I got sober in 2015 by doing all the things I was told to do.

I began healing in 2019 by listening to my heart.

When I got sober, it was by following the traditional path of recovery - In-patient treatment, sober living, therapy, psychiatry, and the 12-steps. I was diagnosed, pathologized, and medicated.

Three years into the process I felt deeply lost and unhappy. I was sober, but I wasn’t healed. I was alive, but I wasn’t living. And somewhere, deep down, I knew there had to be a different way. 

I found that way in 2019 in the form of plant medicine, something I’d heard about as a whisper, and that eventually became a loud voice inside me saying “this is the way.”

My first experience with plant medicine cracked me wide open in ways I couldn’t have imagined was possible. And through the cracks my anger, self-hatred, confusion, and disconnection from self poured out. I was released from the “bondage of self.” My prayers were answered. 

Since that first experience in 2019 I no longer have the urge to drink or use drugs. I know where that path leads, and it isn’t for me anymore. Instead, I choose to heal.

With the help of plant medicine I choose to meet myself and to remember who I am - someone who is strong, brave, and worthy of taking up space.This path has afforded me access to levels of joy, contentment, community, and connection I thought were reserved for other people.

I now know that this feeling is available to anyone willing to follow their hearts and do the work of meeting themselves. It is available to anyone willing to let their darkest parts come into the light. 

Today I view life as a beautiful journey, unfolding in all its perfect imperfection. I mentor women in recovery. I facilitate breathwork. I am a holistic health coach. I am someone who wholeheartedly believes that true recovery is a journey home to self, a journey home to the heart. This process has been the most profound and transformative undertaking of my life. I call it - walking the path of the heart.