The Recovery Bill of Rights
is a statement of the principle that all Americans have a right to recover from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Learn more…
Rally for Recovery! 2008
Start planning your 2008 Rally for Recovery! event. This year's Rally for Recovery will take place on September 20, 2008! Learn more...
Governance
A 21-member Board of Directors advises and directs Faces & Voices of Recovery. Thirteen regional representatives are working to link recovery advocates within their region and build our movement from the grassroots up. Faces & Voices of Recovery’s Advisory Board provides additional expertise to guide our organization.
Faces & Voices Board of Directors
Regional Representatives
- Central East: Steve Glaude
- Frontier: Carla Ayres
- Great Lakes: Donna Conley
- Gulf Coast: Joe Powell
- Mid-America: Judie Didriksen
- Mid-Atlantic: Michael W. Barry
- Mountain West: Tonya Wheeler
- New England: Patty McCarthy
- Northeast: Elizabeth Currier
- Pacific Southwest: John deMiranda
- Prairielands: Jo Campe
- Southern Coast: William Layfield
- Southeast: Billy Lossiah-Bratt
At-Large Representatives
- Dona Dmitrovic
- Walter Ginter
- Steve Gumbley
- Ed Jurith
- Merlyn Karst
- Kevin Kirby
- Carol McDaid
- Phillip Valentine
Dona is the Assistant Director of the RASE Project in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she manages the Buprenorphine Coordinator Program. Dona has been in long-term recovery for 22 years which drives her passion to advocate for persons in recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction.
She directed the Center for Education and Advocacy of the Johnson Institute in Washington, DC, where she managed Recovery Ambassador workshops across the country, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month events and assisted with the annual “America Honors Recovery” luncheon. She was the first executive director of the recovery advocacy organization, PA Recovery Organizations Alliance, Inc. (PRO-A) and has worked in the human service field for 22 years with 18 years in health-related public policy.
Dona has a Master’s Degree in Human Services from Lincoln University and served as a 2000 mentor for the Robert Wood Johnson Developing Leadership in Reducing Substance Abuse Fellowship Program. She has been a keynote speaker for many national, state and local conferences and workshops.
I am a long time advocate for medication assisted recovery. I have served as Vice President and Board member of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (NAMA), organized the Certified Methadone Advocate (CMA) Training program for NAMA, and served as a consumer representative on numerous Federal and New York State committees concerning treatment and/or recovery. I currently am project director of the Medication Assisted Recovery Support (MARS) Project, the first CSAT/RCSP funded project for people whose recovery is assisted with medication.
In recovery since 1986, Steve has been an advocate, educator, clinician, and administrator in addiction treatment and recovery services. He is presently the Co-Director of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England. He is a founder of the Institute for Addiction Recovery at Rhode Island College, and presently chairs its steering committee.
My father was sober for many years before his death. Two of his grandmothers died of alcoholism. Although the disease of addiction often destroys individuals and families, I want people to know that recovery can make them whole again.
I am currently Chairman of the Board of Faces and Voices of Recovery and a founder of Advocates for Recovery-Colorado. I spent several years as administrator of Alternative Sentencing Programs in Southern California. Addiction is a preventable, treatable medical condition from which people can and do recover. A fact that too few understand. As a person in long-term recovery, I carry this message of hope and advocate for the changes necessary to make that hope a reality. I encourage others in long term recovery to do the same.
Carol is a lobbyist who splits her time between Washington, DC and Richmond, VA. She helped co-found the McShin Foundation, a peer-led recovery community organization in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, John Shinholser. Carol represents addiction treatment providers including the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Betty Ford Center, Bradford Health Services and Hazelden Foundation in a national effort to end insurance discrimination against those who have addictive and mental illnesses.
Phillip Valentine is the Executive Director for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR). CCAR is a three-time recipient of a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Recovery Community Services Program award. He served as the point man for all of CCAR’s six “Recovery Walks!,” annual walks held for those in support of recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction. He has willingly shared his experience and expertise with other Recovery Community Organizations across the country.
