About Alex
Alex Vaughan’s (they/ them pronouns) career started in the fitness industry in 1997 teaching group fitness classes to peers their sophomore year of college. They hold certifications including NASM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor, ACE Health Coach, Kettlebell Concepts Level 1 kettlebell instructor, STAGES cycle instructor, Radiant Certified Relationship Coach, former competitive cyclist, and former competitive D1 athlete in Rowing for The Ohio State University.
Alex is a CCAR (Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery) trained Peer Support Specialist and Nationally Certified Recovery Coach through The Addictions Academy. Addiction and recovery coaching dovetails with fitness & wellness professions in a really powerful way; both are about building sustainable, life-affirming habits that restore people’s relationship with their bodies, minds, and identities.
Alex’s specializations live in addressing social justice challenges for queer, transgender/noncisgender individuals from an integrated fitness and wellness perspective, focusing through the internal I, the body, the internal we, and systems at play. Their interests live in cultural transformation, movement as medicine, joy, radical rest, holding respect and validation of self-identification.
Alex is a dynamic facilitator, activating spaces, making complex and heavy topics accessible, infusing purpose with energy, blending structure and adaptability so you and your teams can get to where they haven’t been…yet.
Connecting with groups such as Maxar Technologies, Clyfford Still museum, Canada Life and University of Colorado-Boulder at TRANSforming Gender conferences, Alex has also served on various panels speaking from their lived experience in the justice system, recovery, and wellness.
Personally, Alex navigated the Colorado family court system, advocating for the emotional and psychological safety, care, and well-being of their children, being relentless in the pursuit of authentic integration in the face of discrimination, abuse, neglect and oppressive systems. They held onto hope that created a path to liberation and opportunity, inviting in alignment and thus "falling up". Alex's actions rerouted their life to the honest one by committing to the ongoing journey through recovery and repair, including dismantling dysfunctional patterns stemming from supremacy and generational trauma.
Alex’s long-term recovery journey in mental health has involved breaking the stigma that is placed on themself as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community while also navigating depression, anxiety, and PTSD caused by decades of gaslighting within a cis-het system. They aim to lead their life through positive disruption. Having experienced workplace harassment for being transgender and nonbinary, being a target of bullying as a transgender and nonbinary parent provides insight into their FAFO state of mind. Compassionate empathy for all is at the heart of their mission. Their work is influenced by a 25+ year history of working in the fitness and wellness industry, their work as a recovery coach, being a transgender and nonbinary parent to a transgender/AuDHD child, and the experience they've gained through working collaboratively with other activists, advocates for social justice, clinicians, and leading LGBTQIA+ nonprofit agencies. Alex is a Nationally Certified Recovery Coach who works with individuals diagnosed with substance use disorders. Alex's power in the belief of mind, body, shadow and spirit in recovery stems from first-hand experience. They have taken wisdom from the principles of allyship, muscle building, understanding glimmers, and the grief they've endured, incorporating it into their daily life that leads them through authenticity.
They reside in Colorado with their wife, Kim, their 4 children, two dogs and 3 cats….who rule over the entire house. Alex loves to dance, bake yummy things, watch crime shows with their wife, play card games and drink boba with their kids.
