“SHiFT saved my life! I see a world open up now that I never knew existed.”

“I became willing to try things I had never done before and I finally saw that abstinence must be the most important thing in my life. Thank you Acorn.”

“Phil’s knowledge and his intuitiveness are beyond comprehensible. Amanda brings a desire to help and challenges us at each session. She brings honesty, open-mindedness and willingness.”

“It was brilliant, safe and broke through my substantial denial.”

“I so enjoyed watching the two of you work together. Your knowledge and skills have been inspirational. Sometimes I giggled at the ebb and flow of your styles…a symphony of melodies, along with a rock band!”

“Simply said, I look forward to the Intensive!”

“I learned as much from others as from the work I did.”

“Phil and Amanda, YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!”

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the guidance and help. What you have done for my recovery has been life-changing.”

“This was the most challenging concept for me to wrap my head around, probably because of monumental denial, yet, by the end of the workshop I believe my Higher Power afforded me a path for this new journey.”

“Thank you! I feel like my recovery has moved to a new level.”

“Acorn is absolutely fantastic and has saved my life. I thought I was that hopeless case they speak about in the Big Book. Thank you for helping me and giving me hope.”

“Loved this and it was so wonderful to begin to cultivate long term recovery habits that will sustain my abstinence. Thank you so much.”

“The 3-week program was really amazing!  It was difficult, painful, intense and scary for me.  At the same time, I had so much love and support … I can’t even believe I made it through.  Thank you so much.”

“Nothing gets to the core of my food addiction problems like doing an Acorn event.  I get help and hope to face the world and remain abstinent.  This support system helps me to go back to OA and work an even stronger program”

“Acorn is the tool/channel that God created for those of us who feel “constitutionally incapable” of getting it!  It’s an organization of “Creating Miracles.”  Saving lives – that is their mission and they are committed to it and keep following through….”

“Amanda did a really great job as facilitator. I appreciated her energy, candor, insights and obvious caring.”

“I feel that I have been given tools to use to strengthen my abstinence and recovery.”

“I have come to my first intensive as a hopeless food addict with constant relapses. Acorn has taught me how I can live a life in recovery and live abstinent. While I still face struggles, I am convinced that without Acorn and the intense work addressing my addiction, I would still be eating.”

“The Acorn Intensive is unlike any other program or group therapy that I have done in my life. Amanda and Phil are so insightful, knowledgeable and willing to always help.”

“I love the direct, honest one on one feedback I get from Amanda.”

“I understand my powerlessness with a new level of depth now. Thank you!”

“I love the work you do! I know I can do this with your help.”

“I am amazed at this wonderful experience and how much I have gotten from it. The participants and facilitators were amazing.”

“Thank you for saving my life!”

“The Intensive was one of the hardest, but emotionally beautiful, freeing and enlightening.”

“The best gift I ever gave myself.”

“Acorn provided the processes and understanding about food addiction to facilitate deep healing for me.”

“Working with Acorn, I am growing spiritually and my physical and emotional recovery has been wonderfully supported. I want to live, thrive and enjoy life again!”

“Amanda and Phil went over and above in this fantastic 3-Day!”

“This was a wonderful event. Amanda is very intuitive and skilled.”

“Acorn’s program is a smart and compassionate service. The counselors understand food addiction and what is needed to get abstinent and recover.”

“Thank you Amanda and Phil for the work you do. It is invaluable and such a service.”

“Amanda’s desire to help us and challenge us continually. She brings honest open-mindedness willingness to each session.”

“It was brilliant, safe and broke through my substantial denial. I so enjoyed watching Amanda and Phil work together.”

“Your knowledge and skill have been inspirational.”

“Best recovery program for food addicts in the world!”

“Thank you from the depth of my heart for giving me this beautiful experience with so much hope and for being a part of saving my life.”

“I feel so blessed to have found Acorn and to have the support I needed to do my work. The intensives and 3-Days have moved me further along in my recovery journey at a deeper level than I could have done in 12-Step meetings. I am most grateful.”

