Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a therapist or counselor?
That's a great question. While I hold professional credentials as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor II (CADC II), Qualified Mental Health Associate II (QMHA II), Certified Recovery Mentor II (CRM II) with Forensic Peer Endorsement, Oregon Peer Support Specialist - Adult Addictions (PSS), and Oregon Traditional Health Worker - Adult Mental Health (THW), I created Paraclete Recovery to offer something different.
This is a space for peer support, recovery coaching, and whole-person healing—one where you can slow down, explore what's coming up in your life, reconnect with yourself, and discover practical tools that support lasting growth. Whether you are navigating your own recovery, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for guidance through a season of change, my role is to walk beside you with compassion, curiosity, and encouragement.
Because of that, the services I offer through Paraclete Recovery are non-clinical. They are not therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. If it ever feels like additional clinical support would be helpful, I'm always happy to help you find the resources that best fit your needs.
What makes Paraclete Recovery different?
Paraclete Recovery was born from a simple belief: people are not problems to be solved, symptoms to be managed, or versions of themselves waiting to be fixed. Beneath every struggle, transition, loss, addiction, setback, question, or season of uncertainty exists a whole human being carrying wisdom, resilience, gifts, experiences, and possibilities that may have been forgotten, buried, overlooked, or disconnected through the process of surviving life.
My work is rooted in the understanding that healing is not simply about overcoming challenges. It is about creating the conditions for deeper awareness, meaningful connection, and authentic transformation. It is about making space for what is ready to emerge while honoring everything that has brought you to this moment. Rather than separating recovery, personal growth, spirituality, community, and healing into different categories, I view them as interconnected parts of the same journey. I help create opportunities for people to reconnect with themselves, with others, and with the life they are being called to live.
Who is Paraclete Recovery for?
Paraclete Recovery is for people who are seeking something deeper than traditional approaches alone.
Some arrive because they are navigating recovery. Others are moving through a major life transition, exploring questions of purpose, reconnecting with themselves, healing old wounds, deepening their spiritual path, or searching for a way forward that feels more aligned with who they truly are. Many have spent years caring for others, surviving difficult experiences, adapting to expectations, or trying to fit themselves into systems, roles, or identities that no longer feel authentic. They may feel called toward healing, growth, self-discovery, transformation, or simply a different way of relating to themselves and their lives. You do not need to have everything figured out. You do not need to be at a particular stage of recovery, healing, or personal growth. You do not need to fit a specific mold, identity, or belief system. If you are seeking a space that honors and celebrates the whole of who you are—mind, body, heart, spirit, and energy—and are open to exploring what healing, recovery, connection, and transformation might look like in your own life, you are welcome here.
What does Recovery Coaching & Life Path Guidance mean at Paraclete Recovery?
It means we are not limited to one lens, one model, or one way of understanding your experience. Depending on your goals and what emerges throughout our work together, sessions may incorporate recovery coaching, Human Design, somatic practices, nervous system awareness, energy work, reflective inquiry, mindfulness, and practical life planning. These are not separate services added onto your experience. They are integrated into a personalized process designed to support healing, growth, self-discovery, and meaningful change.
What does “somatic” or body-based support mean here?
This isn’t a separate practice or something you’re sent off to do on your own—it is woven directly into how I work with you in session. When something comes up—stress, overwhelm, craving, shutdown—we don’t always just talk about it. We can pause and work with what is happening in real time.
That might look like:
Using sound and vibration during a session to support what is happening within the body
Shifting your breath, posture, movement, or focus and noticing what changes
Slowing things down enough to recognize what your body is communicating instead of pushing past it
Staying present with a sensation or experience long enough to notice whether it wants to move, soften, deepen, or change
Working with the relationship between what you are feeling emotionally, experiencing physically, and sensing energetically
Energy healing may also become part of this work. I work with different expressions and frequencies of sacred healing energy, allowing intuition and spiritual guidance to shape what unfolds rather than choosing a particular modality beforehand. Sometimes the work calls for grounding or restoration; sometimes energy begins moving where there has been stagnation or depletion; and sometimes what arises asks to be met in an entirely different way. Sound, vibration, breath, energy, and the body are not treated as separate pieces—they can meet naturally within the same experience.
