Meri Shadley, Ph.D.
Founder
Dr. Shadley has engaged in the addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery field since completing her master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno for over 25 years she not only taught numerous addiction counseling classes but was the Director of Academics for the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) and was the founding Program Director of NRAP.
Starting with her roles as the assistant Director of Operation Bridge and then as the Director/Counselor of Nike House in Las Vegas, Meri has watched young people begin new lives without substance use. Their resilience motivated her to find new and innovative ways to be of service. When she moved to Reno, she co-founded Oikos, a residential program for adolescent girls, and watched it flourish into a strong and well-regarded, all-purpose treatment program (renamed Sagewinds).
Working with youth inspired Meri to expand her focus to families. She is dually licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist as well as a Clinical Alcohol & Drug Counselor and completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology (with an emphasis in systems thinking) at Saybrook Institute in 1987. She has an active clinical practice and has published, consulted, and trained community practitioners extensively in the interconnection of addiction treatment and family therapy with a special focus on women, domestic violence, trauma, and behavioral addictions. She is an AAMFT approved supervisor and a Nevada certified clinical supervisor for MFT, CPC, and LADC interns.
She is a past president of the Nevada Association for Marriage & Family Therapy, past president of the Safe n’ Sober Foundation, past treasurer of the Board of Directors for the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, served on Nevada’s initial regulatory board for Drug and Alcohol Counselors, and manages a Supervisors Consultation group in Northern Nevada. She has received several leadership awards including the John Chappell Award for Excellence as a Substance Abuse Treatment Professional (2008), the Foundations for Recovery’s Excellence in Addiction Research & Education Award (2015), the School of Community Health Science’s Outstanding Community Service Faculty Award (2019), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Recovery in Higher Education (2020).
Daniel Fred, M.S.
Senior Project Coordinator
Founder
Daniel has been in long-term recovery since July of 2002. He has been married to his beautiful wife, Kristy, since January 2004, and they have three incredible daughters. Daniel is passionate about helping people in or looking for recovery. This passion has made him into a recovery advocate who shares the hopeful message of recovery wherever and whenever he can.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University in 2005, where he was a member of the collegiate recovery program, Center for the Study of Addiction. He loved this field so much, he went on to earn his master’s in Human Development and Family Studies with a specialization in Addiction Treatment Services at The University of Nevada, Reno in 2012.
In 2008, Daniel was both a co-founder and Collegiate Director for Nevada House of Prayer. Utilizing this experience, he helped develop and manage Nevada’s Recovery and Prevention program (NRAP) at the University of Nevada, Reno. He also taught the courses for the addiction treatment studies minor, CASAT, and was awarded Faculty of the Year in 2016 and 2019 for his dedication.
In 2011, Daniel co-founded NRAP with Dr. Meri Shadley and was the Project Coordinator until 2015.
In 2016, Daniel worked as the Director of Recovery and Community Initiatives at Transforming Youth Recovery, where he advocated for recovery on a national scale. Currently, he is a Project Coordinator for the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the university of Nevada, Reno. In addition to his work in the classroom, he also coordinates NevadaCARES, which is an interpersonal violence prevention program.
Daniel has participated on various local and national advisory boards working to see expanded access to recovery resources and to erase the stigma of addiction. These include the Association of Recovery in Higher Education, Transforming Youth Recovery, Nevada Certification Board, and Awaken Inc.