“The skilled and sacred healing space that is held at an Acorn event is a rare gem.”

“I was supported back to the truth of this addiction.”

“The clear and kind feedback helped me see where this disease lives in my psyche I feel so grateful to see the truth of this addiction and know that without the structure of program – a relationship with God – I will forget that I have this disease.”

“I am so grateful and honored to have had this experience. Thank you so much for developing, organizing, planning, tweaking those plans, and for facilitating our little community in this house and in Vancouver/Seattle.”

“Acorn has given me the skills to live life on life’s terms. Phil Werdell and Mary Foushi are brilliant, selfless and dedicated pioneers in changing the world for the better.”

“What a gift of intense love, support and focus. Deep work, deep connection, wonderful abstinent food and amazing fellowship. Thank you! I love my expanded recovery family.”

“Deeply moving and life changing experience. I received so, so much more than I ever expected.”

“Once again Acorn work has taken me to a new deeper understanding of my food addiction and my powerlessness over food. Every time I come here I strip away a layer of my denial and there is always more work to do!”

“The Professional Training was the most powerful experience yet for me! Being with other professionals committed to helping still suffering food addicts brought me to a new level of honesty, vulnerability and abstinence. Thank you so much for that wonderful gift!”

“Acorn understands and supports recovery in the food addict that I have never experienced elsewhere”.

“I am so grateful to be led into recovery by such people of integrity, who also walk the walk daily. I have been given my life back.”

“Acorn is a safe place to be rigorously honest no matter what I’m going through. The staff (Phil and Mary) are unconditionally loving, and gently and lovingly encourage me to grow. Thank you, Acorn, for helping me with my abstinence and recovery for the past two decades!”

Acorn is the only place I can come to stay that helps me with my abstinence, isn’t as expensive as treatment, and helps me with my issues. I’d recommend it to anyone seeking serenity.

“Acorn, its staff and attendees, do for me what I could never do for myself. They support my abstinence, my God recovery and fellowship in no way that I could get anywhere else.”

“I just want to say thanks for the help you gave me at my first intensive in April in Ocean City. I was unhappy when you said I’d benefit from three more intensives, but you sure were right! I surrendered and went to three more. Now I have over nine months of abstinence, a good sponsor, the excellent tool of the slip inventory and a newly launched Acorn support group here in Richmond. I am very grateful.”

“Being at the Acorn Intensive was a very tender experience. It helped me to understand my food addiction on a whole new level and to study the 1st step very deeply. I have a whole new awareness of what “surrender” is that I know will support me for the rest of my life. I have been looking for this work for 25 years. I am so happy we finally found each other!”

“This primary intensive helped me gain clarity as well as solid abstinence. I have a far better understanding of the disease of food addiction than I ever did before.”

“Attending the intensive has been an invaluable experience. I was able to detox and begin building a foundation for my recovery.”

“I feel safe here.”

“Acorn work helps to peel off layers of the disease of food addiction.”

“Acorn was suggested to me many months ago. I listened but did not hear what was said. I did not trust that the person telling me about it was credible. After months of her talking, I became willing and surrendered. Relapse and Recovery was the first workshop followed by an intensive. ‘I can’t go, I can’t do this, I don’t want to, yada, yada, yada.’ I was willing (Step 1). I didn’t have money… I asked for help. How humbling. God saw fit for this to be doable. I came. I became clear. Once here, I came to my senses (Step 2). I was shocked. Again, God was doing for me what I could not do for myself. And then, I made a decision (Step 3) to stay on for another workshop. God, thy will, not mine, be done.”

“When I had nowhere else to go, Acorn was there to greet me with open arms. They loved me before I could love myself. Thank you.”

“I thought doing a second Primary Intensive within the same 3 months would be repetitive. But each intensive was so unique because I was at a different place in my recovery and did new work with new people. I plan to do a third Primary Intensive this year.”

