About Us
Our Mission
Start Healing Now supports individuals and their family members on their path to long-term recovery. We provide a solid base for a continuum of care with resources and financial help for safe and structured sober living homes, education, and transitional aftercare programming including access to free NARCAN®.
We’re a Volunteer-Run Non-profit Organization
Start Healing Now is entirely operated by volunteers dedicated to seeing the end of the opioid epidemic in communities throughout our home state of Wisconsin and nationwide. Money we raise goes directly to support Start Healing Now in growing awareness of our organization, Overdose Aid Kit (O.A.K.) Program, and other services for those suffering from the disease of addiction.
No one is immune to the horrors of opioid addiction. Our number one goal is to end this epidemic. We rely on the generosity of volunteers and donors just like you! We need your help. Reach out today to join us in this battle.
Our Team
Jessica Geschke
President
Michael Beyer
Interim Vice President
Amy Schroeder
Treasurer
Amy Schroeder is the Office Manager for Ecological Toner & Service, a company based out of Madison, WI. Amy received her Associate’s Degree in Human Service with an emphasis on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse from Madison College with additional studies from UW Madison and Edgewood College. Amy has spent over five years serving on various non-profit boards in WI to bring about change for those still suffering from the disease of addiction. Her passion lies within helping families and friends through the difficult journey of learning that a loved one is using substances. Amy has had personal experience with the disease of addiction and what it can do to a family unit. She is a family member, and close friend, of individuals who are currently struggling or have struggled in the past. Her goal is to ensure that no one family suffers alone in silence but instead speaks openly about their journey from active addiction to early recovery to help others find their way to a sober lifestyle.
Jaclyn Brown
Secretary and Marketing Manager
Jaclyn Brown is an impacted family member and lost her younger brother, Marc Kane, to a heroin overdose on November 16, 2018. Since then, she has become very passionate about advocacy and education in the areas of stigma surrounding substance use, harm reduction, and mental health. In October 2021, she left a 12 year career in the insurance industry (where she worked in various roles in claims, underwriting, implementation, and IT) to pursue her passions of coaching, advocacy, education, and marketing. She owns her own coaching and consulting business called Stay Golden Coaching & Consulting. She is the Chair for the Family Caucus, which is an initiative of Mobilize Recovery and Partnership to End Addiction. She works with family members to empower them to use their stories to effect change in their own communities and combat the stigma that is often associated with substance use. She works with local syringe service programs. She lives in Mesa, AZ with her husband, Jordan, and their two dogs, Pierre and Teddy.
Savanna Kawleski
Youth Ambassador
Start Healing Now Advisory Council
Jason Fritz
Jason has a passion for helping people affected by substance use disorder. After losing his brother to an accidental heroin overdose in 2014, Jason has been involved in the community, spreading awareness and education about the dangers of addiction.
Jason started a non-profit organization to proactively educate people about the signs of substance use disorder and help connect people to professionals in the recovery space. In addition to that, he is a part of several other coalitions and task forces in Southern Wisconsin. Jason joined the Start Healing Now Advisory Committee in 2015.
As a Treatment Advocate with Recovery Centers of America, Jason works to expand treatment options and open doors for individuals seeking recovery.
Amy Anderson
Amy is Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC) specializing in addiction treatment. She currently holds the position of Therapist for the Rock County OWI Treatment Court in Janesville, Wisconsin. She previously served as the Human Services Program Director for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Continuing Studies.
Amy teaches and lectures on a number of topics related to substance use disorders and has presented throughout the state of Wisconsin. She also consults and advises on addiction treatment, education, and compliance. Most recently, Amy consulted on the development of an advanced intervention course for the University of California San Diego. As a Counselor, she worked at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, specializing in substance use disorder treatment and recovery, as well as OceanHawk Counseling in Stoughton, Wisconsin.
She is a strong recovery advocate for those with mental health and substance use disorders and joined Start Healing Now in 2021 as an Advisory Council member. Amy was appointed to the Intervention and Treatment Committee for the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse in July 2018. She is also an Advisory Council member of Wisconsin Voices for Recovery and The Recovery Advocacy Project. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Social Work, and later earned a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Ryan Hampton
A prominent advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator, Ryan travels coast to coast to add solutions to our national addiction crisis. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Ryan has rocketed to the center of America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy movement.
An alumnus of the Clinton White House, he’s worked with multiple non-profits and national recovery advocacy campaigns. He is now a prominent, leading face and voice of recovery advocacy and is changing the national conversation about addiction.
With content that reaches millions each month, Ryan breaks down cultural barriers that have kept people suffering in silence and is inspiring a new generation of people recovering out loud through his Voices Project.
