Robert (Bobby) Dorton
Northway, Alaska · Alaskan Athabascan Native
From the Inside Out — A Life Transformed
Bobby Dorton's journey is not a story of fall and redemption — it is a story of what is possible when someone refuses to let a system define their worth, and instead uses their experience to transform that system.
Born and raised in Northway, Alaska, Bobby is an Alaskan Athabascan Native with deep roots in the Dene tradition. His path through life led him into the justice system, where he spent a total of 14 years and 4 months incarcerated. Rather than allowing that time to diminish him, Bobby used it — studying, listening, and preparing for the work he knew he was called to do.
Released in 2018, Bobby has spent every year since building systems of support that he himself once needed but could not find. He became one of the first ten Alaskans to earn the Peer Support Professional III and Traditional Peer Support Professional III certifications — the highest level in the field. His credentials are not just academic; they are lived.
Bobby went on to serve on the NAADAC (National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors) certification committee, where he is creating the Indigenous certification track — ensuring that future peer support professionals serving Native communities are trained in frameworks that honor, not erase, Indigenous identity.
Today, Bobby founded Healing Homes Consulting LLC to bring a culturally grounded, evidence-based wellness framework to the communities he came from — and to every community that has been left behind by systems that weren't built with them in mind.