I learn so much from them. Not a day goes by where I am not deeply inspired by this team and community.

Those that know me best might describe me as:
Tenacious, resourceful, and loving.

How these qualities show up in my everyday life:
Love is the foundation for all my thoughts and actions, I am resourceful when confronted with a challenge, and I am tenacious like a “dog with a bone” – I’ll never stop chasing the dream.

Something unique you may not already know about me:
I have four kidneys and a double bladder. I have vitiligo, an auto-immune disease that destroys or suppresses pigment producing cells on the skin.

Something I am most proud of is…
Launching a global nonprofit for women in or seeking recovery from all things.

Radical self-care look for me looks like:
Being mindful of ease and learning to pause. And, pampering myself with modalities that foster a healthy body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and service to others.

What I wanted to be when I grew up:
An artist.

Something that is inspiring me right now:
Supporting people to find, create, and nurture a relationship with the God / Creator / Higher Power of their understanding.

The SHE RECOVERS Intention & Guiding Principle resonating the most with me right now is…
Connection is our sole (soul) purpose. We’re stronger together.

My favorite SHE RECOVERS resource is…
The SHE RECOVERS Together Online Group where connection, support, and empowerment is available 24 / 7.

SRF Blogs I’ve authored:
sherecovers.org/a-peek-behind-the-curtain/

Dawn Nickel, PhD, CPRC, SRCD

ACTING CEO, CO-FOUNDER & BOARD CHAIR

she / her

I am recovering from:
Substance use, trauma including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, codependency, anxiety, and workaholism.

The identity-based group(s) I am a part of:
Healthcare & allied professional, cancer survivor, mature woman.

My personal definition of recovery:
It changes often, but these days my definition of recovery is simply that recovery is a lifelong journey of healing. I think that not having a solid, static definition is a good thing. It opens the door to empower us all to create individualized and diverse definitions for our own recovery, and it’s a reminder that recovery differs across populations, cultures, and settings.

What led me to SHE RECOVERS:
Taryn and I talk about SHE RECOVERS being our ‘accidental movement.’ So not sure what led me here other than a true desire to create a connective, supportive, and empowering space for women to think / talk about and experience recovery.

Why I love being a part of this team:
I want to leave behind a legacy of hope for women in or seeking recovery.

Those that know me best might describe me as:
Grateful, curious, and a survivor.

How these qualities show up in my everyday life:
I believe that I pass recovery on to express my gratitude, and I call upon my curiosity to figure out what else I can do to support women in recovery. Oh, and I have survived a few near death experiences including surviving cancer.

Something unique you may not already know about me:
I really dislike cilantro.

Something I am most proud of:
My daughters, more than anything.

Radical self-care look for me looks like:
Rest, hanging with other women in recovery, walking in fresh air, reading novels, long hot baths, and sweet, milky tea.

What I wanted to be when I grew up:
An actress.

Something that is inspiring me right now:
The women working or volunteering to help grow SRF.

The SHE RECOVERS Intention & Guiding Principle resonating the most with me right now is…
We are all recovering from something. It all started there!

My favorite SHE RECOVERS resource is…
Definitely the SHE RECOVERS Together Online Gatherings – they are such an amazing display of everything that we are about. Volunteerism and support, vulnerability, celebration, and information.

A few of the SRF Blogs I’ve authored:
https://sherecovers.org/recovering-from-intimate-partner-violence/
https://sherecovers.org/dear-women-in-twelve-step-programs/
https://sherecovers.org/we-are-all-recovering-from-something/
https://sherecovers.org/when-your-mother-dies/
https://sherecovers.org/do-you-know-what-workaholism-looks-like/

Thinking about becoming a recovery coach?

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN.

At SHE RECOVERS®, we recognize that recovery exists on both a spectrum and a continuum — and as we continue to redefine what recovery looks like, we’re guided by the research. Studies show that getting support from those with lived experience, qualified training, and adherence to professional ethics, not only builds recovery capital, but it also improves outcomes and increases the likelihood of long-term success.

Thinking about becoming a recovery coach?

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Meet Our Training Partners

If you feel called to support others in this way, finding the right training can be overwhelming. To make your search easier SHE RECOVERS has partnered with some of the best trainers in the industry.

Our partners provide comprehensive and evidence-based training programs that are in alignment with the SHE RECOVERS Intentions & Guiding Principles. They meet our requirements for holistic programming and individualized, trauma-informed approaches to care.

These trainers have been in the business of providing high quality programs for years. Each of their programs listed below offer different credentials, delivery methods, training styles, time commitments, prices and payment options. The programs listed below are pre-qualified routes to earn the SHE RECOVERS Peer Support Specialist Designation (SRPSS) or the SHE RECOVERS Coach Designation (SRCD).

All our partners are independent entities that align with our values and provide financial support to our organization through purchases made through this site. Even if you choose to initiate training with one of our partners now and plan to add on the SRCD at a later date, please use the links below to support our mission.

Coach Training

Recovery coaches are essential to a recovery-oriented system of care. Through a trauma-informed, person-centered, and strengths-based approach, they meet women exactly where they are — often using their own lived experience to build trust, foster connection, and guide healing. By linking recovering women to the resources, support, and communities they need to thrive, coaches become powerful agents of change. By learning the skills needed for effective motivational interviewing, goal setting, and accountability, they encourage clients to go beyond what they thought they were capable of.

