My name is Robert Shearon, I am a recovery and wellness coach at RECONNECTED Foundation with an emphasis on reintegration into higher education. Serving as RECONNECTED Foundation’s founder and Executive Director, I currently reside in my hometown of Vail, CO and have lived and established strong recovery communities in New York City, Boulder and Vail. I have been in continuous recovery from all mood-altering substances since 2013.
I helped develop and manage the collegiate recovery program at University of Colorado, Boulder from 2015-2022. I use my experience from working in higher education to help students navigate the university setting while building a recovery community around them.
I have a passion for combining the outdoors with people’s journeys in recovery. I have organized events from week-long camping trips to national skiathons where over 300 college students resulted in lifelong connections that have helped them to maintain their recovery. I help individuals create recovery plans for themselves where they are empowered to create SMART goals and be accountable to their plan.
During my time as a student at CU Boulder I found recovery and was able to have a “true” college experience that rivaled the stereotypical one in terms of having fun and creating friendships that are strong almost a decade later.
I make it my mission to help clients to realize that recovery can be fun and achievable. It is my purpose to provide opportunity for others by connecting them with like minded individuals which have the potential to be lifelong relationships. By stewarding healthy relationships with peers, clients can set and achieve realistic and attainable goals with someone that is dedicated to urging them in that direction.
My name is Jessica and I am RECONNECTED Foundation’s Director of Peer Support and Education. Originally from Tampa, Florida, I currently live in Vail, Colorado. I relocated to Vail in 2019 to continue my pursuit in behavioral health and further my yoga training education.
My journey into recovery began through the transformative path of yoga, which I have been teaching since 2016. Yoga became my guiding force, and in 2017, I started to question my substance use. Using my Passion Planner, I wrote “SOBRIETY” as my Game Changer goal, but at the time, I struggled to fully achieve this vision. It wasn’t until 2021, when I had the opportunity to continue my yoga education with a Yoga of Recovery certification, that I truly understood the profound intersection of yoga, Ayurveda, and recovery from substance use disorder. This certification sparked a deeper awareness of how the principles of yoga could guide healing and growth, leading me toward a unique path of recovery.
In 2022, I expanded my work by joining a residential treatment facility focused on mental health and substance use recovery. There, I offered peer support, conducted intake assessments, and facilitated group therapy sessions—building a foundation of connection and compassion.
Recognizing the need for mindfulness in the recovery process, I was entrusted to develop a Mindfulness program. I created a 6-week curriculum that integrated science-based mindfulness education, trauma-informed recovery practices, and hands-on, experiential learning. I guided clients through one-on-one meditation and breathing exercises to support their healing. I was also selected to spearhead Cultural Trauma educational sessions for both staff and clients, emphasizing the intersection of language, social equity, and the systemic disparities that affect treatment spaces.
Through my experiences, I have come to know recovery as not just the cessation of substance use, but as the cultivation of a life filled with passion, purpose, and love. Recovery is a way of being—living self-directed, with clarity and commitment to one’s truth. My approach to peer support is deeply rooted in empathy and mindfulness, grounded in my lived experience as a woman of color in recovery. I am especially passionate about ensuring recovery is accessible to communities that have long been marginalized, aiming to de-stigmatize the conversation around substance use and create pathways to healing for all.
Yoga has been my guide—through its teachings, I began to see beyond my habits of substance use and question what truly nourished my spirit. It is through the lens of yoga that I came to understand the heart of recovery: it is not just about what we abstain from, but about what we choose to embrace—a life that aligns with our deepest values.
In my personal journey, alcohol first served as a coping mechanism to numb the weight of childhood trauma. As I stepped into the technology field in 2014, my drinking escalated, entangling me in a cycle of self-doubt and despair. It took years of struggle before I found the courage to seek help in 2021, a decision that changed the course of my life.
Today, I am living my recovery, not as an end, but as a daily practice of returning to myself. A practice that continues to teach me what it means to live authentically, to love unconditionally, and to serve with purpose.
My name is Hannah Laisure and I work as a Peer Support Specialist at RECONNECTED Foundation, I have the privilege of guiding others on their journey toward healing from addiction and mental health challenges. Having walked this path myself, I bring a deep sense of empathy, lived experience, and a commitment to helping others find their own journey of recovery. Connecting with others, providing positive support, actively listening, and helping individuals set and reach their recovery goals are my driving force in this work.
I have been in recovery since January 14th, 2023, and my journey to healing has been both transformative and ongoing. Alongside my recovery from addiction, I have endured a long journey of working through my own mental health struggles. Recognizing and addressing both mental health and substance use has been crucial to my healing journey. Recovery can mean many different things and navigating my path has including healing all parts of myself. Finding ways to regulate through meditation, breath exercise, art therapy, hiking, and connecting with others has been my primary pathways to recovery and I hope to work those aspects in to the work I do with others. Reconnecting with myself and the world around me has been an essential part of my process, offering me peace and perspective as I navigate this journey.
Growing up in Eagle County, I have always called Colorado home. I spent the last 10 years in Denver and recently moved back to my hometown of Eagle, CO. The mountains, with their tranquil and calming energy, continue to play a pivotal role in my recovery, offering me a space for reflection and growth. Education has played a huge role in my personal recovery as well. Learning just how substance use affects the brain, and our overall health has helped me overcome many of the struggle’s substance use presents. I am currently pursuing my Certified Addiction Technician certification at Colorado Mountain College, with plans to continue my education to further support myself and others in their recovery journeys. Helping others on their journey is my purpose and I’m dedicated to finding ways to decrease the stigma surrounding
substance use disorder and those suffering from mental health struggles.
Every day, I am inspired by the resilience of those I work with and strive to offer the same hope and support that has helped me reclaim my own life. Healing can be difficult but also so rewarding and life changing. Recovery is possible, and through connection, compassion, and education, we can all find a way forward.
I moved to the Vail Valley in 1991 from Allentown, PA at the age of 18 and filled my time with copious amounts of skiing and outdoor activities. I worked in many different industries such as construction, hospitality, food and beverage, transportation, ski rental, business brokering and outdoor recreation.
In 1997, I suffered an extremely traumatic life changing event leaving me to deal with PTSD and for many years I dealt with that in incredibly unhealthy ways. Working through those issues alone, I managed to find moments of happiness and was able to marry and raise a family. I continued to succeed in my career but never truly healed from things that happened in my childhood and from my PTSD. Like many men, I felt stuck in an endless grind of working to survive and provide. I lost sight of what is important and truly felt like I was destined to just exist.
Years of extreme sports and hard labor left my body in ruins from various injuries and life altering surgeries. Most recently, smoke inhalation from the Glenwood Canyon fire left me unable to speak clearly for several years and led to the discovery of a rare blood disorder that I continue to deal with. Chronic pain and chronic illness fueled bouts of depression, anxiety and addiction. Doctor-prescribed medications created a toxic dynamic in my brain I was unable to handle and it affected me in ways that are truly difficult to explain. It left me wanting to isolate and just check out from the world. I am here to tell you, there is a way out.
I am looking to help individuals of all ages cope with the mental fatigue we all tend to experience from life and relationships in an environment that is non-clinical and comes from a place of lived experience. I want to help people work through issues using connection, humor, fitness and the outdoors to heal and thrive.
Reconnected Foundation
PO Box 43
Avon, Colorado 81620