Amber Harris, C-PRS
(She/Her/Hers)
Recovery Support Manager
Amber Harris is a trauma-informed Recovery Coach with training in Attachment-Based Coaching and Family Systems. Amber brings her personal and professional experiences to her recovery coaching relationships.
She is skilled in goal setting to increase recovery capital, strategizing around blind spots, planning around relapse vulnerabilities, implementing structure, and teaching effective communication and self-regulation skills to families. Her clients report increased ability to have difficult conversations without becoming emotionally reactive, being able to show up to life without fear and anxiety, and staying sober following a 12-month coaching relationship.
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After surviving a traumatic childhood filled with violence, addiction, frequent moving/relocating, and the death of her father at a young age as a result of addiction, Amber was inspired to make a difference in people’s lives.
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Amber attended Nursing School at St. Mary’s Hospital. Following graduation at 21, she went on to practice nursing in various settings, including hospitals, methadone clinics, prisons, and jails. She realized just how far mental illness and addiction reached, affecting families and our whole community. She learned how to treat the whole person, rather than just their illness, allowing her to empathize with the struggles of those she served. She began to place her focus on teaching patients and their families about the disease of addiction, the impact of trauma, and the road to recovery.
Amber began her own Recovery Journey in 2013 and has a personal understanding of trauma and addiction. She uses her personal narrative to reduce the shame experienced in her clients' lives, allowing them to more safely and comfortably address their triggers to use and their behaviors while using.
Amber has participated in trainings in psychodrama, Internal Family Systems, and polyvagal theory, and receives clinical supervision by our founder, Adrienne Loker, LCSW - making her one of the highest trained Peer Recovery Specialists in the entire state of Virginia. She tactfully integrates this training to create a non-pathologizing, non-shaming, comprehensive, and effective approach to relapse prevention and recovery maintenance planning.
Amber stays active in the Recovery Community and often participates in social activism close to her heart, such as Black Lives Matter and Prison Reform. Her other passion is spending time with her three daughters, who have grown up in meetings and Recovery, and is active in their lives and varying activities.