Author: Anne Brown

April Wilson Smith, MPH, is a PhD student in Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Her research focuses on harm reduction approaches to people who use substances when they enter the healthcare system.

April's other interest in healthcare is interprofessional education and teamwork. Her work with the Jefferson Center for InterProfessional Education won the 2016 James B. Erdmann PhD award for Excellence in Interprofessional Education. She is currently building a large, multidisciplinary coalition to create an interprofessional education module for healthcare professionals in best practices for the care of people who use drugs when they present in the acute care setting.

April is a Certified SMART Recovery facilitator and founded the first SMART Recovery meeting in the Philadelphia city limits. She is also co-founder of the only Harm Reduction, Abstinence and Moderation Support meeting in Philadelphia.

April recently accepted a position as Harm Reduction Epidemiologist with Families for Sensible Drug Policy, which is a non-profit dedicated to helping families advocate for drug policies that save drug users' lives and keep families together and healthy.  Co-founder and President, Barry Lessin, is also a Pro Talk columnist . 

April graduated from Yale University in 1996. She was a union organizer for healthcare workers for 18 years before going back to school for her Master of Public Health, and spent ten years as Director of Organizing for Pennsylvania's largest nurses' union. She lives in West Philadelphia with her beautiful black cat, Loviefluffy.

Located in Portland, OR, Olivia Pennelle (Liv) is an experienced writer, journalist, and coach. She is the founder of the popular site Liv’s Recovery Kitchen, a site dedicated to helping people flourish in their recovery.

Liv is passionate about challenging limiting mentalities and empowering others to direct their own lives, health, and recovery. You can find her articles across the web on podcasts and addiction recovery websites, including The Fix, Recovery.org, Workit Health, and Ravishly. Liv was recently featured in VICE.

If you're interested in connecting with Liv, you can find her on Instagram. She also created a new Facebook group called Life After 12 Steps, where she proudly sees members thriving, rather than forcing themselves to do something that doesn’t work.

Additionally, Liv offers free resources on her website, including the e-book entitled Nourishing You, which is designed to give you the tools to achieve your health goals in straightforward language.

Tamara (Tammy) Roth, PhD, LPC/MHSP is a holistic psychotherapist and author of High Bottom – Letting Go of Vodka and Chardonnay and New Bottom – Turning the Other Cheek.

Tamara’s passions are combining ancient wisdom with modern science in the recovery process. She is trained in kundalini yoga, Jungian dreamwork, equine therapy, and neurofeedback. She weaves all of these modalities into the therapeutic process in an effort to retrain the brain and recover the authentic self.

She is the Clinical Director of the Professional Women’s Program at JourneyPure Addiction Treatment. She also offers women’s beachfront holistic retreats.

Tamara earned two master’s degrees from Vanderbilt University focusing on human development and a PhD in Metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology.

Tammy Nelson, Ph.D. is a world-renowned expert in sex and relationships, a psychotherapist in private practice and a trainer and seminar leader worldwide. She is the author of several books, including Getting The Sex You Want: Shed Your Inhibitions and Reach New Heights of Passion Together and The New Monogamy: Redefining Your Relationship After Infidelity. She can be found at drtammynelson.com.

Penni Feiner is a licensed Kundalini Research Institute-certified yoga teacher, as well as a LifeForce Yoga® level II practitioner. Having completed her first 200-hour teacher training at Naturally Yoga in Glen Rock, New Jersey, in 2004, Penni integrates sacred sound with movement, encouraging participants to open their hearts to explore their own inner songs. Her Bhakti yoga experience includes studying with Jai Uttal, Snatam Kaur, and Guru Ganesha.

Penni’s CD, With Gratitude from My Heart to Yours, was released in December of 2014 and is available on iTunes. With a new CD in the works, Penni will explore Mantra and Mindfulness Through Music: A Journey to the Center of Positive Psychology. Penni is a member of two Kirtan bands: Vayu and Rasa Lila.

Penni serves as Executive Director of Kula for Karma, a 501c3 not for profit community of yoga teachers who offer yoga to people challenged by illness, abuse, neglect, addiction, and other life obstacles.

She co-teaches a workshop at Kripalu called “Finding your Passion” with Geri Topfer, Founder and President of Kula for Karma, and has developed five Kula for Karma Advanced Teacher Training modules in collaboration with Geri Topfer, Charlotte Stone, and Nancy Candea.

I work with creative people using creative techniques to help you feel better.

I started my career working with unemployed adults, providing counseling and referrals to a wide variety of services. From there, I transitioned to working with older adolescents and adults involved in the criminal justice system, managing a supportive internship program, helping people prepare for interviews and working one-on-one and in groups for therapy. As a side project, I taught yoga and meditation at Riker’s Island to sentenced inmates. I hold a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Hunter College with a clinical focus; during my time there I extensively studied how trauma manifests in the body and methods for releasing it. My research also included an exploration of power and privilege, a concept that I'm committed to exploring with clients. In my spare time I practice yoga and meditation, which play an important role in my clinical work.

In my professional life, I’ve worked with many people in therapy for the first time. I’ve become adept at creating a safe environment and building trust with people who are apprehensive about the process. I’m a patient and empathetic listener, but I don’t shy away from offering feedback and respectful challenges. I often utilize mindfulness techniques such as breath work and body awareness exercises to look for clues about unconscious feelings. I like to create assignments collaboratively between sessions to test out new techniques, which can help progress go faster and change be more enduring.