He was part of the core team that released the first-ever U.S. Surgeon General’s report on addiction in 2016 and was singled out by Forbes as a top social entrepreneur in the recovery movement. Ryan connects a vast network of people who are passionate about ending the overdose crisis in America. He has been featured by—and is a contributor to—media outlets such as USA Today, MSNBC, Fox and Friends, the New York Times, NPR, HLN, Vice, Forbes, Slate, HuffPost, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal, and others.
Ryan has received praise from Democrats and Republicans alike for addressing addiction as a trans-political issue—crossing the political spectrum to build an inclusive coalition focused on solutions. He worked closely with the White House, Senate Democrats, Republicans, and U.S. House leadership, helping craft portions of the historic H.R. 6, SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, signed into law in October 2018.
In 2016, he created the web series “Addiction Across America,” documenting his 30-day, 28 state, 8,000-mile cross-country trip visiting areas hit hardest by the addiction crisis. His first book, “American Fix — Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis and How to End It,” was released by St. Martin’s Press in August 2018.
In 2019, Ryan was named by Facebook as an inaugural leadership fellow and created the national advocacy initiative, Mobilize Recovery. Since its inception, Mobilize Recovery has recruited and trained over 2,000 new advocates from all 50 states focused on community-based solutions to end the addiction crisis.
Ryan joined the Start Healing Now Advisory Committee in 2019. He lives in Nevada with his fiancé, Sean, and their dog, Dollar.
Tom Farley
Tom grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where he still lives today, and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Marketing. He began his career in banking and finance, living and working in the New York City area. From 1999 to 2012, he ran The Chris Farley Foundation, a nationally recognized non-profit dedicated to substance abuse prevention. Like his brother, Tom was successful in opening the “eyes and ears” of youth audiences through the powerful and effective use of humor.
In 2008 he wrote “The Chris Farley Show”, a New York Time bestselling biography of his late brother, the actor and comedian Chris Farley. He has been interviewed on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Fox News, and The View. He has also been featured in People Magazine, USA Today, and several national and regional newspapers and publications.
Today, Tom is a motivational speaker, delivering messages on prevention and recovery, and the use of improv as a tool to foster better communications in business. Tom is the Community Relations Coordinator in Wisconsin for Rosecrance Health Network. He joined the SHN Advisory Council in 2020.
Our Partnerships
Clinton Foundation Supports Start Healing Now
In 2023, The Clinton Foundation acquired the Overdose Aid Kit Program with plans to scale the program nationally. Together, with Start Healing Now, they began placing the O.A.K. containing the life-saving drug naloxone in areas identified as “hot zones” due to repeated incidents of an overdose occurring in those locations throughout the United States. To date, with community partners, they have placed over 3,000 Overdose Aid Kits throughout the United States.
The Clinton Foundation, in collaboration with Start Healing Now, also offers these services, free of charge, to its partners nationwide:
- Training on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose with naloxone
- Training on the effects of the overdose crisis
- Training on creating a recovery-friendly workplace
- Orientation to O.A.K.s including contents and placement
- Ongoing access to O.A.K. program staff and support to address questions
- Highlighting organizations that install O.A.K.s on social media
For more information on The Clinton Foundation, visit OVERDOSE AID KITS – Clinton Foundation
Partnering With the NARCAN® Direct Program
Start Healing Now is a proud partner of the NARCAN® Direct Program. NARCAN is the nasal spray formulation of naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The NARCAN Direct Program provides NARCAN at no cost to community agencies, which can distribute the drug to people at risk of experiencing or witnessing an opioid overdose.
Our History
Originally named Stop Heroin Now, SHN was founded in 2013 by Linda Lenz. Her son Tony died earlier that year of an accidental heroin overdose. In coping with her own loss, Linda saw a need for supporting other parents who, like her, had lost a child to an overdose.
In 2015, Jessica Geschke took over leadership of SHN and, with her team, grew the all-volunteer organization in providing resources and funding for treatment and sober living to individuals in need.
In 2020, SHN adjusted its focus due to the overwhelming number of opioid overdoses taking place in communities throughout our home state of Wisconsin. The team set out to curb the fatality rate by creating the Overdose Aid Kits (O.A.K.) Program, in conjunction with Serve You Rx. This led to our new name (Start Healing Now), logo, and website being adopted in 2022.
Today, Start Healing Now assists individuals and their families on the path to long-term recovery. Our goal is to be a solid base for a continuum of care. This includes resources and financial help for:
- Safe and structured sober living homes
- Education
- Transitional aftercare programming
- Access to free NARCAN®