Joel Hernandez Award

recognizes one local, state or regional recovery community organization for its success in assessing the specific needs of their community and carrying out a vision and mission of mobilizing resources within and outside the recovery community to increase the prevalence and quality of long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

The Northern Ohio Recovery Association, Inc.  (NORA)

Cleveland, OH.

The Northern Ohio Recovery Association, Inc. (NORA) is a community based substance abuse peer recovery support organization founded in 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio whose purpose is to provide culturally relevant addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery support services to youth, adults and families in Northern Ohio. In addition to serving individuals through a variety of programs, NORA has been the catalyst which sparked National Recovery Month Events in the State of Ohio since 2004. In 2008, NORA added a Motorcycle Ride for Recovery where motorcyclists participate in a two-hour ride through the beautiful Cleveland Metro Parks.

Vernon Johnson Award 

recognizes people who are in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol or other drugs who have given back to their communities so that future generations can experience the reality of recovery.

Allen McQuarrie

The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc., Board of Directors, PRO-ACT Public Policy Committee.

Allen has been in long-term recovery for 29 years and has been an actively involved, contributing and effective advocate, professional and volunteer in the Recovery Movement during all these years.  One of his most important significant advocacy efforts has been with ACT 106, a Pennsylvania law that protects minimum mandated treatment for alcohol and other drug addiction.  Allen also was part of the group who began PRO-ACT’s first Recovery Walks!  Which started with just 150 people and is now the largest recovery walk in the country.  

Kathleen Gibson

Oxford House, Inc., Silver Spring, MD

Kathleen Gibson assumed the position of Oxford House Inc. Chief Operating Officer in 2007.  She has over 20 years of experience with the Oxford House organization.  Her work with Oxford House in North Carolina is used as a model across the country with more than 1750 Oxford Houses worldwide, and Kathleen is now responsible for all operations.  Kathleen has inspired such key events as the National Open House for all Oxford Houses to coincide with National Recovery Month in September each year.  This idea of an open house is meant to demonstrate to the public that people in recovery are good neighbors and we open our doors to help overcome the negative image of someone in recovery.

Denise Holden

CEO, RASE Project, Harrisburg, PA.

Denise is the Founder and CEO of the RASE Project a Recovery Community Organization assisting all those individuals affected by substance use issues, problems, and concerns by fostering progress, enriching lives, and ultimately enhancing the recovery process.  Since 2002 Denise has championed many advocacy events such as rallies at the state capitol, Recovery Walks, Recovery Rocks, and Recovery Fest.  She has gone to the nation’s capital to stand up for the rights of the recovery community. She has been on numerous panels, committees, Boards, and task forces regarding addiction and recovery. She is actively involved in Pennsylvania’s Overdose Taskforce, ROSC Planning Committee, the Drug and Alcohol Coalition, and the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) Advisory Council and member of the Persons in Recovery sub-committee. Denise has made voicing the rights of people suffering from addiction her life’s purpose.

Lisa Mojer-Torres Award 

recognizes a person whose life and work personifies Faces & Voices commitment to all pathways to recovery.

A.Thomas McLellan, Ph.D.

Treatment Research Institute (TRI), Philadelphia, PA. 

Dr. McLellan is the CEO and co-founder of the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and is one of the leading addiction researchers in the world.  From 2009 to 2010, he was Science Advisor and Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a Congressionally confirmed Presidential appointment to help shape the nation’s public policy approach to illicit drug use.  Dr. McLellan has more than 35 years of experience in addiction treatment research and has long championed the expansion of evidence-based treatments throughout the addiction field.  In the 1980s, with his colleagues from the Center for the Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. McLellan introduced the Addiction Severity Index and, later, the Treatment Services Review. Both are among the most widely used assessment instruments in the world.

Voice of Recovery Award 

recognizes a prominent public figure that has chosen to share their personal recovery story widely. 

Chris Herren

The Herren Project & Project Purple

Chris was a high school basketball legend from Fall River, Massachusetts, who realized his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA when he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999 and then was traded to his hometown team, the Boston Celtics in 2000.

Chris struggled with alcohol and other drug problems for much of his basketball career, but now in recovery has courageously chosen to share his harrowing story of addiction and recovery with audiences far and wide in the hopes of reaching just one person and making a difference in his or her life.

He first went public with his recovery story in the memoir Basketball Junkie, and Emmy nominated ESPN Films documentary Unguarded, of which he is the featured subject.  Chris has since traveled the country to speak to over 500,000 young people about his recovery and the dangers of substance use. 

To support this vision, he founded The Herren Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing treatment navigation, educational and mentoring programs to those touched by addiction.  In 2012, The Herren Project launched a national campaign, Project Purple, to encourage people of all ages to stand up to substance abuse.  He is also featured prominently in “The Anonymous People.”