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Founder & Executive Director of Serenity House, Recovery Reiki® Master, Acudetox Specialist, Holistic Recovery Coach

Tara has been a holistic practitioner and entrepreneur in the United States for the past eight years. Since embarking on a holistic healing journey, she’s helped thousands of people overcome obstacles in their lives. She is a trained Usui reiki master and Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist. She is also the founder and executive director of The Serenity House of Flint, a recovery community organization in Flint, Michigan geared at helping individuals and communities overcome adversities related to addiction, codependency, and trauma. 

Academically, her education includes a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in Telecommunications and Film Studies and she also holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan where she studied Composition and Rhetoric. She was an accomplished journalist before moving into the healing and non-profit world. She is also a published author and the developer of Recovery Reiki®, a specific method of reiki that targets pain in the body related to addiction, codependency, and trauma. In 2015, she founded the Flint Recovery Walk & Rally and the Flint Recovery Arts & Music Show, annual events aimed at helping to alleviate the stigma of addiction.

Her current projects include a healing retreat in Costa Rica called Design Your Life, a retreat encouraging deep healing and teaching people how to create their lives consciously. 

Jeff Breedlove serves as Chief of Communications and Policy for the Georgia Council on

Substance Abuse. Jeff is an Assistant Scout Master for the Boy Scouts of America, and

serves on the Board of Directors of MARR Addiction Treatment Center and the Georgia

School of Addiction Studies. In 2018, Jeff was awarded the “God Send Award” from the Boy

Scouts of America for dedication and service to the Boy Scouts.  In the recent past, Jeff

Breedlove served as Chief of Staff for DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester. Jeff

served as a senior staff member to Congressman Bob Barr in the historic 104 th  Congress and

again in the 105 th  Congress. 

Jeff Breedlove served as the Deputy Director for the Governor’s Office of

Workforce Development for Governor Nathan Deal and as a policy analyst for the Georgia

State Senate.

In 2004, Jeff was selected to serve as a volunteer for the G-8 Summit on Sea Island, Georgia.

 He has served as a staff vice-chair for The National Conference of State Legislatures on the

Transportation Committee and as a member of The Council of State Governments Southern

Legislative Conference Committee on Economic Development, Transportation and Cultural

Affairs.

Jeff also served as the Georgia state director for The American Council of Young Political

Leaders and was the former Georgia state director Sister Cities International and a member of

the City of Atlanta Sister City Commission.

Jeff is married to Kathryn Ballou; they reside in the Grant Park neighborhood in Atlanta. They

have a son, Lawrence Foster “Jack” Breedlove, who was born in Gansu, The People’s

Republic of China. He is a person in long-term recovery with a passion to share his story so

others know Recovery is real.

She is the Owner Founder and Director of the House Of Hope in Chambersburg, PA.  It is a grassroots organization and is the ONLY MAT and Trauma based recovery house in Franklin County.  She is a certified recovery and certified family recovery specialist. And also a recovery coach for the Harm Reduction Outreach for Franklin Together. She had two kids that ended up on the road to addiction by a provider. She has fought for people in my county to get treatment and all resources needed to be successful.  Bernadette has been doing this for six years and it is a rewarding line of work.  

Caroline Beidler, BA, MSW is a grateful woman in recovery, author, and the Founder of Bright Story Shine, a storytelling platform that celebrates stories of recovery and resilience. She is also the Director of Creative Consultation Services, LLC., a business focused on creating sustainable addiction recovery support services at the local, state, and federal level. She is the past Director of Wisconsin Voices for Recovery, along with a past founder and Director of ED2Recovery, a nationally recognized program that brings Recovery Coaching into the Emergency Department setting. Through her consulting work, speaking engagements and writing, Caroline has worked with legislators, non-profits, universities, federal agencies and others to create innovative models that empower communities and people in recovery. Some of her areas of expertise include: communications, adolescent and collegiate recovery, social and peer support, and asset-based community development. Caroline was the former Chair of the Prevention Committee for the Wisconsin State Council on Alcohol and other Drug Abuse by Governor’s Appointment, and has participated on many state and national coalitions and committees. Caroline has a passion for young people in recovery and founded two programs for college-aged youth in recovery: Live Free – Student Wellness and Recovery, Wisconsin’s only Collegiate Recovery Program, and Connect House Sober Living Foundation, Inc., a recovery residence for college-aged women, which completed a successful merger with the Aaron J. Meyer Foundation. In 2015, she won the Texas Research Society on Alcoholism, John T. and Patricia A. O’Neill Addiction Science Education Award for her research on stigma and social support for recently deployed Veterans. Her writing is featured on the Grit and Grace Project, In the Rooms, The Fix, the Addiction Technology Transfer Center and other websites. Caroline and her family live in Tennessee where she enjoys writing, hiking in the mountains, and chasing around her three-year-old twins, Henrick and Violet. 

Patty McCarthy, M.S., has been the Chief Executive Officer of Faces & Voices of Recovery since 2015. Prior to joining Faces & Voices, she was a senior associate with the Center for Social Innovation (C4), where she served as a deputy director of SAMHSA’s BRSS TACS initiative.  Patty served for a decade as the director of Friends of Recovery-Vermont (FOR-VT), a statewide recovery community organization conducting training, advocacy and public awareness activities.  In addition to public policy and education, her work has focused on community mobilizing, peer-based recovery support services, and peer workforce development and was instrumental in the development of a national accreditation standards for peer recovery support service providers. She holds a master’s degree in community counseling and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and has been in long-term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction since 1989.

Alan is a founding member of The Dayton Fellowship Club.  He is a Certified Peer Supporter at Peers For Change in Dayton, OH.  Alan has over 31 years of community outreach experience as well as long term recovery.