diff --git a/helpers/authHelpers.js b/helpers/authHelpers.js
index dc2f5548..e9bf0210 100644
--- a/helpers/authHelpers.js
+++ b/helpers/authHelpers.js
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-const db = require('../models'); // require our models for syncing
+// const db = require('../models'); // require our models for syncing
 const logger = require('winston');
 
 module.exports = {
   populateLocalsDotUser (req, res, next) {
     if (req.user) {
+      logger.debug('populating res.locals.user');
       res.locals.user = {
         id            : req.user.id,
         userName      : req.user.userName,
@@ -14,42 +15,12 @@ module.exports = {
     }
     next();
   },
-  serializeSpeechUser (user, done) {  // returns user id to be serialized into session token
-    logger.debug('serializing session');
-    done(null, user.id);
+  serializeSpeechUser (user, done) {  // returns user data to be serialized into session
+    logger.debug('serializing user');
+    done(null, user);
   },
-  deserializeSpeechUser (id, done) {  // deserializes session token and provides user from user id
-    logger.debug('deserializing session');
-    return db.User.findOne({ where: { id } })
-    .then(user => {
-      return module.exports.returnUserAndChannelInfo(user);
-    })
-    .then((userInfo) => {
-      return done(null, userInfo);
-    })
-    .catch(error => {
-      return done(error);
-    });
-  },
-  returnUserAndChannelInfo (userInstance) {
-    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-      let userInfo = {};
-      userInfo['id'] = userInstance.id;
-      userInfo['userName'] = userInstance.userName;
-      userInstance
-        .getChannel()
-        .then(({channelName, channelClaimId}) => {
-          userInfo['channelName'] = channelName;
-          userInfo['channelClaimId'] = channelClaimId;
-          return db.Certificate.getShortChannelIdFromLongChannelId(channelClaimId, channelName);
-        })
-        .then(shortChannelId => {
-          userInfo['shortChannelId'] = shortChannelId;
-          resolve(userInfo);
-        })
-        .catch(error => {
-          reject(error);
-        });
-    });
+  deserializeSpeechUser (user, done) {  // deserializes session and populates additional info to req.user
+    logger.debug('deserializing user');
+    done(null, user);
   },
 };
diff --git a/passport/local-login.js b/passport/local-login.js
index 5910d96a..e3d72e88 100644
--- a/passport/local-login.js
+++ b/passport/local-login.js
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
-
 const PassportLocalStrategy = require('passport-local').Strategy;
 const db = require('../models');
 const logger = require('winston');
-const { returnUserAndChannelInfo } = require('../helpers/authHelpers.js');
+
+function returnUserAndChannelInfo (userInstance) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    let userInfo = {};
+    userInfo['id'] = userInstance.id;
+    userInfo['userName'] = userInstance.userName;
+    userInstance
+        .getChannel()
+        .then(({channelName, channelClaimId}) => {
+          userInfo['channelName'] = channelName;
+          userInfo['channelClaimId'] = channelClaimId;
+          return db.Certificate.getShortChannelIdFromLongChannelId(channelClaimId, channelName);
+        })
+        .then(shortChannelId => {
+          userInfo['shortChannelId'] = shortChannelId;
+          resolve(userInfo);
+        })
+        .catch(error => {
+          reject(error);
+        });
+  });
+}
 
 module.exports = new PassportLocalStrategy(
   {
     usernameField: 'username',
     passwordField: 'password',
-    // session      : false,
   },
   (username, password, done) => {
     logger.debug('logging user in');
@@ -20,7 +39,7 @@ module.exports = new PassportLocalStrategy(
             // logger.debug('no user found');
             return done(null, false, {message: 'Incorrect username or password.'});
           }
-          return user.comparePassword(password, (passwordErr, isMatch) => {
+          user.comparePassword(password, (passwordErr, isMatch) => {
             if (passwordErr) {
               logger.error('passwordErr:', passwordErr);
               return done(null, false, {message: passwordErr});
diff --git a/passport/local-signup.js b/passport/local-signup.js
index def287a1..83639248 100644
--- a/passport/local-signup.js
+++ b/passport/local-signup.js
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ module.exports = new PassportLocalStrategy(
   {
     usernameField: 'username',
     passwordField: 'password',
-    // session: false, // set to false because we will use token approach to auth
   },
   (username, password, done) => {
     logger.verbose(`new channel signup request. user: ${username} pass: ${password} .`);