“Acorn is the only place that understands me: low bottom, high maintenance food addict. They are an example of recovery.”

“The know-it-all in me needed a Relapse Prevention weekend and it was a gift to advance my recovery. I saw more character assets and liabilities, which make me human and can help me advance on the Broad Highway.”

“At this event I learned that I need more structure and support before I’m faced with some of my triggers; that the disease made me eat and I’m not a “bad” person. This is my fifth Acorn event. I have been encouraged to face the truth about myself and then learn how to utilize tools to help me remain abstinent. Relapse does not mean failure. It means I need more structure and support to get through whatever I may be facing in life at that time. I don’t have to start over; I pick up and keep on going. I find a renewed commitment and strength within myself after attending an Acorn event.”

“My work these 3 days has strengthened my commitment to abstinence. I’ve enlarged my support group. I had fun and worked hard. It’s great to separate myself from my family, daily responsibilities and distractions, and focus on my recovery. I’ve had a history of bulimia, and little long-term abstinence prior to coming to Acorn. Today I have 60 days of abstinence.”

“The Relapse Prevention Workshop was incredibly valuable for me as I had been in a 6-week off-and-on relapse after four months of stable abstinence. I regained my abstinence and developed a relapse prevention plan to get me through the holidays and help me stabilize in my recovery.”

“If you need more support than a food-focused 12-step group, Acorn is an excellent resource for stable abstinence and freedom from the bondage of food, diet, weight, bingeing/purging, and anorexia.”

“Anyone who has hit bottom in their food addiction should turn to Acorn to lift their life in a new direction.”

“I feel blessed to meet new friends in recovery at each Acorn event I attend. Acorn has been a life-changing experience.”

“Acorn leaves me with a deeper sense of gratitude and helps me connect with my feelings.”

Amanda Leith – Operations Director & Counselor/Facilitator

Amanda Leith launched SHiFT – Recovery by Acorn in Spring of 2019, opening an exciting new chapter in the 30-year legacy of Acorn Food Dependency Recovery Services. A member of the Acorn team since 2015, Amanda is an addictions counselor and a recovering food addict.

Amanda’s passion for recovery from food addiction helps to produce life-changing results with her clients. Her sharp sense for what needs to be addressed first in an individual’s life in order to overcome food addiction guides her practice. The message that she brings to those struggling is one of hope.

Amanda is an addiction counselor, a certified food addiction counselor, FAI/ACORN certified food addiction professional and CENAPS-trained Advanced Relapse Prevention Specialist (ARPS), with a background in drug and alcohol addiction counseling and group facilitation.

Click here to read Amanda’s story of recovery from food addiction.

Karen Gormley – Accountability Coach

Karen Gormley is a grateful recovering food addict who, after her early retirement from her job as a finance manager at a Fortune 1000 company, pursued her dream of working with Food Addiction recovery.

In addition to 15 of experience in peer support groups, she has completed both the SHiFT Professional Training Program and the INFACT Food Addiction Counseling program and is certified by the European Certification Board as a food addiction counselor. Karen has been part of the SHiFT team since 2019.

Tosca Lindberg – Accountability Coach

Tosca is a gratefully recovering food addict who has been led to help others suffering from food addiction. As a certified teacher, she served as an educator in the public school systems in Rochester, NY and Guam for the past 30 years. Most of those years were spent working with at-risk students who struggled with learning difficulties and adverse childhood experiences. She has a deep passion to provide support for hurting people and a keen eye for identifying needs. Her awareness of the importance of mental health and her personal experience with addiction and recovery have inspired her to make this change in her career path. She is certified as a Food Addiction Professional through the International School for Food Addiction and Treatment (INFACT). She is fun-loving and adventurous and enjoys being active in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Gina Miller – Counselor/Facilitator

Gina is the newest member of the counselling team at SHiFT Recovery. She works individually with Shift clients to support their abstinence and to uncover and heal beliefs and behaviors that surface throughout recovery.

