Certified Addiction Recovery Coach

Growing up in a small town and working on the family farm had its benefits, but it also came with a strong drinking culture. I started using alcohol as a preteen, and over time what seemed normal began to become a problem. By my early twenties, while attending college, my drinking had escalated, and in my mid-twenties I began experimenting with harder drugs. Before long, I was dealing with addiction to both drugs and alcohol.

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Working as a first responder exposed me to experiences that I did not know how to process at the time. Instead of dealing with the trauma, I increasingly relied on substances to cope. When I later went to university, the party lifestyle only added fuel to the fire. From the outside, I was still functioning. I attended classes, completed my degree, and eventually landed a job in human resources. I believed getting the career I had worked toward would finally give me a reason to cut back.

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It didn’t.

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My addiction continued to progress until I reached a point where I was drinking and using before work, during work, and after work. My health was declining, my life was becoming increasingly difficult to manage, and I knew something had to change. I made the decision to enter treatment. Recovery was not a straight line for me, and after returning to active addiction, I made the decision to go back to treatment a couple of years later. That experience became a major turning point in my life.

My journey into recovery coaching grew out of my own search for solid ground. Having experienced both addiction and the often-unsteady path of early recovery, I came to understand that recovery requires more than simply stopping the use of drugs or alcohol. For me, it also meant learning how to build a life around recovery—developing structure, accountability, healthy routines, meaningful relationships, and a sense of direction.

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Eventually, I was given the opportunity to work in the addictions and recovery field, and it did not take long for me to realize that I had found my calling. My lived experience allowed me to understand many of the struggles people face in recovery, while my professional experience and training gave me additional tools to support them through those challenges. That combination ultimately led me to found First Ground Recovery.

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I created First Ground to provide the kind of practical, grounded support that I found so important in rebuilding my own life. I know what it is like to struggle, to start over, and to slowly build something stronger than what was there before.

Today, as a certified addiction recovery coach in Canada, I combine my lived experience with professional training and experience in the addictions field to help others navigate their own transitions. I believe recovery can be profound without being complicated. Sometimes it comes down to taking practical steps, creating structure, recognizing progress, learning from setbacks, and continuing to move forward.

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Whether you are just beginning your recovery or looking to strengthen the foundation you have already built, my role is not to tell you how to live your life. It is to walk alongside you, help you identify what matters to you, and support you in building a future you can be proud of—one practical step at a time.