What is Peer Recovery Support?

Peer Recovery Support connects people who have lived experience with others who are facing similar challenges. It’s a way of building community and strength through shared experiences and mutual understanding. Our trained peer support specialists offer:

  • Emotional Support: Providing a compassionate space for sharing, understanding, and encouragement. We focus on nurturing personal growth, healing from codependency, fostering healthy relationships, and cultivating healthy coping skills. Through mindful support, we help you develop interpersonal skills that create a foundation of emotional resilience and connection.

  • Guidance: Offering thoughtful and practical advice to navigate life’s challenges. Our guidance includes building independent living skills, managing financial and budgeting skills, and fostering physical wellness, all of which contribute to a balanced and purposeful recovery journey.

  • Resources: Connecting you with essential services, treatment options, sober living programs, and support groups. We provide access to detox and treatment resources, guide you toward suitable sober living options, and offer 12-step recovery resources and DUI education & therapy resources to support your continuous growth.

  • Advocacy: Empowering you to find your voice and access the care you deserve. We advocate for your success by helping you achieve your goals, ensuring you have the tools and resources to create a fulfilling and supported recovery path.

  • Rachel Johnson

    Owner

    Rachel is a dedicated Peer Recovery Coach whose powerful story of resilience and transformation drives her passion for helping others navigate the path to recovery. From surviving the depths of addiction to becoming a source of hope and support for those still struggling, Rachel’s journey is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.

    She began using substances at 14, and by 15, she was deeply entrenched in addiction as an IV heroin user. Her teenage years were marked by felony charges, incarceration, and homelessness. By the age of 22, Rachel found herself at a crossroads—unable to imagine life continuing as it was, yet unsure how to break free. Everything changed at 23, when she discovered she was pregnant with her daughter. In that moment, Rachel chose life. She chose recovery.

    Entering sober living while pregnant, Rachel found her first glimpse of hope in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. Surrounded by others who had walked similar paths and found peace, she began to heal. With the support of a sponsor and the 12 steps, Rachel slowly rebuilt her life—this time with intention and purpose.

    Her journey was not without profound heartache. In 2020, Rachel lost her best friend to suicide, followed shortly by her mother’s passing from cancer. Despite the immense grief, she stayed rooted in her recovery. The community she had built became her anchor, and her commitment to growth never wavered.

    Today, with nearly a decade of sobriety, Rachel has found her calling as a recovery coach. Her lived experience allows her to connect authentically with those she serves, turning her past struggles into a powerful force for change. She believes deeply that recovery is possible for anyone and that even in our darkest moments, we are capable of rising.

    Through her work, Rachel helps others find hope, healing, and a renewed sense of purpose—proving that with the right support, no one has to walk the path of recovery alone.

  • Karis Shockley

    Owner

    Karis Shockley is a dedicated Peer Recovery Coach who brings a powerful combination of professional expertise and personal lived experience to her work in the recovery community. Her journey is one marked by resilience, transformation, and a deep commitment to helping others heal.

    Karis experienced profound loss early in life, losing her mother to cancer at age 10 and her father to suicide at 17. Although she once vowed never to drink, she found herself struggling with alcoholism throughout her twenties, managing a double life as an elementary school teacher by day and a suffering alcoholic by night. After years of cycling through treatment programs, detox, and sober living—rarely able to maintain sobriety for more than a few months—Karis reached a pivotal turning point when she became pregnant. Faced with the choice to either continue the cycle or build the life and family she always dreamed of, she chose recovery.

    Through willingness, support, and working the 12 steps, Karis began to rebuild her life. Recovery has brought her both heartache and profound joy, pain and purpose. It also led her to her true calling: supporting others as they navigate their own recovery journeys.

    In addition to her personal experience, Karis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Colorado Denver. In 2019, she formally entered the recovery field, where she opened and successfully operated 13 recovery residences over four years. She now leverages her background in education and recovery to design and teach software programming tailored to the needs of recovery residences and related organizations.

    Karis believes that connection, empathy, and feeling truly seen are essential to healing. She is passionate about helping others recognize their worth and realize that no matter what their journey has looked like, they are deserving of healing and wholeness.

    Outside of her professional work, Karis finds joy in spending time with her son, Jakson, and remains actively involved in giving back to the recovery community.