Founders

John Shinholser

John Shinholser serves as the President of The McShin Foundation, which was founded in 2004 and named for its two recovering co-founders, John Shinholser and Carol McDaid. Shinholser and McDaid have dedicated their lives to helping individuals and families in or seeking recovery from the disease of addiction. The McShin Foundation operates on the founders' belief that by helping others find and sustain recovery, they can better sustain their own recovery. Shinholser and McDaid decided to establish a non-profit recovery community resource foundation based on this belief and on the work Shinholser had been engaged in with individuals in the recovering community since 1982.

Honesty Liller, CPRS

Honesty Liller is a woman in long-term recovery from a Substance Use Disorder since May 27, 2007 and a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist in VA. Honesty is the best selling Author of "Scattered Pink - A Diary Of A Woman In Recovery". She is the Chief Executive Officer of The McShin Foundation, a non-profit authentic peer-to-peer Recovery Community Organization (RCO), that serves individuals and families with Substance Use Disorders. She is the recipient of the Vernon Johnson Award given by Faces and Voices of Recovery in 2015. Honesty was also featured on “Face The Nation” discussing addiction & recovery in America. In addition, she completed Stanford University’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders and The Community Foundation’s Emerging Nonprofit Leader Program. In 2019 she was honored with the Jean C. Harris Community Service Board Award from Hanover County. WRIC – Channel 8 News did a feature about Honesty for the “Richmond’s Remarkable Women” special in 2020. From 2008-2012, she led the Recovery Voices Count Campaign. She has been a field reviewer for SAMHSA, Faces & Voices of Recovery, and CAPRSS. As a female entrepreneur she co-founded CARE Talks, LLC. Honesty is able to be a voice for those with addiction and their families through countless news articles, magazine stories, and TV interviews. To spend time with her husband, two children, and her Yorkie Shelby Monroe is a gift that keeps giving!

Event Guidelines

Detail your services

CARE Talks will be duplicated year-round, year after year in as many cities that efforts allow.

These talks will be hosted by communities of recovery to include friends and families of recovering people.

CARE Talks will be a series of short yet empowering, energizing, informative but most importantly centered around solutions for what ails us in regard to addiction in our communities. There will be no limits to the solutions for addiction. These talks cannot exceed 15 minutes in length or less than 3 minutes in length.

CARE Talks majority speakers will be people who identify themselves as people in recovery from Substance Use Disorders, however to have a few family members and allies presenting is welcomed and embraced, they too have solutions to addiction and the consequences that surround this illness.

A wonderful benefit of presenting at a CARE Talks is that these talks will be available at no cost to viewers online for all to learn from and enjoy. We are especially excited to flood the world with a continuous bombardment of solutions to our addiction epidemic.

The rules to be a speaker are simple:

1. You must have a solution to an addiction related problem

2. You must be able to maintain listener’s attention as well as present believable and motivational solutions.

3. Speakers cover all their cost associated with attending and speaking, however they may solicit or recruit sponsor support to cover cost. Sponsors will be featured in the event program as well as have a sponsor table at venues that permit.

4. No speaker shall be paid to speak yet sponsors may provide speakers.

5. The host committee will select speakers as a team and has final authority of speaker selection.

6. No language above PG rating.

7. Speakers agree to media release as well as their talk becomes property of CARE Talks, LLC. We will post talks on the internet for free viewing for all that can access the internet.

The rules to host a CARE talk:

1. Must have community support.

2. Must coordinate efforts with CARE Talks, LLC.

3. Must follow speaker rules.

4. The host committee may have a reasonable level of autonomy for the type of event yet CARE Talk’s must maintain its objective of quality speakers, full audience and a talking event that flows as designed.

5. After expenses 75% of revenue goes to local host committee charity of choice and 25% goes back to CARE Talks, LLC.