A Few Things to Know Before You Arrive

Registration
Our registration table will be open throughout the conference, beginning at 3:00 PM on Wednesday. If you arrive later than the official start time, don’t worry. You can check in whenever you arrive.

Rafting Adventures

We’re excited to offer rafting again this year! To give everyone more flexibility, rafting will be available during two different time slots:

• Wednesday evening
• Friday afternoon

You do not need to register for the conference at a specific time this year. However, if you’re participating in the Wednesday rafting session, please stop by the registration table to check in before heading to the river. If you have any questions about rafting, please email Thomas@thephoenix.org

Breakout Session Tracks

This year, we’ve organized breakout sessions into three learning tracks to help you customize your conference experience for beginner peers to advanced:

💚 Foundations (Beginners)
Build core peer support skills and strengthen your understanding of recovery principles.

💛 Practice & Growth (Intermediate) 
Gain practical tools, wellness strategies, and professional development ideas you can immediately apply in your work.

💙 Leadership & Innovation (Advanced)
Explore leadership development, systems change, workforce growth, and innovative approaches to advancing recovery in rural communities.

You’ll notice that several sessions are offered more than once throughout the conference. This intentional scheduling gives you the opportunity to attend more of the sessions that interest you without worrying about missing out.

There is no “right” track to follow. Choose the sessions that align with your role, your interests, and where you are in your own recovery or professional journey.

We can’t wait to learn, connect, and grow together. Welcome to the 2026 Colorado Rural Peer Conference!

Dë Waldron

Keynote Speaker

Fall Down Seven, Stand Up Eight: Unapologetic Tenacity

Dë Waldron, CPFS, is a peer workforce leader, trainer, recovery advocate, and recent dual-degree graduate in Psychology and Human Development & Family Studies. Born in Durango, Colorado, Dë brings lived experience as a queer person, biological parent, person in recovery, non-traditional student, and traveler through a few mental health adventures of their own.

Through training, workforce development, and systems-level collaboration, Dë is committed to challenging the status quo, expanding access, and helping peer professionals claim their rightful place as leaders within behavioral health systems. Their work centers on a simple belief: lived experience is not a limitation to overcome, but a source of expertise capable of transforming communities.

advocatesforrecovery.org

Acey Holmes

Keynote Speaker

Resilience, Reimagined

Acey Holmes, MS, CCC-SLP, is the founder of BoredLess and a speaker, consultant, and educator specializing in play, resilience, and psychological safety. With a background in speech-language pathology and neuroscience, she helps individuals and organizations use play and playfulness as tools for emotional well-being, connection, creativity, and sustainable performance.

A TEDx speaker and four-time DisruptHR presenter, Acey is known for creating engaging, neurodiversity-affirming experiences that translate research into practical strategies people can use immediately. Her work centers on a simple belief: resilience grows when we remain connected to ourselves, our purpose, and one another—and play can help us get there.

playfulworkdesign.com

Tonya Wheeler

Keynote Speaker

We Need More Recovery Custodians and Fewer Recovery Rockstars

Tonya Wheeler has been living in active and sustained recovery since 1990, dedicating her life to helping others embrace recovery as a positive attainable goal.

Tonya is a sought-after speaker and trainer, sharing her personal recovery story with audiences and media outlets nationwide. She began working in the substance use field in 1992, first as a licensed counselor and later becoming a founding board member of Advocates for Recovery Colorado (AFRC), a peer-led, peer-run organization and an authentic Recovery Community Organization (RCO). Since AFRC’s inception in 2001, Tonya has been integral to its mission and was named its first CEO in 2009, a position she still holds today. Her work as a leader and advocate spans decades, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to sharing the message that recovery is not only possible but a reality.

Tonya currently serves on the Board of Directors for 5280 Recovery High School, the largest recovery high school in the country and she was a previous board member for Faces & Voices of Recovery in Washington, DC, from 2008 to 2015.

Tonya has won numerous awards and is a co-author of the book “The Methamphetamine Crisis: Strategies to Save Addicts, Families, and Communities” (2007). Tonya’s dedication extends beyond her work, inspiring countless individuals and communities to believe in the transformative power of recovery.

advocatesforrecovery.org

Manuel G. Sisneros

The Power of Being Heard: Creative Wellness, Reentry, Reentry, and Resilience in Peer Support.

