Recovery Coaching is about having someone to walk alongside you to help navigate day-to-day life. Coaches have experienced similar situations, challenges, and victories, and they are committed to meeting clients where they are and working with them to continue to grow and thrive in recovery.
Our Onward Recovery Coaching program is completely flexible and interchangeable to meet the needs of the client we are coaching. We focus on meeting them where they are on their journey, and target areas they identify for additional work and growth. This innovative system helps keep individuals present in their recovery and helps them gain additional tools for recovery success.
Onward Recovery Coaching easily accessible, no matter where you are. Our scalable program consists of weekly modules, with work done and progress tracked through our unique Journey Map. Weekly work includes mindfulness, custom MBH Onward worksheets, Onward Virtual Groups, Onward App engagement, journaling, as well as daily check-in correspondence and weekly face-to-face meetings with their Recovery Coach (via Teams or in person).
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Aleah Johnson earned her undergraduate degree from Washington State University in leadership and professional studies with an emphasis on event design. Prior to joining the Meadows Behavioral Healthcare team, she worked as an event planner, where weddings and social gatherings were her specialty. It was only after she found that planning parties and being the life of the party went hand in hand with addiction for her, that she knew it was time to seek help. Through her own recovery journey, Johnson felt there had to be a higher purpose for her life and work.
Wanting to make a change, she applied for a job with MBH, packed what she could fit in her car, and headed for Arizona. Now she channels those event planning skills into recovery-related events and programs. Being able to spend time with alumni after they complete treatment, hearing about their accomplishments, and helping them overcome setbacks are highlights of the job. Johnson’s primary focuses are connection and community, using those to provide safe places and platforms for alum from any of our programs to be able to gain knowledge and connect with others to be successful on their recovery journey.
Deena Harless has called many places home. She was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina and raised in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida before spending two decades in Anchorage, Alaska. She then moved to Texas in 2019 to support her recovery journey. After studying at Northwest Florida State, Harless spent 20 years working with individuals with disabilities. In recovery since August 2018, she is a Meadows alum herself, and a 2022 “What’s Your Story?” motivational speaker. Joining the MBH staff in 2020 as a behavioral health tech, she moved over to the Alumni team in 2022. As an alumni outreach specialist, Harless focuses on alumni outreach, virtual groups (Power of Words in Recovery and Become Recovery Comfortable), facilitating Recovery Enhancement groups, and facilitating the Friday afternoon lectures at The Meadows Texas.
A mother of three and grandmother to three more, Harless admits she is easily distracted by dogs and Jeeps, and she’s obsessed with her dog, Buddy. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, reading, and is extremely passionate about working with Alumni and their recovery.
Born in Orange County, California, and raised in Michigan and Orange County, Thomas Kraus is a certified peer recovery coach with a decade of experience in the fields of mental health and substance use disorders. He got his start in the industry after recording some songs early in recovery which led to a job offer from a music-based treatment center. There he began his training to provide group facilitation and peer-based services. He joined the MBH Onward team in December 2023. In his current role providing alumni coaching and outreach, Kraus loves seeing individuals finally feel like they are being heard for the first time by someone who can relate and empathize with the feelings being shared.
In a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, he enjoys spending quality time creating memories with their two kids. He is also a live-in caretaker for his 93-year-old grandmother. In his free time, Kraus likes to watch old wrestling, old horror movies, or enjoy old music (are you sensing a theme?). In active recovery since June 16, 2014, he also keeps busy by going to recovery-based meetings and events, relying on a combination of 12-Step recovery, faith-based recovery, and therapy for childhood trauma.
Halley Simpson grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and Vilonia, Arkansas, earning a bachelor’s degree in social work from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. She previously worked as a maternity counselor and career development specialist before joining the Meadows Behavioral Healthcare team in October 2021 and then becoming a recovery coach and alumni outreach specialist in February 2024. In this current role, you can find Simpson engaged in alumni outreach and retreat planning as well as facilitating virtual groups, Recovery Enhancement groups, and Friday afternoon lectures at The Meadows Texas. “I’m passionate about working with individuals who’ve experienced trauma, and I love to connect them to their innermost strengths, gifts, and passions,” she says.
Simpson is married to her best friend and they have two kids. In her free time, she enjoys, blogging, reading, exercising, and being out in nature.
A Dallas native, Brandon Harris is a certified recovery coach. With a long history of substance use disorder in his family of origin as well as being on his own recovery journey, he was a natural for this type of work. So, in 2020, when Harrison found himself needing to make a career pivot, he decided to pursue a career helping others find long-term recovery. He joined MBH in 2021 as a behavioral health tech and neurofeedback technician before becoming part of the MBH Onward team in December 2023. In this latest role, he works with clients one-on-one in our recovery coaching program. Harrison also supports our Alumni program with outreach, virtual groups, and retreats. He got sober on tax day in 2016, and as a former first responder, working with that community is near and dear to his heart.
Married with two kids, a polite Great Dane, and a difficult Bloodhound, Harrison is kept pretty busy. In his downtime, he is a huge fan of sports (especially football and Formula 1 racing) and documentaries. Every weekend you can find him at Costco.