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
Jessica is the Senior Project Manager in the Overdose Response Network with the Clinton Foundation. 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 21st 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 twenty years of experience providing AODA treatment services to adolescents and adults in residential, transitional, inpatient and outpatient settings. She has spent over fifteen years working within and supervising medication assisted therapy programs. 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 volunteer 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.
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.
Savanna Kawleski
Youth Ambassador
Savanna is also a family member of a person who has struggled with the disease of addiction and attributes her resilience and hard-working attitude to the experiences she has endured in her lifetime. As the Youth Ambassador, Savanna is responsible for supporting regional priorities while also engaging with some of our national campaigns. She works on statewide projects and is involved in National Youth Council initiatives with organizations.
Shari Klessig
Parent Ambassador/Secretary
Tim Kohler
Fundraising Chair
As a member of the Clinton Global Initiative’s Overdose Response Network (ORN), Tim helped launch Mobilize Recovery Across Georgia—the first state-focused, campaign-style bus tour for recovery. In September 2023, the tour reached nearly 50 Georgia communities, hosting rallies and municipal proclamations that united people in recovery with local resources, community leaders, elected officials, and supporters.
Currently, Tim is studying to become a Certified Addiction Counselor in the state of Georgia via the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association. He is currently working as a Counselor-In-Training at Tangu Recovery and Wellness in Atlanta. Outside of his advocacy work, Tim is an accomplished musician, songwriter, and music educator, with several solo releases available on all major streaming platforms. He is a strong believer in multiple pathways to recovery and a dedicated champion for harm-reduction strategies. Tim lives in Dallas, Georgia, just outside Atlanta, with his wife, Cat, and their four wonderful children.
Kendall Witter
Board Member
Kendall Witter, BSN, RN, is a Registered Nurse Case Manager, recovery advocate, and single mother dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by substance use and mental health challenges. She is pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Kendall’s passion for this work is rooted in both professional experience and her own journey in long-term recovery. Having experienced the challenges of addiction firsthand, she understands the importance of compassionate care, hope, and access to treatment. Her recovery has inspired a commitment to reducing stigma and helping others recognize that healing and lasting change are possible.
Throughout her nursing career, Kendall has cared for patients across a variety of healthcare settings and now works to help individuals navigate complex medical and social needs. She is especially passionate about addiction recovery, mental health, prevention efforts for youth, and supporting families impacted by substance use disorders.
As a board member, Kendall is honored to help advance Start Healing Now’s mission of education, prevention, and recovery support. She hopes to use her voice and experience to help create a future where more individuals and families find connection, healing, and hope.
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.
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®
