Jason’s life has taken him from the suburbs of Connecticut to yoga ashrams in India, to the surf beaches of Thailand, and now to the foothills of Mount Rigi, the “Queen of the Mountains.” Along the way, he’s built a life dedicated to healing, firstly his own and now that of others.
From chaos to clarity
Jason began experimenting with substances at the age of 13. By 17, “I was a high-functioning addict,” he says. His struggles with addiction would continue on and off for decades, shadowing every chapter of his life.
Eventually, he left his job in education in the U.S. to travel in Asia. The journey wasn’t just physical. It was the beginning of a profound spiritual transformation. For a decade he taught yoga, meditation and breathwork before returning to Europe when his mother died in 2018. After travelling around Europe in a VW bus, he met his future wife and stepdaughter in Switzerland.
From yoga teacher to Recovery Counsellor
When the pandemic pushed his yoga work online, Jason found himself yearning for deeper human connection. He pivoted again, this time into addiction recovery work. Drawing on his personal history and years of teaching and guiding others, Jason took a live-in counselling role at an addiction rehab centre in Zurich. Here, he worked seven days a week for weeks at a time, without any time off, living with clients around the clock.
“It was intense,” he says. “The clients weren’t just presenting with addiction, but also complex mental health issues.” The job took a toll on his personal life, especially his relationship with his wife and stepdaughter. Eventually, he sought out a new, more balanced way to serve.
That’s when he found NEOVIVA.
A new chapter at NEOVIVA
Located in a serene lakeside hotel setting near Mount Rigi, NEOVIVA is anything but clinical. Clients stay in a highly private clinic in a luxury boutique hotel, where they dine in the hotel’s public restaurant and are gently reintroduced to the world. Crucially, they are given the tools and support they need, and experience being part of a community.
“The first time I visited, I fell in love with the approach, the location, and the team,” Jason recalls. He joined as a recovery counsellor and was promoted to Head Recovery Counsellor within a few months. The promotion added managerial and liaison responsibilities, but his core role of being there for people remained the same.
NEOVIVA’s approach is holistic and grounded in connection. Clients spend more time with recovery counsellors than anyone else on the team. They walk, eat, and enjoy recreation time together. “It’s not just therapy,” Jason explains. “We show individuals how to have fun and feel good without needing substances.”
Breathwork, spirituality, and the inner compass
Jason’s recovery journey was profoundly shaped by spiritual practice. He speaks about breathwork as though it’s sacred; for him, it is.
“I personally don’t think I could survive without these practices,” he says. “It’s my therapy. Even 10–15 minutes a day changes everything.” His message is simple: you don’t have to suffer in silence, and you don’t have to numb. You can change your state naturally and intentionally.
Jason doesn’t preach to clients who are sceptical of spirituality. “It’s about showing, not telling,” he says. He invites people to find their own stillness, not through words but with experience. “Breathwork gets people out of their heads and into the present moment.”
NEOVIVA offers creative expression sessions, where clients use art and collage to reflect on their life stories, families, or time in recovery. These sessions provide a safe space for clients to express their emotions and experiences in a non-verbal way, which can be deeply therapeutic. “For many people, it’s deeply meditative,” he says.
He’s seen clients have revelations through meditation or creative expression, accessing buried emotions, memories, and a new kind of inner power.
Motivational Interviewing and helping clients help themselves
Another cornerstone of Jason’s approach is motivational interviewing. It’s a technique that empowers clients to articulate their own reasons for change.
“It’s a way of questioning and reflecting back to them what they’re saying so they can hear it again and lead the conversation forward. You ask, ‘What’s important to you?'” Jason says. “If they say family, health, or their job, then you ask how their current behaviours serve those values. When these answers come from within, not externally from us, they stick.”
Jason explains his role is not to tell people what to do but to help them remember who they are.
A Recovery Counsellor who’s been there
What makes NEOVIVA unique is its insistence that recovery counsellors have lived experience of addiction; they must have been in recovery for at least 10 years. The counsellors play a crucial role in guiding and supporting clients through their recovery journey.
“I think that’s one of the most important parts of our role,” Jason says. “We’ve been through the struggle. We know what it’s like to live with shame and regret. And we also know there’s a way out.”
That authenticity creates a level of trust and connection that’s hard to replicate in traditional therapy settings. “Clients say, ‘You know what it’s like.’ That’s powerful.”
“One of the great things about the support system we create at NEOVIVA is the continuing care. In our role as recovery counsellor, we stay in touch and call the client at least once a week. We don’t want people to leave here and feel like they’re alone again on this journey.”
Healing happens in community
Jason is passionate about the group work at NEOVIVA. The group dynamic isn’t limited to formal sessions. Recovery counsellors eat meals with clients, hike together, share stories, and build relationships. “It feels like a family environment,” he says. “And that’s what makes people feel safe enough to open up.”
That safety is essential. “This isn’t just about abstinence,” Jason explains. It’s about building a new life – a life where you can love yourself again.”
From relapse to resilience
Jason is candid about the realities of addiction. “Relapse is more common than we’d like to admit,” he says. “But we don’t see it as a failure. It’s a learning opportunity. What went wrong? What needs to change?”
This can be hard to hear and even harder to experience for families. That’s why Jason believes in educating families, too. “Addiction isn’t a choice,” he says. “It’s a condition that changes your brain chemistry. People in recovery need compassion, not judgement.”
When clients do succeed, the transformation is profound. He speaks of a recent success story – a young client ravaged by cocaine addiction who left NEOVIVA completely changed, healthier, happier, and fully engaged in his recovery plan. “He’s like the A+ student of recovery,” Jason says. “We’re all still in touch and so proud of him.”
A life lived in service
Outside of NEOVIVA, Jason continues to teach yoga, breathwork, and meditation. He also coaches men on health, mindset, and addiction recovery. He’s a family man now, married with a teenage stepdaughter, a relationship, he says, which has taught him new levels of creativity and patience.
And what does he hope his legacy will be?
“That I helped people,” he says simply. “That I left a positive impact on most of my clients and helped spread the understanding that healing doesn’t always come from the outside. It comes from within. The only way out is in.”
Jason’s top recovery tools
- Daily breathwork: Just 10 minutes can shift your state and bring calm.
- Creative expression: Drawing, painting, collage – anything to reconnect with joy.
- Motivational interviewing: Help clients find their own “why.”
- Community and peer support: Recovery doesn’t happen alone.
- Spiritual curiosity: Not a religion, but a way to connect with something greater.
- Consistency: “Like brushing your teeth – just do it every day.”
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