Who We Are
Our Mission:
Natural Highs' mission is to make outdoor adventure and fitness available to people in recovery, and to create community and connection through healthy hobbies.
We aim to teach active hobbies that support mental health and help facilitate long term recovery by providing access to new people, places and things.
Jake Yoder
Founder and Director
Jake is a Mountain Guide and Personal Coach who specializes in helping others transform their addictive tendencies into healthy hobbies so that thriving becomes easy. He has learned from over a decade of rock climbing, hiking and other adventure sports that "achieved" highs gained from adventure are far more rewarding than "induced" highs from substances. Jake’s experience in long term recovery and desire to share the outdoors led him to become the Founder and CEO of “Natural Highs Recovery”.
Erica Jennie
Program Coordinator & Lead Instructor
This is Erica. She loves fitness. She lives to share her passion about fitness and healthy living with others. She has competed in CrossFit, Strongman, bodybuilding, and triathlons for over 20 years. Most importantly, she is in recovery. Let's hit the gym.
Jonathan Barclay
Creative Director & Lead Artist
This is Jon. Jon is the kindest soul in all the land. In this picture he's exploring a beach in Baja after spending a day rescuing baby sea turtles. Jon is in long term recovery with some epic clean adventures under his belt including mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, and sky diving. But all that is secondary, because John's prime sport is something you might never guess -- Unicycling.
Our Promise:
Our lead guides and instructors understand recovery because they are in recovery themselves from addiction and trauma. Our guides focus on the healing and character-building value of our activities, not just the recreational value. Rather than simply “doing the heavy lifting” for our clients, we aim to teach the skills necessary for clients to become proficient in new hobbies. We make adventures, nature, and fitness approachable so that participants can gain “healthy addictions”. The result? Participants gain knowledge of activities that will lead to new people, places and things -- and a new way of life.
Our Philosophy:
At Natural Highs we believe strongly in the therapeutic value of nature and adventure, especially in combination with each other. All of our activities, events, and coaching incorporate this philosophy.
Founded on the principle that habituation of healthy activities is critical to fostering long term recovery, we strive to not only lead but teach proficiency in the hobbies we offer, all while teaching the skill of positive thinking. Our goal is to improve addiction and recovery outcomes by providing customized support, and by making nature, adventure, and fitness accessible to people in recovery.
When we fall in love with a new hobby or skill, we gain access to new people, places and things for the rest of our lives.