What makes this work different is that it is not scripted. We are not following the same sequence every time or separating the body from everything else you are experiencing. We work with what is actually present and allow the session to respond to you. Over time, this can deepen your awareness of your own patterns, signals, needs, boundaries, and inner knowing—so you begin to recognize more clearly what your body is communicating and what genuinely supports you.
For those called to explore the energy healing more deeply, my Sunday in-person sessions offer a dedicated space for The Alchemy of Energy & Healing.
How do holistic practices fit into recovery support?
At Paraclete Recovery, holistic practices are not separate from recovery support—they are an integral part of how I work. Many traditional recovery models focus primarily on thoughts, behaviors, education, and conversation. While those approaches can be valuable, my experience has shown that healing often reaches beyond what can be accessed through talking alone. Sometimes healing emerges through insight. Sometimes through experience. Sometimes through the body, energy, creativity, intuition, spirituality, community, or a deeper understanding of who we are and how we are designed to move through life. These practices are not used to tell people who they are or what they should believe. They are used as tools for exploration, awareness, healing, alignment, and connection.
Human Design, in particular, serves as a powerful mirror. It offers insight into patterns, strengths, challenges, decision-making, energy dynamics, and aspects of ourselves that may have been forgotten, misunderstood, or hidden beneath years of survival, conditioning, and expectation. For many people, it becomes a doorway into deeper self-understanding, self-compassion, and a greater sense of alignment with their own path. Energy work and sound healing create opportunities to engage with healing in ways that extend beyond conversation and analysis. They invite people into experiences of presence, restoration, awareness, and connection that are often difficult to access through words alone.
What makes this work unique is not any single practice. It is the integration of lived experience, recovery support, intuitive guidance, spiritual exploration, holistic healing, and practical support into one experience that honors the whole person. Rather than asking people to fit into a predetermined model, I create space for healing, growth, and transformation to unfold in ways that feel meaningful, authentic, and aligned with their individual journey.
What is Human Design?
Human Design is a system of self-understanding that creates a personalized chart using your date, time, and place of birth. Think of it as a map that illustrates how different aspects of your natural design work together. Rather than focusing on your personality alone, it offers insight into how you are naturally designed to make decisions, experience emotions, process information, communicate with others, manage your energy, and move through the world.
Your chart is made up of several interconnected elements, including your Type, Strategy, Authority, Centers, Gates, Channels, and Profile. Each part offers a different layer of understanding, and together they create a picture that is as unique as your fingerprint. While no chart can define who you are, it can help explain patterns you may have experienced throughout your life, why certain ways of living feel natural while others feel exhausting, and where you may have adapted to the expectations of others instead of honoring what comes naturally to you.
Human Design draws from several established systems of knowledge, including astrology, the I Ching, the Chakra system, the Kabbalah, and principles from modern physics. These are integrated into a single framework that many people use as a tool for self-reflection and personal growth. Rather than asking you to believe in it, Human Design invites you to explore your own lived experience and decide what resonates.
In my practice, a Human Design reading is much more than reviewing a chart. Together, we translate the information into practical, meaningful insights that relate to your life today. Whether you are navigating recovery, a major life transition, relationship challenges, or a desire to better understand yourself, your chart becomes a framework for exploring your strengths, recognizing recurring patterns, understanding how you naturally make decisions, and discovering ways to live with greater authenticity and self-trust.
Do I need to be spiritual for this approach to work?
Spirituality is a meaningful part of my work, but it is not a requirement for yours.
I openly incorporate holistic healing practices because I have witnessed the value they can bring to healing, growth, self-understanding, and transformation. At the same time, I deeply respect that people hold different beliefs, perspectives, and ways of making meaning in their lives. You do not need to share my spiritual views, practice any particular tradition, or believe in any specific philosophy to benefit from this work. What matters most is that you feel comfortable, respected, and supported in exploring what is meaningful and helpful for you. This is not a space built around convincing people what to believe. It is a space built around honoring each person's unique journey while creating opportunities for healing, connection, exploration, and growth.