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
In 2017, my brother overdosed in my home. I revived him using NARCAN® I’d been given. My son, who was 12 at the time, stood in the corner of my living room, watching as I performed CPR on his uncle, whose lips were blue and body lifeless. Once my brother was transported to the hospital, no one asked me about the Narcan I used. No one provided me with another dose to replace what I had used or talked to me about what I had just experienced. There had to be a better way…
Jessica is the Outreach Program Manager for Serve You Rx. She leads various projects that aim to bring awareness to substance use disorder and end the stigma surrounding it. Jessica is a person in long term recovery who recently celebrated her 18th year of sobriety. Jessica is certified by the State of Wisconsin as a Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor. She is also certified by CCAR as a Recovery Coach. She received a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Services from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and an Associate’s Degree in AODA from Moraine Park Technical College. Her areas of focus are assessment and treatment of substance abuse in adolescents and adults. Jessica has over fifteen years of experience providing AODA treatment services to adolescents and adults in residential, transitional, inpatient and outpatient settings. She has spent over ten years working within and supervising medication assisted therapy programs, such as Suboxone and Vivitrol. She is a Wisconsin representative of the national organizations, Mobilize Recovery and Recovery Advocacy Project, with The Voices Project. Jessica volunteers her time by holding positions as the Governor’s representative on the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse as well as an Intervention & Treatment Committee member and an Equity & Inclusion member for SCAODA.
Michael Beyer
Interim Vice President
Amy Schroeder
Treasurer and Secretary
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.
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
Serve You Rx Supports Start Healing Now
In 2020, Serve You Rx, a Milwaukee-based pharmacy benefit management company funded an Overdose Aid Kit Program for a 1-year pilot in Wisconsin. Together, we placed boxes containing the life-saving drug NARCAN® in areas identified as “hot zones” due to repeated incidents of an overdose occurring in those locations.
Serve You Rx saw a need for the program to continue after the pilot year. They also had a desire to expand their opioid risk management assistance, beyond the plan benefit design. Serve You Rx wanted to provide employers with more in-depth education, training, and resources to support workplace safety, recovery-friendly cultures, and save lives.
As a result, Serve You Rx teamed up with Start Healing Now and kicked off the official O.A.K. Program by installing kits filled with NARCAN in high-risk areas. Through the O.A,K. Program, Serve You Rx is able to offer, free of charge, its clients in Wisconsin:
- Naloxone training
- Training on the effects of the opioid epidemic
- Recovery-friendly workplace training
- Installation of an O.A.K. box
For more information on Serve You RX, visit www.serveyourx.com
Serve You Rx vs. Opioid Addiction: Fighting a Giant
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®
Sharon Murillo
11/2/1961–5/13/2022
Sharon was the Chief Executive Officer and President of Serve You Rx for nearly 25 years. Sharon had overall executive responsibility for Operations, Sales, Compliance, Information Systems, Client Relations, Serve You DirectRxSM Mail Service and Specialty Pharmacies, and all facets of the Serve You business and organization. In addition to her leadership of Serve You, Sharon was an active member of the Milwaukee and Wisconsin business communities and had promoted, participated in, and led numerous business and community groups, including such worthwhile organizations as Angel on My Shoulder, which helps hundreds of patients and their families who are battling cancer each year. Sharon was a mother of a child who suffered with an opiate addiction. Because of this, in 2017, Sharon began supporting Start Healing Now by generously donating monthly contributions to ensure that one deserving member of the community could access a safe and sober living scholarship per month. In 2019, Sharon joined forces with SHN President Jessica Geschke and together, through Serve You Rx, funded the pilot year of the Overdose Aid Kits program. In 2021, Sharon was voted to become the Vice President of Start Healing Now where she served in that position until her death on May 13, 2022. Sharon was also a member of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) as well as other national industry-related organizations.