Natural Highs: Radical Recovery, Inner Change, and Social Engagement

In this episode of Waking Up Bipolar, Chris Cole shares a recovery talk for Natural Highs, a non-profit in Boulder, Colorado that helps young people connect to sober living and each other. 

Natural Highs is an interactive strengths-based substance abuse prevention/intervention peer mentor program that is co-created by teens to empower teens and their communities around healthy lifestyle choices and creating a positive peer culture.

Our MISSION is to empower teens and adults to become INSPIRED LEADERS around HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHOICES and to work for POSITIVE CHANGE in their communities.​

Natural Highs provides healthy alternatives to drugs and alcohol through offering workshops, drop-in classes, groups, presentations, sober events, and entrepreneurial and leadership opportunities for teens. The goal of the program is for teens to learn about the effects of substance use, discover healthy alternatives, support each other with healthy choices, and take on leadership roles to positively impact teens and adults in their communities.

The larger vision for this program is to create a positive peer culture around healthy lifestyle choices for teens and adults. We serve over 2000 teens per year in the Boulder, CO area. The intended outcome for these participants is to increase the number of teens who make healthier choices around drugs and alcohol. Our goal is to empower teens to step up as leaders in creating a positive peer culture in their communities. 

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Natural Highs offers a chance for deeper connection as a way to avoid the pitfalls of the sort of isolation and anxiety that marks drug use and pervasive ambivalence. I feel strongly that our young people are the future of our country, and I couldn’t be more proud to serve the local youth toward holistic health and wholeness.

Visit Natural High's website: http://naturalhighs.org

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Chris Cole hosts the Waking Up Bipolar podcast, focused on the intersection of bipolar disorder and spiritual awakening. He is the author of The Body of Chris: A Memoir of Obsession, Addiction, and Madness, inspired by his own journey of spiritual unfolding and mental health challenges. Chris Cole offers life coaching for any number of mental health conditions, specializing in bipolar disorder and spiritual emergence. Chris’s experience with addiction, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, psychosis, and spiritual emergency allows him to relate to a wide range of clients. He utilizes a holistic approach to mental health which views wellness in physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual domains. Learn more about Chris and his work at colecoaching.com.

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