OUR LEADERSHIP
Our team of therapists, medical personnel, and support staff have years of professional experience in treating addictions and other medical and mental health disorders.
Laura Herrmann
MA, CVRC
Partner, Chief Executive Officer
Laura Herrmann has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare marketing field with over 20 years in the executive level in management, operations, strategy and sales leadership and as a C-Level executive.
Working early in her career with digital and full marketing agencies, she found her passion in healthcare, mainly behavioral health. Laura continued her career when she moved to Denver, and became the Senior Director of Professional Relations, Digital and Product Marketing at Eating Recovery Center and ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders in 2015. She was then brought on as Chief Marketing Officer for Gallus Medical Detox Centers in 2019, growing them into a successful high end, high acuity detox in three locations, and has since opened her own company providing strategic and leadership guidance to numerous companies in the behavioral health space.
With a master’s degree from Tufts School of Medicine and Emerson College in Health Communication, Laura has continued to find excitement and challenge in her chosen field. She serves on the board of LIGHT Movement and is a Core Values Recovery certified Recovery Coach. Please contact her at laura@serenityforlife.com or (303) 434-0602.
Dr. Kate Daly
MD, Board Certified Psychiatrist
Medical Director
Dr. Kate Daly is a board-certified psychiatrist who serves as Medical Director for Serenity for Life, bringing extensive experience in residential and outpatient behavioral healthcare. She is known for her collaborative, compassionate approach and her commitment to treating the whole person through thoughtful, individualized psychiatric care.
Dr. Daly specializes in the treatment of complex mental health conditions, with particular expertise in trauma, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, anxiety, depression, and treatment-resistant psychiatric illnesses. She believes healing occurs through a combination of evidence-based psychiatric treatment, meaningful therapeutic relationships, and an integrated understanding of each person's biological, psychological, social, and emotional needs.
She earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Washington, where she served as Chief Resident. Dr. Daly is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and has served as a psychiatrist and medical director across outpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, and residential treatment settings.
At Serenity for Life, Dr. Daly works closely with the multidisciplinary treatment team to provide comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and individualized treatment planning. Her warm, nonjudgmental style helps clients feel safe, understood, and empowered as they work toward lasting recovery and emotional wellness.
Michelle D. Presley
DNP, ACNP-BC, PMHNP
Psychiatric Nurse Practioner
Michelle D. Presley, DNP, ACNP-BC, PMHNP is a Doctor of Nursing Practice with advanced training in acute care, pain management, and psychiatric mental health. She completed her residency training at the University of Kentucky Neuro-ICU, where she worked alongside anesthesiologists, nurses, physical therapists, and CRNAs caring for critically ill patients with complex neurological conditions. In May 2026, she completed my Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree, further expanding her ability to provide comprehensive care for patients experiencing mental health challenges.
As a nurse practitioner, she began my career helping patients manage chronic pain through spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pain pumps. Through this work, she developed a deep appreciation for the powerful connection between mental and physical health. Over the years, she has become increasingly passionate about helping individuals manage both chronic pain and mental health conditions to improve function, restore hope, and live their best lives. She believes that patients deserve compassionate, evidence-based care without judgment or stigma. Too often, individuals with chronic pain, ADHD, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other conditions feel misunderstood or treated as though they are doing something wrong simply because they require ongoing treatment or controlled medications. Her goal is to create a safe, supportive environment where patients feel heard, respected, and empowered as they receive the care they need to thrive.
She has always been passionate about healthy living and helping people become the best versions of themselves. Through her practice Mountain Air Wellness, she has the opportunity to provide personalized care that addresses the whole person—not just symptoms—while partnering with patients to achieve their health, wellness, and life goals.
Briana Severine
MS, LPC, LAC, CPRP
Chief Clinical Officer
Briana Severine MS, LPC, LAC, CPRP holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master of Science in Developmental Psychopathology from the University of Reading in England, where her graduate work focused on trauma. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addiction Counselor in the State of Colorado.
She has worked across the full continuum of care, including individual therapy, intensive outpatient, residential treatment, and acute psychiatric hospitals. She has extensive experience treating trauma and complex mental health conditions, including work with high-profile clients and professional women, such as healthcare professionals.
Briana’s background includes private pay outpatient practice, as well as clinical leadership and marketing for a family of residential treatment programs, and the development of a women’s trauma-focused IOP. She is the founder of Sanare Psychosocial Rehabilitation, a private-pay, community-based program providing intensive, real-world clinical support for adults with persistent mental health challenges.