In recovery since December 28, 1987, Mr. Valentine is the author of the “Hooked on Recovery” column that has enlightened the general public about the recovery process. Mr. Valentine believes that by being public about his own recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction, he can help ease the discrimination surrounding addiction and recovery. He is married and has five children. He coaches youth travel soccer and his three favorite hobbies are surf fishing, golf and watching movies.
Faces & Voices of Recovery Advisory Board
- Mark Beresky
- Tom Gilbert
- Chris Kelly
- Donald J. Kurth, M.D.
- Alexandre Laudet
- Robyn Leary
- Bob Savage
- Joycelyn Sue Woods, MA, CMA
Mark Beresky is Co-Director of the Opiate Dependence Resource Center.
In addition to being a nationally recognized advocate for best practices in medication-assisted recovery, Mark provides HIV/AIDS Prevention Case Management, HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing, Recovery Support Case Management services and Education, free of charge, to injection drug users and/or anyone interested in or suffering from opioid dependence. Toll-Free HelpLine 800-711-8680.
Tom is a member of the Lawyers and Judges Assistance Committee of the Michigan State Bar Association and a Retired District Court Judge.
I am a retired judge in recovery looking for opportunities to be useful in changing the terms of the debate for the sake of those who still suffer. I hope to see the day where we really believe (and act) as if addiction was just another chronic disorder.
Don is the Chief of Addiction Medicine at the Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Addiction. Don chairs several committees of the American Society on Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and is also President of the California Society of Addiction Medicine. He is a prolific writer on parity and the need to eliminate discrimination of patients suffering from the disease of addiction.
Alexandre Laudet is an NIH-funded social scientist whose research focuses on the role of psychosocial factors on processes of drug use, addiction and recovery over time. She is the Director, Center for the Study of Addictions and Recovery at the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Her current NIH portfolio includes an investigation that seeks to identify predictors and effectiveness of participation in 12-step after outpatient treatment, a prospective study of determinants of sustained recovery over time and a replication of that project in Melbourne, Australia conducted in partnership with a self-help recovery organization, to assess the role of culture-specific and cross-cultural processes involved in recovery.
Robyn is President of Recovery Network Foundation (RNF). The Foundation's focus is the production and distribution of recovery-dedicated programming in TV, radio and film formats. Efforts continue to launch the Recovery Channel, 24/7, and look for "Under the Influence: The Film Series," launching September 13, 2005,in concert with National Recovery Month. "Under the Influence" showcases feature films in which addiction and recovery play leading roles. Following its launch in Washington, D.C., the series then tours the country.
Bob Savage is retired for the second time and enjoys spending more time with his family and ten grandchildren. He’s walking, biking, studying, reading and pursuing some of his special interests that he didn’t have time for while he dedicated thirty-five years of his professional and personal life to work in the addiction field and to develop the organized recovery community.
Bob is the founder of the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) and served as its executive director for eight years. He also founded the New England Alliance for Addiction Recovery (NEAAR) which helped to support the development of recovery community organizations and the recovery community in the six
Joycelyn Woods is President of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (NAMA). She provides leadership for approximately 40 national and 14 international methadone advocacy organizations. NAMA's website is one of the largest methadone information websites. Ms. Woods has been a methadone advocate for twenty-five years and has worked on the NYC Transit Authority Class Action Suit, Harlem Medication Case, represented methadone patients when the federal regulations were re-written, helped write the guidelines for buprenorphrine, organized the first international conference on opiate dependency and pain management, is a member of the NYS OASAS Methadone Planning and Policy Committee, and an associate member of NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives. Her degree is in neuroscience and she published studies on opiate receptor mapping and feeding behavior and she is a Certified Methadone Advocate. In 2001 she was recognized for her advocacy work with the Richard Lane International Advocacy Award presented at the National Methadone Conference.