Contributors

Adrienne Webster is a Licensed Addiction Counselor Candidate (LACC) in Bozeman, Montana. She received her B.A. in Media Arts from Montana State University and later completed her graduate studies in Addiction Counseling there as well. She works with clients individually and in group settings while completing her post-graduate, clinical supervision. Adrienne is committed to reducing the stigma that surrounds addiction and recognizes the complex emotional and environmental factors that contribute to substance use disorders and behavioral addictions. She is particularly interested in an integrated approach to treatment and recovery that encompasses nutrition, education, exercise, and community involvement.

Amanda Berkey, M.Ed., is a freelance writer who specializes in substance use disorder, alcohol use disorder, and addiction treatment options.

Amanda Lautieri is a Senior Web Content Editor at American Addiction Centers and an addiction content expert for Recovery.org. She holds a bachelor's degree and has reviewed thousands of medical articles on substance abuse and addiction.

Anjali Talcherkar is an integrative practitioner specializing in the use of Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) in addiction treatment. She holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology and Addiction Studies and is currently a 3rd-year Ph.D. candidate in Integrative Medicine. Anjali has assisted at UCLA’s Center for Addictive Behavior, investigating how yoga-based relaxation techniques and meditation aid in recovery from addiction, and in Harvard University’s research department, the Division on Addiction. Anjali is a certified yoga and meditation teacher with knowledge in Ayurveda, an ancient Indian healing tradition. Her dissertation research focuses on combining Eastern approaches with conventional interventions, such as the 12-steps. As a recovered substance abuser, Anjali’s personal experience also motivates and informs her work. Anjali currently divides her time between research, freelance writing, and clinical work.

Anna Spooner has been a content and copywriter since 2011. She strives to make all of her writing approachable, easy to understand, and fun to read. After graduating college, Anna worked at an insurance company for 11 years. She maintained an insurance license, answered customer questions about insurance in dozens of states, and managed to stay sane all at the same time. Anna also writes about finance, business, and marketing.

Annas Boyer is a healthcare professional with over 20 years of experience in the field of human services, focused primarily on substance use disorder and recovery, mental health, and child welfare. During most of Annas's professional experience, she has been in leadership and management roles. Ms. Boyer has been an adjunct professor for the past 12 years at the School of Social Welfare and the University of Kansas. Her areas of expertise include effective clinical approaches to behavioral health problems, strategies for effective engagement and planning with clients, effective staff development and training, and development of client-focused cultures, team functioning and organizational effectiveness.

Dr. Anne Brown PhD, RN of Sausalito, California, formerly from Aspen, Colorado is a psychotherapist, speaker, coach, and the author of Backbone Power: The Science of Saying No. For over twenty years she served as the trusted advocate and advisor to Influential Corporate leaders, Trial Attorneys, Athletes, Leaders, Physicians and their families whose connections extended far beyond Aspen, Colorado.

Combining her own professional experience with that of her no-nonsense mentor, the former Chilean Minister of Finance, political prisoner of Pinochet and corporate business consultant, Dr. Fernando Flores, Brown used a methodology that helped people reveal their blindness’s and learn to speak authentically thereby decreasing their suffering and increasing their dignity and authenticity. Brown has been described by one client as “having a very caring way of going for the jugular.”

Brown is a graduate of the University of Virginia, BS in Nursing; Boston University, MS in Psychiatric-Mental Health in Nursing; and International University, PhD in Addiction Studies. In 1997 Brown also reached a personal goal of obtaining her Black Belt in Soo Bahk Do.

You can contact Dr. Anne Brown through her website: www.BackbonePower.com