Her work is grounded in delivering sophisticated, trauma-focused care that helps clients process and resolve underlying trauma, allowing them to move forward with greater clarity, stability, and emotional freedom.
REbecca Aucoin Johnson
MSW, LCSW, ACSW
Therapist
Rebecca Aucoin Johnson, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 30 years of experience helping individuals, couples, and families navigate trauma, mental health challenges, life transitions, and recovery. Her career has spanned private practice, integrated medical settings, home health, and military behavioral health, including serving as an embedded behavioral health provider with the U.S. Army's 10th Special Forces Group.
Rebecca is known for her ability to meet clients exactly where they are, creating a safe and compassionate space for healing and growth. Her approach integrates trauma-informed care, neuroscience, mindfulness, and evidence-based therapies, helping clients better understand the connection between mind, body, and emotional well-being.
A Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator trained in the work of Brené Brown, Rebecca specializes in helping clients navigate shame, vulnerability, resilience, and authentic connection. She combines these principles with modalities such as CBT, EMDR-informed interventions, mindfulness practices, and somatic approaches to support lasting change.
At Serenity for Life, Rebecca is passionate about helping women move beyond survival and toward a life rooted in courage, self-compassion, meaningful relationships, and emotional wellness.
Susanne Neal
LAC, LPC
Therapist
Susanne Neal, LPC, LAC is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addictions Counselor with extensive experience working in mental health, trauma, and substance use treatment. Her clinical background includes work in women’s recovery programming, community mental health, detoxification settings, private practice, and trauma-focused care. She previously worked with women navigating substance use and trauma at Summit Women's Recovery and has spent years supporting individuals through complex life transitions, emotional challenges, and recovery processes.
Susanne utilizes a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) framework while integrating trauma-informed and body-based approaches to help clients better understand the connection between past experiences, emotional patterns, and present-day functioning. She is trained in EMDR and Brainspotting and works collaboratively with clients to build insight, strengthen coping skills, and create meaningful, sustainable change.
Known for her warm, grounded, and nonjudgmental style, Susanne creates a supportive therapeutic environment where clients can safely explore the challenges impacting their mental health, relationships, and overall well-being. Her areas of focus include trauma, addiction, anxiety, depression, women’s issues, and emotional wellness
Liz Girling
MA, BSN, RN
Nurse Coordinator
Liz Girling, MA, BSN, RN brings more than 15 years of experience in the behavioral health and substance use treatment field, with a background spanning research, nursing, staff education, clinical leadership, and process improvement. Her work has centered on strengthening clinical systems and workflows, supporting staff development, and promoting safe, consistent, and compassionate care.
As a former SCL Health Research Fellow, Liz brings formal research experience, with a continued interest in applying evidence-based concepts to clinical care, staff education, and program development. Her clinical interests are grounded in trauma-informed care and the neurobiology of addiction, including the role of nervous system regulation and nature-based interventions in supporting sustainable recovery.
In addition to her nursing background, Liz holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and maintains an active Wilderness First Aid certification. Her interests in wilderness medicine and nature-based treatment inform her passion for experiential programming that supports recovery skills, nervous system regulation, and whole-person healing.
Lisa Ketcham Hendrickson
BA, RYT, Reiki Master, Lifestyle Medicine Coach
Integrative Wellness Director, Nurse, Grief Coach
Lisa Ketcham-Hendrickson is an integrative wellness practitioner, nurse, yoga teacher, Reiki Master, sound practitioner, and founder of Tributaries Holistic Health and Human Recovery, LLC. With more than 30 years of nursing experience, including decades in emergency and trauma care, she brings a distinctive ability to bridge Western medicine and holistic healing.
Lisa’s work is grounded in the belief that true healing must honor the whole person—body, mind, spirit, nervous system, and energy bodies. Drawing from yoga philosophy, lifestyle medicine, scientific evidence, trauma-informed care, and lived experience, she creates spaces where individuals can reconnect with themselves and move toward healing through awareness, embodiment, ritual, movement, and community.
Her professional path has also been shaped by her own experiences with grief, trauma, recovery, and transformation. These experiences became the foundation of Human Recovery, a coaching model rooted in nervous system regulation. The model recognizes that although suffering takes many forms, healing often returns us to the same essential practices: honesty, self-study, surrender, repair, and reconnection.
