Personal recovery
Sober since 1997
April 19, 1997 marked the beginning of a daily commitment that has held through success, loss, and rebuilding.
About Doug
A life built
through truth,
support, and
daily practice.
I’m Doug Dolan—a speaker, coach, and creator of the BUILD Process. Sober since April 19, 1997, I bring experience in recovery, relationships, and business leadership to helping people turn insight into practical change.
Build a Life That Holds.
Especially when life gets hard.
Professional experience
Recovery leadership since 2012
Co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of Recovery in the Pines, working with clients and families toward meaningful change.
Recognition
Keeping Hope Alive Award
Recipient of the award for treatment, presented at the 2025 Arizona Drug Summit.
Why this work matters to me.
I know what it is to appear successful while struggling privately. I also know what it is to lose the life you thought you could depend on—and begin again.
My own recovery, the loss of my younger brother to an overdose, and the death of a close friend of 30 years by suicide have made this work deeply personal. They shape the care, honesty, and responsibility I bring to helping others.
BUILD brings together lessons from my life, continued study, and years of work with people and families: face what is true, understand your patterns, clarify who you want to become, build support, and practice the next useful step.
Five chapters in my story.
A strong foundation—and a hidden struggle
I am the third of seven children, raised by Paul and Geri Dolan in a stable, loving Christian family. Yet I began drinking at 14 and experienced blackouts from the first time. Binge drinking and its consequences followed me into adulthood. A good upbringing did not remove the need to face my choices and ask for help.
Recovery became a daily commitment
My sobriety began on April 19, 1997. Recovery taught me to seek truth, accept support, take responsibility, and act on my faith. Those commitments became something to practice every day, including the days when life offered no easy answers.
Leadership, achievement, and responsibility
I started in the warehouse of a technology company in Irvine, California, and became a vice president reporting to the CEO five years later. I went on to own an award-winning fine dining restaurant in Prescott and other businesses. These experiences taught me about leadership, pressure, and the importance of a healthy life behind professional achievement.
When life asked more of me
Between 2006 and 2010, my family faced serious illness, the deaths of people close to us, the loss of my restaurant during the financial crisis, back surgery, and the end of my marriage. At one point, I had $3.48 in my bank account. I stayed sober through it all. With a $5,000 loan from my older brother, I began rebuilding through a copywriting and editing consultancy. Faith, support, and responsible action helped me take the next step.
Turning experience into service
In 2012, I became a partner at Recovery in the Pines. Since then, my work with approximately 1,000 clients and their families, public speaking, community service, and continued learning have deepened my commitment to practical growth. BUILD gives that work a shared language, helping you translate the person you want to become into daily choices.
Experience behind the work.
Personal experience informs my compassion. Professional work, continued study, and service shape the tools I bring.
Recovery and family work
As co-owner and COO of Recovery in the Pines, I work with people and families affected by substance use and mental health challenges. My coaching focuses on reflection, skills, relationships, and follow-through.
Explore Coaching →Leadership and entrepreneurship
From warehouse work to executive leadership, restaurant ownership, and a writing consultancy, I understand the demands of building a business—and the need for purpose, integrity, and healthy relationships alongside success.
Explore Leadership Work →Speaking and teaching
I speak at schools, institutions, organizations, and seminars on recovery, trauma, mental health, and practical change. Six years of acting and years of writing also inform how I make complex ideas understandable.
Invite Doug to Speak →Service and recognition.
Helping people build healthier lives also means serving the communities around them.
Keeping hope alive
In 2025, I received the Keeping Hope Alive Award for treatment at the Arizona Drug Summit.
Prevention and community support
My service includes the MATFORCE Board of Directors as Secretary, overdose fatality review, and the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Yavapai County.
Teaching where it matters
I volunteer to teach trauma and parenting classes in the Yavapai County Jail, speak through MATFORCE, and moderate support groups through Every Brain Matters.
Community service and previous appointments
Community service
- MATFORCE Board of Directors — Secretary; Prescott Steering Committee; Overdose Fatality Review Board; volunteer speaker.
- Yavapai Regional Medical Center / Dignity Health Family Resource Center — member, consulting on families in crisis with young children.
- Suicide Prevention Coalition of Yavapai County — member.
- Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona, Brain Health Advisory Council — member.
- Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office — volunteer teaching trauma and parenting classes in the county jail.
- Every Brain Matters — moderator for young-adult and parent support groups.
Previous appointments and training
- DEA First Citizen’s Academy, northern Arizona — selected participant, October 2022.
- Prescott committee on structured sober living homes — July 2016 to January 2018.
Convictions that guide my work.
Truth
Face what is real with honesty and care.
Responsibility
Own your choices and take the next useful step.
Freedom
Build the capacity to live your values and respond with intention.
Rooted in Christian faith.
Welcoming different backgrounds.
My faith shapes my own life and work. Devotional reflections include Scripture. In coaching, we discuss whether and how you want faith integrated.
Who I am becoming.
- Remain in God’s will.
- Become who God intends.
- Be a voracious student.
- Be of maximum service.
- Live with purpose.
- Seek truth.
- Honor God with my body.
These are my personal commitments. Your definition is yours to develop.
The life behind the work
Shared values.
Practiced together.
Tataya and I married in January 2026. Together, we have five children in our blended family and twin granddaughters. Faith, family, fitness, travel, and time with friends are important parts of our life.
I am an avid hiker, including repeated Prescott Triple Crown and Ultra completions and Grand Canyon rim-to-rim and rim-to-rim-to-rim hikes. Time outdoors reminds me that progress takes preparation, patience, and repeated steps.
Tataya and I bring our commitment to growth and connection into The Way We Love—an invitation to define the relationship you want to build and practice its values in everyday conversations and choices.
Build a Life That Holds.
Especially when life gets hard.
Whether you are facing an old pattern, a strained relationship, or a new season of responsibility, we can explore what you want to build and the next useful step.