McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch- Bill Lohmann
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McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ Bill Lohmann [email protected] | Posted: Monday, July 1, 2013 12:00 am Her substance abuse began with alcohol, marijuana and LSD. She was 12. She hung out with an older crowd, Honesty B. Liller explained. There were pills and Jell-O shooters and, at 17, she discovered heroin. She overdosed, then went through detox and a 12-step program, which seemed to work for about a month or two until she went back to her old friends and old environment and fell into her old habits. When she was 21, she gave birth to a daughter, who had to undergo heroin detoxification in the hospital. Liller stayed off heroin for a couple of years, but not marijuana or pills. She tried a 28-day treatment program, which worked fine until she got home to her job, her car, her apartment and her daughter. “Here’s your whole life back” is how she described the jolting return. “It was so much, so quickly.” She relapsed. Time went by. The addiction deepened. “I really 100 percent thought I was going to die,” she said. Her next — and, perhaps, last — attempt at saving herself came when she arrived at the door of the McShin Foundation, an organization that specializes in recovery and was founded by John Shinholser, himself a recovering addict. She was 26. The process required months, not days, but she worked at it. She listened and learned and followed the rules. She got better. “McShin saved my life,” she said. “If it weren’t for (John), I would be dead.” McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ Liller McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch: ... http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/columnists-blogs/bill... 1 of 3 10/3/14, 10:00 AM
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Transcript of McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch- Bill Lohmann
McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’Bill Lohmann [email protected] | Posted: Monday, July 1, 2013 12:00 am
Her substance abuse began with alcohol, marijuanaand LSD.
She was 12.
She hung out with an older crowd, Honesty B.Liller explained.
There were pills and Jell-O shooters and, at 17, shediscovered heroin.
She overdosed, then went through detox and a12-step program, which seemed to work for about amonth or two until she went back to her old friendsand old environment and fell into her old habits.
When she was 21, she gave birth to a daughter,who had to undergo heroin detoxification in thehospital. Liller stayed off heroin for a couple ofyears, but not marijuana or pills. She tried a 28-daytreatment program, which worked fine until she gothome to her job, her car, her apartment and herdaughter.
“Here’s your whole life back” is how she describedthe jolting return. “It was so much, so quickly.”
She relapsed. Time went by. The addiction deepened.
“I really 100 percent thought I was going to die,” she said.
Her next — and, perhaps, last — attempt at saving herself came when she arrived at the door ofthe McShin Foundation, an organization that specializes in recovery and was founded by JohnShinholser, himself a recovering addict. She was 26. The process required months, not days, butshe worked at it. She listened and learned and followed the rules. She got better.
“McShin saved my life,” she said. “If it weren’t for (John), I would be dead.”
McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’
Liller
McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch: ... http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/columnists-blogs/bill...
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On May 27, Liller celebrated her sixth anniversary of being clean. Last week, in a move thatwould have seemed not only impossible a few years ago but beyond ridiculous to even imagine,she was appointed chief executive officer of the McShin Foundation.
That’s right: CEO.
“I never in a million years thought I would be the CEO of a nationally known organization,” Lillersaid in an interview Friday morning in her basement office at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Churchon Dumbarton Road, where McShin is headquartered.
“I was humbled,” she said about learning of the appointment to succeed Shinholser as CEO. “Itwas kind of a shock. But I think I can handle it. John has trained me to fight for the recoveringaddict. He’s trained me how to be a person in recovery and how to help others.”
Shinholser, who remains the driving force behind McShin and its president, said Liller is “anincredible story.”
“She’s got the right stuff as far as understanding what it takes to sustain long-term recovery aswell as delivering it to those who need it, and she has a genuine interest in wanting to help,” hesaid in a phone interview from Colorado, where he was waiting to present a program on recoveryat a jail.
McShin offers a residential program with “recovery houses” for up to 38 people, where those inrecovery live, and 12-step meetings (plus a smaller day program for those who live at home), butit also provides a structured environment. There are curfews and behavioral expectations, as wellas training in how to help others battling addiction and how to get jobs.
Liller learned all sorts of job skills during her recovery: landscaping, painting, housecleaning. Sheworked as a nanny for a former McShin executive’s child and then began doing some work aroundthe McShin office before she became supervisor of the recovery house where she had lived.
“All of our staff is in recovery,” Liller said. “That’s what makes us who we are. Been there, donethat. We know how to guide people in the right direction because we’ve been there, done that.”
Liller credits her faith — she and her family have become active members at Hatcher — and herfamily: husband Adam, who also is in long-term recovery, 11-year-old daughter Destiny andWyatt, who turns 4 today.
She calls herself “a face and voice of recovery,” and they are more than simply words to thosebattling addiction. A ruthless stigma is attached to addiction, Shinholser said, and seeing someonelike Liller succeed is “a powerful message,” giving hope to others on the recovery path.
“It’s a shame-based illness, and our system actually instills that shame in people,” Shinholser said.
McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch: ... http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/columnists-blogs/bill...
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“Stigma kills people, but Honesty is not a victim of stigma anymore.”
Stigma might have found its match in Liller. She is unbridled in her enthusiasm as she talks aboutthe work McShin does and the unending ripple effect of one addict in successful recovery passingalong hope and help to another addict trying to find his or her way. As CEO, Liller looks forwardto spreading McShin’s reach and “teaching people about the disease of addiction and substanceuse disorders.”
“I hope I never get another job,” she said with a laugh. “I hope this is my job for life because Ilove what I do. It’s not even about the paycheck. It’s about helping people and seeing people growin their recovery and get their lives back.”
(804) 649-6639
McShin CEO has ‘the right stuff’ - Richmond Times-Dispatch: ... http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/columnists-blogs/bill...
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