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.