“The way you visualize your life happening when you truly are at peace is much more attainable with community,” says Rob.
Addiction recovery can look different for everyone, and no one knows this better than Rob Shearon, founder of the RECONNECTED Foundation. His struggles with alcohol began at age 15 in his hometown of Eagle-Vail, Colorado. Years later, while attending the University of Colorado Boulder, these struggles intensified, leading to multiple encounters with law enforcement and landing him in detox facilities numerous times within an 18-month period.
“I struggled through college because of alcohol and drugs. Finally, my parents had to make a tough decision, telling me, ‘We love you, but we can’t help support your lifestyle,’” Rob recalls. “That’s when I realized I needed to get sober.” He found the support needed to begin his recovery at CU Boulder’s Collegiate Recovery Center.
An Unexpected Path to Connection
After a year and a half of sobriety, Rob embarked on what he thought would be the adventure of a lifetime – riding a moped from Colorado to Alaska to raise money for recovery scholarships at CU Boulder. Despite being surrounded by breathtaking wilderness, Rob was at his darkest point. “I was extremely suicidal during that trip,” he recalls. “I was alone every day with my thoughts, with no connection.” But during this isolation, a series of serendipitous encounters changed his life.
From a compassionate mentor in Haines, Alaska, who helped him begin the 12 steps, to a couple on a hiking trail who offered him shelter in Anchorage, each appeared at just the right moment. “It was crazy, the amount of coincidence,” Rob remembers. These experiences showed Rob the power of connection. After his Alaska journey ended, Rob traveled to New York City to visit a family he had taught skiing in Vail. What started as a brief trip turned into a three-year stay after he discovered a community of professionals in recovery. He met a mentor at an AA meeting who helped him start a career in real estate.
Building a Recovery Community
Rob returned to Boulder in 2018 to work at the same recovery center that had supported his early sobriety and started developing an app to help people in recovery connect with others. In 2022, he moved back to the Vail Valley. A coffee meeting with Carrie Benway, Executive Director of Your Hope Center, connected him with Vail Health Foundation, and this partnership led to the founding of the RECONNECTED in 2023.
RECONNECTED, which stands for REcovery, CONNECTion, and EDucation, offers peer support services and hosts social events ranging from skiing and hiking to concerts and art workshops. After years of development, Rob recently launched the RECONNECTED app to help people connect with others on the path to recovery.
Understanding that each person’s journey is unique, Rob offers this message to those seeking recovery: “The way you visualize your life happening when you truly are at peace is much more attainable with community. You haven’t met some of your best friends yet, who will carry you through and allow you to carry them through the greatest and toughest times in your lives.”
Through RECONNECTED, Rob has created the kind of supportive community he didn’t know he needed years ago, proving that while recovery looks different for everyone, no one has to face it alone.
“When somebody invests in RECONNECTED, the impact is tangible. We are changing and saving lives. It might be the first time that people feel like they matter.”Rob Shearon