Recover Alaska marked Sobriety Awareness Month in 2025 by naming four “Sober Heroes” and putting their stories front and center. In a set of videos the group said the annual award recognizes people nominated by their communities as advocates for sober living and leaders creating positive change across Alaska. The 2025 honorees were Kathleen Naneng, Sean Wisner, Kimberly Larson, and Emma Hill.

Each story highlights a different route into recovery and purpose. Kimberly Larson, from Dillingham, said she has been clean and sober for eight years and described how finding a newly opened treatment centre, with an appointment available the next day, became the turning point that saved her life. Sean Wisner, a Valdez resident and father of two teenagers, said he has been sober for four years and talked about choosing change after realizing alcohol had taken him far from the life and fitness he valued, and from being present for his kids. Kathleen Naneng, from Bethel, said she has been sober for five and a half years, and described rebuilding her life, including earning a bachelor’s degree, buying a home, working toward a master’s degree, and coaching girls’ basketball. Emma Hill is presented as a musician, entrepreneur, activist, and community builder, with extensive work creating inclusive creative spaces, including founding Spenard Song Circle and co-owning Rage City Vintage in Spenard.

The common thread is not perfection, it’s momentum, honesty, and community. Larson speaks directly about how hard sobriety is, and how much it gives back, Wisner frames it as rewiring habits toward gratitude and connection, and Naneng ties it to family, culture, and steady goals. One detail that lands hard is the practical side, access to timely treatment mattered when it mattered most. Even reading this in January 2026, the 2025 “Sober Heroes” series is a useful reminder that recovery is personal, but it is also shaped by what communities build around people who are trying to change.

Find more from www.RecoverAlaska.org (USA, 2025)