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Who We Are

The Allies in Recovery team started out as two people working above a breakfast café in Northampton MA, coaching families struggling with a Loved One’s addiction.

In 2015, after 10 years of this one-on-one work, Allies in Recovery became a worldwide web platform, thereby making our CRAFT coaching, eLearning, and resources available to anyone with an internet connection.

Dominique Simon-Levine is the founder and director of Allies in Recovery.

She has surrounded herself with a team of dedicated and talented humans, living around the world yet connected by our shared goal of contributing to a better world.

Addiction is a disease and can be treated. Individuals struggling with Substance Use Disorder deserve an environment where their illness is understood and recovery is fostered. And families absolutely have a role to play in guiding them towards that place.

Dominique Simon-Levine, PhD

Founder & CEO

Dominique launched Allies in Recovery in 2003. Her work has been featured on HBO and NPR. She is a facilitator and a trained speaker on issues of addiction and the family. She has worked extensively developing and evaluating federally-funded substance abuse programs for organizations and clinics throughout Massachusetts and New York. With an interest in recovery and substance abuse that spans 20 years, she sees a huge need to help families develop the skills to help a loved one recover fully in a supportive, whole, and lasting way in their families and in their communities. Her mission is to have Allies in Recovery fill that gap.

Dr. David Scherer, PhD

Consultant

David is a retired clinical psychologist and professor emeritus in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked with adolescents and families for over 35 years and did research and published on adolescent development and how to most effectively treat troubled adolescents. David has been involved in CRAFT clinical trials and in providing therapeutic interventions for and training psychotherapists to work with children, adolescents, and families.

Isabel Cooney

Project Manager & Blog Contributor

Isabel joined Allies in Recovery in 2014, and is thrilled every day to be part of the team and the project. Cooney’s background includes work in education as well as a stint in the corporate world (executive assistant and bilingual receptionist). These experiences as well as her passions for writing, well-being, mindfulness and human communication are all useful in her work for Allies in Recovery. Cooney’s current responsibilities at Allies include serving as project manager, team liaison, overseeing member services, and writing for the Sanctuary Blog. She resides on the rainy Normandy Coast in France with her family, including her three inspiring, strong-willed daughters, and a neurotic fox terrier.

Emily McKinney

Admin and Tech Support Specialist

After working in both western and eastern healthcare facilities, Emily joined Allies in Recovery in 2019. She is excited for the opportunity to combine her empathy and passion for helping others with her knowledge around technology. She holds several degrees and certificates in a wide range of areas, from Liberal Arts and General Studies to Pre-Health Sciences and Health Wellness & Public Safety. Born and raised in the East Mountains of New Mexico, Emily still calls the Land of Enchantment home. She currently lives in Albuquerque New Mexico, along with her husband and two sons.

Laurie MacDougall

Podcast Host & Guest Author

Laurie is a former math teacher, residing in Dartmouth, MA, and extremely active in the recovery community. She currently devotes most of her energy to REST, a non-traditional support group that offers land and online video meetings, access to training in the CRAFT method, and a crisis toolkit helping families create their own individualized crisis plan. Her work is guided by a desire to improve the community’s response and end the stigma associated with Substance Use Disorder. Laurie loves skiing and ice hockey, and is at her happiest when spending time with her husband and three children. Read her articles on our blog or tune in to the podcast she co-hosts for Allies in Recovery: Coming Up for Air.

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Madeline Rey

Director of Social Media

Madeline joined Allies in Recovery in June 2016 and is very excited to be part of this project. She has a degree in Development Studies and worked for 12 years in international organizations and the non-profit sector, while following her spouse on his diplomatic postings. She currently resides in France with her husband and four children.

Emily Cunningham

Editor & Blog Contributor

Emily serves as editor, occasional contributor, and co-curator of our Sanctuary posts. She merges her studies in mind-body medicine with a lifelong passion for language, writing and editing to serve the Allies in Recovery community. She is honored to be a part of this global family, bringing compassionate, open-hearted communication to our members. Emily and her family live in New Mexico where she enjoys the steady sunshine, vast landscapes and regional delights. Passionate about natural medicine and healing, she also works as a massage therapist and teaches Anatomy & Physiology at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM.