Holistic Coach Training Institute

The vision of Holistic Coach Training Institute is to contribute to the global empowerment of Coaches and Coachees to realize and actualize their full potential in all areas of their lives, encompassing the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels, through the power of Holistic Coaching.

The mission of Holistic Coach Training Institute is to train and empower conscious professionals to become informed and embodied Holistic Coaches who empower others to realize and actualize their full potential in all areas of their life encompassing the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels.

In the Holistic Coach Certification Program, you’ll learn how to foster heart-centered relationships that help coach and client access greater presence and intuition so that they can overcome perceived limitations to realize and actualize their full potential in all areas of life while being supported with awareness, action steps, planning, and accountability.

“Holistic Coach Training Institute sees you as whole, complete and resourceful right here, right now and believe you are fully capable of coming up with your own creative solutions while being supported by the coaching partnership. We experience you as the authority in your own life and enjoy collaborating in a co-creative process that supports you in honing the beliefs, values and strengths that enhance your potential both personally and professionally.”

The Certified Holistic Coach (CHC) program is a comprehensive 6-month coach-specific certification program that sets you up to become an ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentialed Coach.
Develop professional-level coaching skills through studying training materials, working with peer practice partners, and attending live online classes.
60 hours of coach specific-training plus 10 additional hours of mentorship coaching.

Learn more: Holistic Coach Program

Still Here Recovery Coaching

Still Here Recovery Coaching’s sole aim is to train the best recovery coaches in Canada and everything they do is in service of that goal. With their in-person coach training, mentorship program and ethical considerations courses, they offer everything you need to become a master recovery coach.

Still Here has created this suite of trainings that, with the addition of the SHE RECOVERS Designation, will equip Canadian recovery coaches with all the skills and tools they need to become an integral part of a client’s recovery pathway.

This training suite includes:

Still Here Recovery Coach Training
This program is an intensive, in-person coach training that develops helpful effective attitudes, knowledge, and skills to guide, mentor, and support people along their chosen pathway of recovery. This five-day, forty-hour course has been modeled on the internationally recognized curriculum built by CCAR in the US andis recognized as the best available in Canada. Modules include:
• Design thinking to build empathy
• Motivational interviewing skills practice
• Mindfulness of listening, developing your purpose
• Trauma-informed practice and boundaries

Mentorship program
Beyond the initial training, this groundbreaking twenty-hour live and online program fosters the development of the coaching competencies and motivational interviewing skills required for coaches to offer a highly refined practice. Some examples of the skills participants will develop and practice over the twenty weeks are how to:
• Establish empathy
• Treat people as resourceful
• Identify cognitive dissonance
• Create generative moments
• Manage personal emotions

Ethical Considerations
There will be an opportunity for participants to think about their own values while exploring methods for making difficult decisions that naturally lie within the gray areas. They will also have the chance to study other codes of ethics and craft their own. This fourteen-hour course is held live online over two days with an additional two hours of pre-and post-work for a total of sixteen hours.
• Please visit Still Here’s website for the list of upcoming training dates

Learn more: Still Here Program

Peer Support Specialist Training

Peer support workers engage in a wide range of activities to become trusted and integral part of an individual’s recovery. The skills they bring include client advocacy, linkage to resources, sharing of experience, community and relationship building, group facilitation, mentoring, goal setting, and so much more. In the last 10 years the field has grown exponentially and qualified training, board certification and accreditation oversight has become the norm in most places.

We have partnered with an organization that offers training approved by NAADAC (the Association for Addiction Professionals), IC&RC (the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium), DCAPC (District of Columbia Addictions Professionals Consortium) and many individual State boards across the country.

Jordan Peer Recovery Group

This organization is the leading entity for building cultural responsiveness within the recovery workforce. Cultural responsiveness refers to the use and delivery of recovery resources that are respectful and responsive to the health beliefs and practices—and cultural and linguistic needs—of diverse population groups.

The Peer Recovery Professional Core Curriculum and Certification is an intensive training focusing on providing individuals with the skills needed to guide, mentor and support anyone who would like to enter into or sustain long-term recovery from an addiction to alcohol or other drugs. It emphasizes the importance and value of accommodating an increasingly diverse population and effectively interacting with individuals from different cultures and identities.

Jordan Peer Recovery Group is a training institution offering state, national, and international board approved peer recovery trainings, specialized trainings, and a peer recovery workforce registry as well as many other support services.

The program is a 60-hour interactive, online course that engages all learning styles through written, visual, and audio coursework
Participants will develop skills in four recovery coaching domains: advocacy, education/mentoring, wellness/recovery support, and ethics
Participants will learn how to work with individuals and families as a culturally responsive peer specialist
The program (JPRC) also gives participants the option of three possible peer recovery certifications from:
- - NAADAC – National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors
  - IC&RC – International Credentialing & Reciprocity Consortium
  - National Federation of Families
The SHE RECOVERS Peer Support designation can be purchased directly from SHE RECOVERS once you have either registered for you training with Jordan Peer or you have completed your training.

Shelly Dimitrijevic

Kirsten Newquist