Lisa offers integrative coaching, yoga, sound healing, workshops, Reiki, retreats, and community gatherings that support individuals in reclaiming themselves, not just surviving life, but learning how to live more fully, consciously, and connected.
Jasmine Middleton
Admissions Director
Jasmine Middleton is an experienced healthcare and behavioral health leader with decades of experience in the medical, substance abuse, and mental health fields. As Admissions Director, she oversees the admissions and intake process with a strong focus on compassionate care, operational excellence, and patient advocacy.
Throughout her career, Jasmine has led high-performing teams, streamlined admissions operations, and helped individuals and families navigate the treatment process with empathy and professionalism. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and is a licensed paramedic, bringing both clinical insight and operational expertise to her leadership role. Her expertise includes medical detox, behavioral health and substance abuse treatment operations, insurance and financial coordination, and patient-centered admissions management, helping women and their families navigate treatment with compassion, professionalism, and care.
Known for her leadership, attention to detail, and commitment to quality care, Jasmine is passionate about creating a supportive and seamless experience for every patient entering treatment.
CATE Gremillion
PHR, SHRM-CP
Director of Human Resources, Payroll, Client Advocate
Cate has a strong background in human resources, office management, and payroll. A graduate of Barnes Business College, she brings over 20 years of HR and payroll expertise to the team. Cate is a SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) and an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management.
Among her many past achievements, Cate created and implemented the first-ever wellness program for Clear Creek County, Colorado—an initiative that continues to positively impact county employees.
In her current role, Cate serves as the Director of Human Resources, Payroll Coordinator, and Client Advocate. She is passionate about supporting both employees and clients. Cate finds deep fulfillment in fostering a positive work culture and being a trusted resource and advocate for those on the path to recovery.
Loriel Brune
MA, RCP, NCFRC, SFRC, CVRC
Director of Family Coaching and Recovery Coaching
Loriel Brune MA, RCP, CNFRC, SFRC, CVRC is a compassionate and experienced Family Recovery Coach dedicated to helping individuals and families navigate the emotional challenges of addiction, recovery, boundaries, and relational healing.
With more than 18 years of experience in the recovery field, Loriel is known for her grounded, supportive, and direct approach that empowers clients to move from crisis, confusion, and emotional overwhelm into clarity, stability, and healthier communication. Loriel specializes in family systems, codependency recovery, boundary work, people-pleasing patterns, shame resilience, and rebuilding trust within relationships impacted by addiction and emotional pain.
She creates a safe and supportive environment where clients can strengthen self-worth, develop healthier coping strategies, and reconnect with their personal values and emotional well-being. Through education, coaching, and compassionate guidance, Loriel helps families and individuals develop healthier relationships with themselves and others while supporting long-term personal growth and recovery.
Stacy Wallace
M.Ed, LPC
Trauma Intensive Specialist
Stacy Wallace, M.Ed, LPC is an experiential trauma therapist and breathwork practitioner who specializes in helping women heal from trauma, relationship wounds, life transitions, grief, addiction, and patterns that keep them disconnected from themselves. Her work is deeply rooted in mind-body healing, emotional expression, and experiential approaches that support lasting transformation beyond traditional talk therapy.
Stacy integrates modalities including experiential therapy, breathwork, psychodrama-informed interventions, nervous system regulation, movement, and expressive techniques to help clients process unresolved trauma and reconnect with authenticity, empowerment, and joy. Her approach is warm, interactive, and collaborative, with a strong emphasis on helping clients better understand the connection between their emotions, body, relationships, and lived experiences.
Before entering private practice, Stacy worked across community mental health, residential treatment, corrections, and intensive treatment settings in Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, and Colorado. She brings a grounded and compassionate presence to her work and is passionate about creating spaces where women feel deeply seen, supported, and empowered in their healing process.
At Serenity for Life, Stacy provides experiential trauma intensives and group work designed to help women move through trauma in deeply transformative and embodied ways while building greater self-awareness, resilience, and connection.
In addition to her work with Serenity for Life, Stacy is the founder of The Daybreak Collective, a Boulder-based private practice focused on trauma therapy, breathwork, experiential healing, and women’s emotional wellness.
Chelsea Van Essen
LPC
Trauma Intensive Specialist
Chelsea Van Essen, LPC is a trauma-focused therapist specializing in experiential, relational, and somatic approaches to healing. She works with individuals navigating trauma, attachment wounds, anxiety, identity development, life transitions, and emotional dysregulation, with a strong emphasis on helping clients reconnect with themselves in authentic and meaningful ways.