John Fitzgerald, PhD, LPC, CAS

Consultant, Guest Author

John is a licensed counselor in private practice with an expertise in addiction treatment. He holds adjunct positions in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Sciences University and the Graduate Program of Systems Science at Portland State University. For the past decade, he has been developing digital therapeutic solution for addictions.

Michelle Aldredge

Content Specialist

Michelle is a writer, photographer, consultant, and the founding editor of Gwarlingo, a popular online arts and culture website. In addition to producing web and video content for Allies in Recovery, Michelle provides Allies in Recovery members with creative inspiration through the Sanctuary, a unique section of the Allies in Recovery member site that features music, video, photography, writing, and other restorative posts.

Annie Highwater

Podcast Host & Guest Author

Annie Highwater is a Writer, Speaker, Podcast Host and Family Advocate. She has a particular interest in family pathology and concepts of dysfunction, addiction, alcoholism and conflict. Annie published her memoir, Unhooked: A Mother’s Story of Unhitching from the Roller Coaster of Her Son’s Addiction, in 2016. Her story sheds light on the personal challenges facing the affected parents and family members, and illustrates how family dynamics both help and hinder the recovery process. Annie’s second book, Unbroken, Navigating the Madness of Family Dysfunction, Addiction, Alcoholism and Heartache was published in August of 2018. She resides in Columbus, Ohio and enjoys writing, long distance running, hiking, the great outdoors and visiting her son in California as often as possible.

Pascal Beuve

Webmaster & eLearning Specialist

Pascal Beuve is a man of many trades (music, sound engineering, yoga teaching!) but his current incarnation centers around the creation of websites and eLearning platforms. He is very enthusiastic about being part of the Allies in Recovery team and feels honored to contribute to the mission of helping families struggling with addiction. Pascal resides in Normandy, France.

Rosslyn Kemerer

In-house Yogi & Blogger

Thanks to Rosslyn, our Sanctuary is graced with blog posts infused with yoga, meditation, nature and much enthusiasm. She also offers monthly yoga classes online, exclusively for Allies members. Rosslyn loves bringing her creativity in to private sessions with an eclectic mixture of yoga movement and philosophy, energy healing, Traditional Chinese Medicine, discussion and life-coaching techniques. “Together, we uncover the layers to reveal the body as a metaphor for healing. My goal is always to leave you feeling empowered, inspired, and motivated to live wholeheartedly.”Rosslyn and her husband are renovating their dream cabin in the woods in Ligonier, Pennsylvania

Kayla Solomon, LICSW

CRAFT Support Group Facilitator

Kayla Solomon is a social worker in private practice in Northampton, MA. Her specialty in addiction began right after college when she was hired as a methadone counselor in Fort Green, Brooklyn. Her clients taught her everything she needed to know about addiction. Since then she has worked in Intensive Outpatient Programs, clinics, residential and private practice. She is a certified in Imago Relationship therapy, Cognitive Behavioral therapy, and Brainspotting. Her claim to fame is her use of humor, improvisation and being a very direct New Yorker (even though she’s lived in Western Mass for 25 years). She is a long-term student of improv and tried a stint doing stand up. She decided not to quit her day job.

Amy Grossman, MBA

Development Consultant

Amy provides Allies in Recovery with strategic planning and implementation guidance. She has extensive leadership experience in for-profit and non-profit organizations focused on social entrepreneurship. She launched and led the school of continuing studies at Brandeis and went on to co-found an online learning company. Prior to that, she was associate professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at Pine Manor College Boston.

Jefferson Hills

Development Consultant

Jefferson joined Allies in Recovery in October 2016. His management career has been in the fitness and health care fields. Most recently he was Executive Director of ResCare Southern California, where he managed home care services for the frail elderly, developmentally disabled and wounded warriors. He is also involved with the California Coalition for Compassionate Care, promoting patient’s rights at end of life. He resides in Palm Springs, California.

Jeanine Bedard, MSW, LCSW

Consultant

Jeanine is Allies in Recovery’s Treatment Resource Specialist. She developed Allies in Recovery’s methodology for identifying substance abuse treatment and matching it to the needs of a family’s loved one. Bedard has studied treatment systems throughout the United States and abroad, and has worked extensively with families to help them understand treatment systems and to facilitate program admissions.