Meet Rebecca Stieb | Founder and Administrative Director, Milestone Community Wellness

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rebecca Stieb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebecca, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Before founding my nonprofit, I did not consider myself much of a risk-taker. Looking back, though, I have realized that some of the best chapters in my life were the direct result of a leap-of-faith moment.
In 2022, I made the decision to leave my 13-year career to start my own organization. I’m sure it sounded crazy at the time – I left a stable job with benefits to start an organization in with a group of people who had virtually no experience in the nonprofit world. Some of these people were former colleagues, some were still incarcerated at the time. But in that moment, it became really clear to me that not only was it the way I wanted to go, it was really the only option. I had this life-changing opportunity, and nothing else could match it. The right people showed up at the right time, and I had tremendous support from my family and friends to follow something I’m passionate about, and to create this pathway for people I knew from inside the prison who genuinely cared for this work. And by “this work”, I mean a synthesis of restorative justice, mentoring, recovery support, and public safety. There were challenging, heavy moments along the way, and a lot of resistance, but now I’m able to do the work I love, create really meaningful programming with people that inspire me, and be present with my family when they need me. If I had to make the choice, I’d do it again – I can’t imagine where my life would be right now if I hadn’t taken the risk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My current role is the Administrative Director of Milestone Community Wellness. Milestone is a behavioral health entity providing mobile outpatient behavioral health and recovery support. The thing that I’m most proud of is the really unusual way that this organization came to be; I worked with a small group of committed, passionate people who represent the communities we are trying to help. For example, our original team has included justice-involved people, educators, former correctional staff, and of course people who are in recovery. I love the authenticity that this group has brought to the organization, because it’s not about people from outside a situation coming in to bring help. It’s about people who are living it helping each other, and using their own stories to empower other people.
Was it easy? Absolutely not, it’s been incredibly painful at times. There have been people who chose another path, and we had to let them go along the way, and to be okay with that. There have been people on the team who stepped outside of professional ethics, and I’ve had to learn how to deal with broken trust, and to repair the harm as much as possible. I’ve learned a lot about character, ownership, and accountability. Personally I’ve grown a lot, I’ve learned I can survive some things I never wanted to go through. Professionally, I think we’ve proven that this company and this team will keep coming back to principles and our mission every time. I want the world to know that resilience and integrity are powerful. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to get off track, you’re going to have people let you down. And that’s okay – get back up, go back to why you started this work in the first place, and keep going.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Great question. I love the outdoors, so I would take them outside as much as possible. I live in rural Northeast Colorado, so we’re far from the mountains, but there’s lots of hiking, there’s the river and the lake.
For food, my go-to spot in Sterling is Parts & Labor. Their burgers can compete with anything Denver has to offer, and the atmosphere is relaxed.
Beyond that, I’m a homebody; my place is definitely where we would hang out most of the time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a couple of amazing people in my life that I consider mentors, who have really encouraged me along the way to do things that I didn’t think I was capable of or ready for. They really kept telling me to just do it, and eventually I listened.

My family has been a constant support, they encouraged me to follow this, never questioned my sanity in leaving something steady to start a new career and organization. I could not have done any of this work without their support, and that includes my kids. I hope as they grow up they’re proud of what I’m doing and learn that they can create the life they want.

And as a former librarian, of course there are books! Two books that made me – Tribe (Sebastian Junger), and Endurance, the story of Ernest Shackleton (Alfred Lansing). I’d like to share those books with everyone, I got so much inspiration from both. Tribe has given me this broader understanding of people and why balancing opposite perspectives is so vital. Endurance has given me this drive to keep going when everything seems to be going wrong, and giving up seems not just easier but rational. This incredible nonfiction story reminds me that sometimes success is just surviving the day and finding the courage to keep going.

Website: https://www.milestonecommunitywellness.org