We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Geschke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
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 to help families that had just experienced what I just went through.

In June 2019, I worked with a company called Serve You Rx to create a pilot program to make Narcan more accessible in the state of Wisconsin. Through that initiative, 25 boxes containing the lifesaving drug Narcan were installed in areas identified as “hot zones” due to repeated incidences of overdoses occurring in or near those locations.

Serve You Rx saw a need to expand efforts outside of Wisconsin and we decided to form a partnership between my nonprofit organization Start Healing Now and the company Serve You Rx to grow the initiative into what is now known as the OAK Program. Today, Serve You Rx and Start Healing Now work with governments, businesses, and more to install OAKs in their communities. The Narcan in each OAK is available for anyone to take, no questions asked, to use in an onsite emergency or to keep in their first-aid kit for future use

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I currently lead various projects that aim to bring awareness to substance use disorder and end the stigma surrounding it within my employment at Serve You Rx. I am the creator and founder of the Overdose Aid Kits, an Employer and Community-Placed Opioid Overdose Prevention Project, providing life saving medication to those who are at high risk of overdose and their family members.

I am certified by the State of Wisconsin as a Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor. I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Services and Leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and an Associate’s Degree in Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse from Moraine Park Technical College. My areas of focus are assessment and treatment of substance abuse in adolescents and adults. I have over fifteen years of experience providing AODA treatment services to adolescents and adults in residential, transitional, inpatient and outpatient settings. I have spent over ten years working within and supervising medication assisted therapy programs, such as Suboxone and Vivitrol.

I am also a certified Recovery Coach through CCAR. I am the Executive Director for the national non-profit, Start Healing Now. I am also a Wisconsin representative of the national organizations, Mobilize Recovery and Recovery Advocacy Project, with The Voices Project. I volunteer my time by holding positions as the Governor’s representative on the Wisconsin State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse as well as an Intervention & Treatment Committee member and an Equity & Inclusion member for WI-SCAODA. I am a person in long term recovery and a sibling of a person who has struggled with an opiate addiction.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in a very small town in Wisconsin famous for it’s marsh, small town feel and friendly people. If someone was coming to visit the area, our town specifically, I would definitely show them the Horicon Marsh. I’d start by taking them on an air boat tour up into the marsh to see the wildlife that we have living right here in our backyard. Along the riverbanks of the Rock River, they’d find deer, geese, turtles, cranes, fish, cattails for miles, amazing sunsets and much more. While here we’d also be sure to take a ride along the Gold Star Bike path and stop of a dip at the Horicon Aquatic Center. For dinner, I’d want to treat them to some good ole Horicon cooking at our famous hometown restaurant, Ginger’s Hideaway. There you’ll find a true taste of the midwest in a friendly atmosphere. We’d also be sure to make a stop for one meal at Heine’s Pizza and The Mineshaft. These are two staple restaurants near our area (about a 20 miles drive in either direction) and the best places to eat when visiting to get your fill on that good ol Wisconsin cheese! Weather it’s cheese curds or the cheese on the Pizza, you can’t beat it right here in WI! Of course, depending on the season, we’d want to explore a Bucks, Brewers or Packer game! We are after all Wisconsin and we love our sporting teams! Each of the stadiums offer a vast amount of activities for the whole family to enjoy! The Packers even have a “section yellow” dedicated to those members and their families who are in recovery! I’d also take a tour and visit many of the local recovery community organizations near Horicon to show how amazing our recovery community is here in this state!
Because I love my job, I love to also show it off. We’d take a trip to Milwaukee, I’d show off our office and where our OAK story was born and our recovery friendly environment. We’d also stop off and visit the Milwaukee Art Museum or maybe the famous 5th Ward since we are in Milwaukee. To end the trip, I’d for sure want to show the OAK in action! We currently have over 160 OAK placed in WI. I love showing them off in businesses where they are installed. In my view, some of the most interesting people in WI are those in recovery. We have an amazing recovery community with exciting things happening.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to give a shout out to my children. They are the true heroes in my success story. My children were born into a family that has been saturated with addiction. They have been growing up with an uncle that was using drugs since the day they were born. There were moments in their childhood that they lived in the same household as my brother and had seen him at his worst. The thing is, they loved him unconditionally. Because of their experiences loving someone who struggles with an addiction, they have taught others to show compassion to someone with the disease of addiction. My children have been my grounding force through some of the most troubling times. On days when I was waiting for “the call” assuming I hadn’t heard from my brother so he must be in jail, the hospital or dead, my kids kept me going. For years, while I was waiting for the other shoe to drop or just simply exhausted from trying to locate resources for someone struggling, my kids loved me through it. Even though they have both endured trauma from experiences of witnessing an overdose, they have come out stronger than I could ever imagine. My son, now at 17, is one of the most amazing human beings that I know. He is resilient and strong. He is determined and smart. My daughter, now 14, is witty and kind, caring and humble. My children continue to be my anchor. They ground me, cheer me on and are my daily reminders of why I want to continue to create a better world for our next generation.

I’d also like to give a shoutout to my brother Lee Goddard. He recently celebrated four year of long term sobriety. There were many days when I never thought he’d see his 30th birthday. I am so proud of him, of his recovery and of his ability to thrive even in the most terrible situations handed to him. I’ve always said one of the most important things you can do, if you want to change the world, is to survive long enough to do it. I am so happy that my brother is a fighter, he is a survivor and he continues to change the world each and every day, just by being a part of it. He is a productive member of society, an amazing father and son. The best Uncle my kids could ever dream of and a brother I can count on. He continues to show the world that recovery is possible. That he is worthy of love, compassion, forgiveness and most of all… a life of recovery.

Website: www.starthealingnow.org

Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/StartHealingNow2022/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-geschke-4117a6219/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overdoseaidkit

Other: www.overdoseaidkit.com

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.