The Executive Corner is a new weekly feature of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin. We send our participants forty questions and ask them to choose twenty they would like to answer. It includes a short profile and a link to their website. We hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin or its staff.
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PROFILE
Allison Harden, MS, CPFS, NCPRSS
Allison has been involved in many strength-based pathways throughout her recovery journey, along with the 12-step program of recovery. She has learned how to build a supportive community, find peace, and to be of service to those on a recovery journey. In 2019, Allison used her lived experience and recovery coach training and received the National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist Credential (NCPRSS). Her past work experience in substance use includes representing the Betty Ford Center and CeDAR in community outreach positions. She is married and has two adult children and spends lots of time walking Izzy, their little Shih Tzu Poodle. Allison loves yoga, working out, all types of music, golf, and camping every chance she gets.
Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice and when did you discontinue its use? A. Alcohol, 1987
Q. Which film have you watched the most? A. The Big Chill
Q. If you ever retire, would you prefer to live by the ocean, lake, river, or mountaintop, or penthouse? A. River
Q. What is your favorite hotel or resort? A. So far, Miraval in Tucson
Q. Where do you go to “get away”? A. Nature in my truck camper
Q.What is your biggest or littlest pet peeve? A. Biggest: Inefficiency
Q. How do you measure success? A. By how I feel about it
Q. If you had an extra million dollars, which charity would you donate it to? A. Hazelden Betty Ford Center Colorado Children’s Program
Q. Who was your biggest influence throughout your life? A. My mother and grandmother
Q. What is your current hobby? A. Yoga
Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your 3 favorite authors, Living or dead, who would they be? (choose 4 if you think one might be too drunk or stoned to attend.) A. Anne Lamont, Brene Brown, Ayn Rand
Q. What is your FAVORITE Band/composer/musical artist? A. Coldplay, James Taylor, and Sarah McLaughlin
Q. What is your FAVORITE Broadway musical/play? A. Phantom of the Opera
Q. What is your FAVORITE Sport to watch? To play? A. Watch: College Football
Q. What is your FAVORITE Cuisine? A. Mexican
Q. Have you ever been arrested and, if so, what for? A. Minor in possession
Q. Do you have any children? A. Two
Q. What books are you reading now? A. Happy Money by Ken Honda and The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given? A. Keep calm, carry on and have some fun along the way
Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve given? A. Just take a breath
Q. What are five things you always carry with you? A. My license, business cards, debit card, phone and Burts Bee’s Menthol Chapstick
Q. What’s the greatest risk you’ve ever taken? A. Starting Beyond Betty
Q. What is your biggest mistake? A. Waiting until 28 years in recovery to do my own trauma work
Q. What is the proudest moment in your life? A. My wedding and the birth of both of my children, and getting my Masters at 55