Meet Our Founder and Lead Clinician:
Nathaniel Hodder-Shipp, B.Msc, CADC-II (he/him), is President and Founder of Breathwork for Recovery and has worked as a professional healer for almost 15 years. Using an arsenal of techniques with a special focus on breathwork, Nathaniel has helped thousands of people process trauma, disarm negative thought patterns, and maintain healthy and happy relationships with themselves and loved ones. Nathaniel’s client base ranges from those seeking relief from everyday anxiety to people suffering from severe emotional and physical trauma and desperate for help; his specialty includes working in addiction treatment facilities to help accelerate clients’ journey to recovery.
c/w talk of suicide
In treatment in 2009 is where Nathaniel first discovered breathwork, following ongoing struggles with addiction and several failed attempts at suicide. He was disconnected, at odds with his own integrity, and running away from life, but everything changed once Nathaniel discovered breathwork. His skepticism and resistance to traditional healing techniques dissolved as he saw how swiftly the practice shifted his perspective on life, love and recovery.
Nathaniel has been mentoring others in breathwork since 2013 having been certified in 2010, and he himself has clocked over a thousand training hours. Having been introduced to the work by Corrie Murguia, he studied with his former breathwork mentor David Elliott* for over a decade and officially founded Breathwork for Recovery in early 2018 to train others to use breathwork to treat trauma, mental illness, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. He is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor Level II with CCAPP, a certified sex educator via Everyone Deserves Sex Ed (EDSE), and a graduate of The Fundamentals of Astrology Years I-III with Austin Coppock. His practice is rooted in contributing to the dismantling of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. With this unique perspective and skillset, Nathaniel works full time helping empower people to make the necessary changes in their lives toward long-term health and happiness.
He has helped develop an 800-hour Breathwork Clinician Certification – the most comprehensive in the field – and has recently founded The American Breathwork Association to develop equity, ethics and regulation in the field of breathwork.
Meet Our Team:
Amy Schaller (she/her) is a breathwork practitioner based in Tucson, Ariz., with 20+ years’ experience working in non-profit and higher-education settings that support and provide essential social services, including peer-based recovery from substance abuse and mental health disorder. Her community-based work has led her to work in domestic and sexual abuse prevention, at-risk youth development, STI and HIV prevention, accessible education, and peer-based recovery programs. She is a first-generation college graduate and has a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from Northern Arizona University and a Master's degree in Women's Studies from the University of Arizona.
Amy's personal healing journey began 10 years ago when she got sober and began receiving treatment for clinical depression and anxiety. Since then, she has explored many modalities to support her healing, including counseling, support groups, 12-step recovery programs, self-help literature, writer's groups, sweat ceremonies, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, Reiki, shamanic journeying, moon circles, and more. She was introduced to breathwork in 2017 by practitioner Danielle Hering, and she was instantly struck by the intense healing she experienced after just one session. Amy believes that breathwork helped integrate much of the healing work she has done in her life, but nothing has felt as powerful as the healing she experienced through her breathwork practice.
Amy was trained to facilitate breathwork professionally and has completed the David Elliott Healer Training series.
Anais Dotiu
(she/they)
Brian Jacobs, MS
Brian Jacobs (he/him) has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and is a pranayama breathwork facilitator. A compassionate, kind and empathetic person with a unique understanding and way of working with people of all ages, and these qualities lie at the core of Brian’s work.
Brian combines traditional psychology with his passion, pranayama breathwork. His work is geared towards assisting people to experience the interwoven connection that exists in, body, mind and spirit. Brian facilitates breathwork groups in the field of alcohol and drug recovery. He also leads adolescent and young adult groups in mental health facilities and meditation centers in addition to his private practice.
Brian received his Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Loyola Marymount University, where he developed his fundamental foundation of studying various perspectives, theories and practices in the field of psychology. He spent several years training at The Maple Center working with children, adolescents, and adults. Brian spent time volunteering at The Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, where he worked with kids who had Schizophrenia in a physical therapy milieu. He also volunteered at Vista Del Mar, where he counseled high school adolescents. Brian recently completed his educational requirements for his CADAC at Loyola Marymount University and has recently completed the required hours for licensure.
Jackie Jones
Jackie Jones (no pronouns) is a certified breathwork practitioner with more than a decade of professional experience in addiction treatment . An effective communicator and passionate mental health professional, Jackie offers soul-connected education with a focus on recovery that is rooted in honesty, open mindedness, and willingness. Jackie engages clients in creative thinking using public speaking and group facilitation, and brings wellness to clients and colleagues through loving leadership and candid conversation. Jackie also is a trained Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention Counselor through The Trevor Project and has been active on the Lifeline since 2015, guiding LGBTQ young people seeking help.
Dr. Janoc Vance, PsyD
Dr. Janoc Vance is a PsyD in Psychology/MFT and a proud native of Los Angeles, CA. She has dedicated her life to humanitarian, and philanthropic work as a vessel to strengthen and empower. Coming from a background as a professional in the Performing Arts industry, after intense self-reflection and prayer, Dr. Vance discovered an extension of her purpose within an even more in-depth style of the Arts. She realized the Arts was a true gift and passion used to guide her toward an even bigger purpose, within the field of, Behavioral Arts and Psychology.
After receiving formal training and graduating with an undergraduate degree in Theatre and Minor in Dance from Prairie View A&M University, and UNLV, 10 years later she re-entered the academic world to further nurture her purpose through graduate studies. She then received her Masters in Clinical Psychology/MFT, concluding with a Doctorate of Psychology/MFT. She is currently a Doctor of Psychology, specializing in Psychotherapy treating adults and families dealing with dual diagnoses, trauma, depression, mood, and personality disorders. She is also a clinical consultant for film/script writers and character development.
Dr. Vance works with integrative and holistic methods. However, she has taken a liking to differentiation methodologies, aspiring to assist those that are directly or indirectly struggling to differentiate the symptom vs the cause, the individual vs the system, and the facts vs the emotions.
She currently works as a Clinical Director and has a private practice/business, Living is a Lifestyle, LLC, which specializes in clinical life coaching, clinical consulting within the psychology profession and entertainment industry.
Lauren Jarema, MS
(she/her)
In the almost 12 years I spent studying under David Elliott as one of his main teachers, I’ve grown both spiritually and professionally and will always be grateful for the opportunities that working closely with him has afforded me. In Fall 2021, I made the heart-wrenching and difficult decision to leave David's breathwork community, as I could no longer ethically be associated with him or his teachers due to the legacy of harm outlined here by Breathwork for the People.
I was not involved in the letter-writing nor am I affiliated with Breathwork for the People, but what they did was an important step in healing the breathwork community and took a tremendous amount of courage. I remained in David's breathwork community for a year and a half hoping to be a part of the important changes urged by Breathwork for the People and several other community members throughout the years, and to make it a better program and safer, more affirming space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as well as folks from the LGBTQIA+ community. The issues outlined in the letter were not remedied, however, and the changes were not made. So I left the community in order to build one that represents the values and justice focus that I and so many others hold true.