Manuel Sisneros is a Re-entry specialist with Breakthrough Alliance of Colorado, where he supports individuals transitioning from the Colorado Department of Corrections back into the community. As both a staff member and a former participant in the Breakthrough program, Manuel brings more than 25 years of lived experience with incarceration, grounding his work in empathy, authenticity and a deep understanding of the challenges surrounding re-entry and recovery. Using a person-centered and trauma-informed approach Manuel helps participants navigate housing resources, public benefits, transportation, treatment connections, identification services, and community reintegration. His work focuses on building trust, fostering accountability, and helping individuals rediscover their value and potential beyond incarceration. Manuel also serves on the advisory board for the University of Colorado Denver’s Prison Education Program and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in business at the University. Through advocacy, vulnerability, and creative wellness practices, Manuel strives to create spaces where individuals feel heard, supported, and empowered throughout their healing and reentry journeys.

Monica Jacobs

Say the Thing: Speak Up When It’s Hard, Stay When It’s Harder

Monica Jacobs knows what it costs when people don’t say the hard thing out loud, because she’s lived on both sides of that silence. She’s spent more than 20 years inside construction and the trades, starting at ground level and rising to lead talent development for one of the industry’s largest workforces. What she kept seeing were good people burning out in systems designed to normalize it. Her own recovery journey became the missing piece, the lived experience that no organizational framework alone could provide. In 2025, she founded Copper Penny Coaching, a recovery-informed consulting and coaching practice serving both employers and individuals at the intersection of personal resilience and workplace transformation. She serves on the board as Fundraising Chair for Recovery Friendly Leader and is currently pursuing her CPFS. Monica shows up to this work grounded in three kinds of experience: in the field, in the organization, and in her own recovery.

copperpennycoaching.com

Kevin Kohlbrenner

The Ethics of Caring in Practice: Boundaries, Burnout, and the Power of Caritas

Kevin Kohlbrenner is the Judicial Program Manager at The Health Partnership, where he has worked since April 2022. He developed and leads the Judicial Program, which supports justice-involved individuals transitioning out of jail, as well as those participating in recovery court, probation, and parole, with a focus on substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery support.

Kevin is a Licensed Social Worker and a person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder, bringing both professional expertise and lived experience to his work. He earned his Master of Social Work degree from Brescia University in May 2025 and is currently providing therapy services while working toward clinical licensure (LCSW).

thehealthpartnership.org

Amy Bishop

Grounded and Growing in Wellness and Connection

Amy Bishop is an Unlearning Coach, yoga instructor, and person in long-term recovery who is passionate about helping people reconnect with themselves through movement, mindfulness, and embodied healing practices.

Over the past three years, Amy has supported individuals and families as a Certified Peer Family Specialist, walking alongside people navigating recovery, mental health challenges, grief, life transitions, and personal growth. She is the founder of Wild in a Wake, a coaching practice that integrates Brainspotting, Coaching, Yoga, Meditation, Breath work, and other somatic approaches.

Amy also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and spent many years working in community-based arts programming, using movement and creative expression to foster connection and growth among diverse populations, including youth, older adults, and individuals involved in the justice system. Her work today continues to be informed by the belief that the body carries wisdom and that healing often begins when we reconnect with ourselves through movement, presence, and curiosity.

Amy walks beside people as they unlearn what made them small, outgrow their limitations, and reclaim their muchness.

Cortnie Watson

Grounded and Growing in Wellness and Connection

Cortnie Watson is a yoga teacher, birth and postpartum doula, energy worker, and AcuWellness Technician who is passionate about supporting individuals on their journey toward greater well-being and resilience. With nearly 20 years of experience guiding people through life’s transitions, challenges, and moments of growth, she embraces a whole-person approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of mind, body, heart, and spirit.

Drawing from yoga, breath work, energy healing, sound healing, and auricular acupuncture, Cortnie creates supportive spaces where individuals can regulate their nervous systems, reconnect with themselves, and cultivate sustainable wellness. Her work is grounded in the belief that healing is an ongoing process and that each person holds the innate wisdom and capacity to heal from within.

Currently, Cortnie works at Crisálida, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families impacted by complex trauma, domestic violence, substance use disorders, mental health challenges, and other life-altering circumstances.