For the last twenty years Gina has worked in the helping field in a variety of environments with diverse populations. She has guided clients using Art Therapy as a way to process emotions with people living with HIV and AIDS at The Dr. Peter Centre, and with adults with developmental disabilities for Ridge Meadows Association for Community Living.

Gina spent years as a Coach, counselling people with negative body image and food addiction at Vital Body Weight Loss Clinic. This latter work and her lived experience with addiction, led Gina to work as a Group Facilitator and provide individual counselling in Addiction Treatment in private practice. Some of that work included facilitating intensive non-residential treatment programs for women suffering from drug misuse disorder, for Sage Counselling and Addiction Services.

It is the combination of Gina’s lived experience, humor and wisdom that make her sessions collaborative, healing and joyful. She believes that everyone has the possibility for hope, resilience and liberation whether they are suffering from addiction, grief and loss, negative body and self esteem issues, co-dependency and the myriad of pain that is part of a life.

Gina has a BFA from ECUAD, Certified in Compassionate Inquiry with Gabor Mate, Addictions Counsellor, Certified Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention-UCSD, Certified Mindfulness Instructor.

Barney Reason – Counselor/Facilitator

Barney Reason is an experienced therapist, coach and facilitator with a solid foundation of personal and professional experiences. Having started his recovery journey in 1987. Barney has faced and overcome many challenges, which have equipped him with wide resources to help clients from diverse backgrounds and issues.

With a globally recognized food addiction treatment professional qualification, Barney has worked in the addiction field in both residential facilities and one-to-one settings, specializing in providing therapeutic solutions to addicts and their families dealing with trauma.

He played a crucial role in establishing Mankind Project in the UK in the early 1990s, where he remains a Trustee. Barney was also the first non-US man certified as a leader in the Mankind Project’s The New Warrior Training, where he acquired skills that he still uses today.

Throughout his journey, Barney has held significant responsibilities, such as managing a multi-campus facility in the US for individuals, from all over the world, seeking personal and spiritual transformation. Besides the addiction field, Barney has created numerous organizations, primarily in financial markets, media, and property, where he earned a reputation for development and coaching.

Barney is an enthusiastic and passionate individual dedicated to inspiring people to improve their lives, along with their families and communities.

Tina Selinsky – Group Leader/House Manager

Tina Selinsky, M.Ed., is a graduate of the ACORN Professional Training and the INFACT Food Addiction Counseling program and is certified by the European Certification Board as a food addiction counselor. She served as secretary and treasurer of the Food Addiction Institute for over 5 years. Tina has facilitated ACORN groups in the past and currently hosts many of the SHiFT Strong Support meetings. For many years, Tina operated the Sugar Free Place, a recovery home dedicated to supporting people’s abstinence. Tina has been active in a Twelve Step community for 30 years and is committed to putting abstinence first, absolutely!

Raynea McCumber – Operations Administrator

Raynea has managed the SHiFT office since 2011, coordinating SHiFT – Recovery by Acorn food addiction treatment programs and overseeing registration. She assists clients with any logistical needs to ensure that their treatment experience runs smoothly.

Often the first point of contact for SHiFT Recovery by Acorn clients, Raynea brings warmth and ease to an otherwise daunting process. Her commitment to supporting others helps those struggling with food addiction to feel at home in their treatment program.

Raynea holds an AAS degree in Computer Information Technology and Networking. Her background is in executive support, previously serving as registrar and admissions director for public and private schools.

Kurtis O’Brien – Marketing Lead

Kurtis is a Digital Marketing Strategist with a background in video production and a passion for storytelling. He joined the SHiFT team in November 2020 as a Marketing Lead, and has helped transform our digital presence as well as being the driving force on our marketing team.

While working remotely, Kurtis leads an active lifestyle in his picturesque ski town of Whistler, BC. On any given weekend, you can find him mountain biking, hiking, camping, skiing and fly fishing. His energy, stories and photos from recent adventures are a hot topic on team meetings and we always look forward to hearing them.