Chelsea’s approach is warm, collaborative, and deeply grounded in nervous system awareness and relational healing. She integrates experiential and body-centered modalities to support clients in moving beyond survival-based patterns and toward greater emotional flexibility, self-understanding, and connection. Her work emphasizes creating safety, fostering curiosity, and helping clients access deeper healing through experiential processing and authentic therapeutic relationships.
At Serenity for Life, Chelsea brings a compassionate and grounded presence to the clinical team. She is passionate about supporting women in developing resilience, self-trust, emotional expression, and deeper connection to themselves and others while engaging in transformative trauma work within a supportive community environment.
In addition to her work with Serenity for Life, Chelsea is the founder of Logos Healing Institute in Colorado, where she provides trauma-informed psychotherapy and experiential clinical care.
brandon lutman
LCSW, CCTP-II, SP, CET-II, CAP, EMDR
Trauma Intensive Specialist
Brandon Lutman, LCSW, CCTP-II, SP, CET-II, CAP, EMDR is a trauma-focused therapist specializing in experiential, somatic, and action-based approaches to healing. Licensed in both Colorado and Florida, Brandon works with individuals navigating complex trauma, addiction, shame, codependency, attachment wounds, and relational challenges. His approach is deeply experiential and rooted in helping clients move beyond survival patterns into greater authenticity, connection, and emotional freedom.
Brandon integrates modalities including Psychodrama, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, expressive arts, inner child work, and other experiential therapies to support deep nervous system healing and lasting transformation. He is particularly passionate about helping clients explore the ways trauma becomes stored within the body, emotions, relationships, and behavioral patterns, while creating spaces that foster safety, curiosity, and meaningful change.
At Serenity for Life, Brandon brings a grounded, compassionate, and highly experiential presence to the clinical team. His work emphasizes embodiment, emotional expression, relational healing, and experiential trauma processing in ways that help women reconnect with themselves and move toward fuller, more empowered lives.
In addition to his work with Serenity for Life, Brandon maintains a private practice through Lutman Counseling, LLC, where he provides virtual therapy in Colorado and Florida as well as experiential trauma intensives and immersive workshops.
D.J. Bishop
MA, LPC, LAC
Trauma Intensive Specialist
D.J. Bishop, MA, LPC, LAC is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addiction Counselor with extensive experience working with trauma, substance use, relationship challenges, and emotional healing. His approach is experiential, trauma-informed, and deeply relational, helping clients move beyond survival patterns and toward greater connection, self-understanding, and emotional resilience.
D.J. has worked in both private practice and intensive treatment settings, including leading trauma-focused individual and group intensives. He integrates modalities such as EMDR, Brainspotting, psychodrama, experiential therapy, and nervous system-focused work to support meaningful and lasting healing.
At Serenity for Life, D.J. brings a grounded, compassionate presence and a strong belief in the transformative power of safe relationships, authentic connection, and experiential trauma work. He is passionate about helping women reconnect with themselves, process unresolved trauma, and build lives rooted in empowerment, stability, and deeper emotional freedom.
In addition to his work with Serenity for Life, D.J. maintains a private practice, DJB Therapy, in Colorado, where he continues to provide individual therapy and trauma-focused clinical care.
Erin Henry
LCSW
Trauma Intensive Specialist
Erin Henry, LCSW is a trauma and attachment-focused therapist with over 15 years of clinical experience spanning private practice, nonprofit work, and experiential trauma treatment. Her work is deeply rooted in somatic, relational, and nature-based approaches that help clients reconnect with themselves, their bodies, and their sense of safety after trauma.
Erin specializes in trauma recovery, nervous system regulation, relational healing, and post-traumatic growth. She integrates experiential modalities including Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), equine-assisted psychotherapy, movement-based work, and nature-informed therapy to support deeper emotional processing and lasting change. Her approach is warm, grounded, and highly experiential, with a strong emphasis on healing through connection, authenticity, and embodiment.
As a breast cancer survivor herself, Erin also brings lived experience and deep compassion to her work with women navigating trauma, identity shifts, and life transitions. She is passionate about creating spaces where women can heal in community, reconnect with their inner strength, and move toward lives that feel more aligned, empowered, and meaningful.
In addition to her work with Serenity for Life, Erin is the founder of https://www.rewildtherapy.com, a Colorado-based private practice specializing in trauma therapy, nature-based healing, equine-assisted psychotherapy, and women’s trauma intensives.