Dresden Wagner

Peer Innovation within the Clinical World

Dresden Wagner is the Recovery Support Manager at Mile High Behavioral Healthcare, where she has dedicated the past seven years to advancing peer-driven, client-centered care. Beginning her journey as a peer coach, Dresden has grown into a leadership role overseeing a team of 15 peers and supporting programming across 22 agency-wide initiatives.

Her work spans a wide range of services, including prevention, judicial programming, adolescent care, recidivism support, mental health services, substance use recovery, housing, and aftercare. Dresden specializes in building and implementing programming that embraces the complexity and “gray areas” of recovery, focusing on whole-person growth rather than sobriety alone.

Dresden is deeply passionate about creating space for individuals to unlearn limiting narratives and step into their authentic selves. She has played a key role in developing and sustaining Mile High’s peer support program Transcend, while helping to ensure the integrity and intentionality of peer roles across the organization

Through her leadership, Dresden has been instrumental in integrating peer perspectives into clinical settings, expanding client-centered approaches, and developing programs that support not only individuals, but entire families. Her work continues to shape innovative, inclusive, and human-centered models of care that honor lived experience as a powerful tool for healing and transformation.

Dresden Wagner celebrates nine years of active and sustained recovery from substance misuse—nine years of growth, healing through life’s challenges, and becoming the person she was always meant to be. As a motivational speaker, she shares her journey across the state of Colorado, reaching audiences including the Colorado Supreme Court, law enforcement, educational settings, and community partners. She uses her voice as a light for others navigating recovery and reclaiming their lives. Grounded in her lived experience, Dresden continues to grow in her recovery with a life centered around her family, her children, and the ongoing process of rediscovering and reclaiming the parts of herself that make her who she is today.

mhbhc.org

David Herrera

Spirituality in Recovery

David Herrera is a grateful, recovering alcoholic who proudly serves as a Peer Specialist (SUD) with San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group in Alamosa, Colorado. As a former ordained minister with credentials from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he has drawn from his education in world religions and lived experience in recovery. He is passionate about spiritual pathways that support healing and long-term sobriety. He served as the Spiritual Advisor for a local treatment center before co-founding “The AIR Collective”, a recovery organization focused on spirituality-based recovery, sober events, and connecting people to resources in the San Luis Valley. David also serves as District Committee Member for AA District 3. His most important roles though, are as a devoted husband and proud father of six children. Together with his beautiful wife, Kecia, he enjoys raising their small tribe and building a life grounded in recovery, service, and family.

slvbhg.org

Thomas Lee

Movement, Mental Health, and Recovery Resilience

Thomas Lee is a Senior Volunteer Manager, Peer Recovery Coach, and Fitness & Nutrition Coach with over nine years of experience in recovery-based organizations. He is passionate about building individual and community capacity, strengthening resilience, and empowering others through peer support, volunteer engagement, and wellness coaching. His work focuses on helping individuals achieve lasting recovery, healthier lifestyles, and meaningful connections that support long-term well-being.

thephoenix.org

Joseph Sanchez

Breaking Barriers: Advanced Peer Support Strategies for Stigma and Connection

Joseph began working in the recovery field after joining the Continuation and Development Team with the Recovery Alliance of El Paso, the recovery community organization that assisted him in his own recovery. Joseph celebrated the commencement of his recovery on October 2, 2005. As a distinguished graduate of the 2009 Leadership Institute for Recovery Support Service Emerging Leaders, Joseph has championed local, state, and national peer-based initiatives through active mentorship and servant leadership. Currently, Joseph is a freelance consultant working with organizations to “brace for the change” during times of transition.   In addition to his work within the recovery community, Joseph is committed to reaching out to LGBTQIA+ communities to eliminate homophobia and heterosexism. As a person living with HIV since 2003, his courage lends a face and voice for individuals with HIV & AIDS, as well as the millions of Americans living with substance use disorders. A passionate advocate for recovery, Joseph inspires others to view systems of care through a lens of hope and change, always embracing his personal mission statement, “To Inspire Positive Thinking and Forward Movement through Motivation, Education, and Empowerment.”

This information is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a grant awards totaling $2,000,000; this publication was financed with governmental resources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, visit HRSA.gov. Grant award: G28RH46284.