Meet The CAF Team
Ginny Atwood Lovitt
Executive Director
Ginny Atwood Lovitt is Executive Director and co-founder of The Chris Atwood Foundation. She is certified by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health as a Master Revive trainer and has taught over two thousand individuals, families, and professionals how to save a life with narcan.
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She has spearheaded the unanimous passage of three Virginia state laws that pioneered community based access to Narcan for all Virginia residents, and collaborated on a team that advocated for three more state laws increasing the health and safety of people impacted by substance use.
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Ginny is an award-winning advocate for substance use disorder issues, and is particularly passionate about defeating the many stigmas surrounding this disease. She has shared her family’s story and her work with The Chris Atwood Foundation on outlets such as A&E, NBC, NPR, the Washington Post, in international news in over a dozen countries, and at the White House.
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She loves nature, God, writing, and being a mom - to her son Caleb, her three geriatric pugs, and her ever growing collection of house plants.
Sonya Delvecchio
Revive To Thrive Program Manager
Sonya DelVecchio is Program Manager for The Chris Atwood Foundation. Sonya manages the Revive 2 Thrive program. which provides our members in the community with the support and resources they need for their health and wellbeing.
She has created an amazing team of peer support specialists who work directly with the CAF’s members. Forming relationships and partnering with other local organizations, she has created a powerful supportive network that is saving lives. Sonya has lost close friends and family members to substance use disorder and has dedicated her life to supporting families impacted by addiction. Sonya works hard to erase the stigma associated with substance misuse, by using positive person first-language along with striving to bring hope and understanding to the rest of the community.
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Sonya is a transplant from the Midwest and has lived in the Northern Virginia area since getting married in 2016 after a 7-year long distance engagement to her husband. She is mother to two adult children. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, cooking exotic meals and swimming and is passionate about world travel. Next destination, Thailand!
James Purcell
Office Manager
Housing Specialist
Meet James Purcell, The Office Manager for The Chris Atwood Foundation. Prior to working at The CAF, James worked for the nonprofit, The Delaney Bay Fund, doing aid work in Haiti, worked as an administrative assistant for the law firm, Woodruff, Spradlin, & Smart, and created the import/ export business, Simpply LLC. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of San Diego with a degree in Finance and Business Management.
James had his own experiences with substance use disorder and he has been fortunate enough to come out on the other side, like others he had slips along the way. He has experienced many different approaches to treatment and has found harm reduction, coupled with recovery support, to be the most effective. This fuels his passion for The Chris Atwood Foundation’s mission and programs. He has seen them work in his own life and in the lives of his friends. He has lost many friends to this disease and he wants to prevent more unnecessary deaths of young people with tons of potential.
At The CAF James handles the day to day administration, including donation management, grant reporting, technical support, data management, and monthly financial reports, among other random tasks. James is a certified REVIVE! Trainer. He joined The CAF early on and managed The CAF’s Recovery Housing Grants Program for 3 years. He also spearheaded the creation of The CAF’s Mail Based Naloxone Program, resulting in over 350 reported overdose reversals using The CAF's naloxone kits. He is proud to be a part of such a force for good and he is excited for the future of the organization. He has seen it grow from a team of 3, including him, to over 16 employees and he has helped to start many of The CAF's new programs over the years.
Daniel Adams
Peer Recovery Specialist
Daniel Adams is a Peer Recovery Specialist who aids and assists other citizens who are going through the crucial transitions phases of recovery.
As a Peer Recovery Specialist, he strives to be a beacon of hope and a living example for those who are persevering and recovering from life challenges; who are seeking to be helped, not fixed, and who sometimes simply need to be heard, not preached to.
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He has earned academic diplomas and vocational certifications. He became a champion and a leader in re-entry programs as an elder, Restorative Justice (How to handle conflict), Mindfulness (DBT), and The Hero Within.
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"The quality of my life is based on the positive contributions that I make to increase the quality of others' lives. By learning to empathically assist and listen to others, I've learned to better understand my own strength and opportunities for growth."
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Beth Cline
Peer Recovery Specialist
Beth Cline is a Peer Support Specialist with the Chris Atwood Foundation. Beth grew up in Reston, Virginia, and has stayed pretty local ever since. She has an extensive background in customer service and administrative skills. She takes pride in any job that she has and loves to be a wealth of knowledge. Her passion for learning has made her a “Jill of all trades” at most jobs. If she doesn’t know the answer to something, she will track down an answer for you.
She has lived experience with substance use disorder and PTSD which has propelled her to want to help others in the community. It’s a community effort to recover from the past and Beth utilizes the most readily available resources.
When she is not working to help others in the community, whether at work or in recovery groups, she is an avid painter. She spends her free time painting and creating. Art has always been something that Beth relied on to express emotions but, using typically held her back. Now that she is in recovery, she has found new ways to paint, craft, and create. She lives with a very supportive family.
Shelly Young
Director of Programs
Shelly Young is the CAF Director of Programs and mother of three fascinating wonders, including a young adult in recovery and all of whom are exploring creative arts and fashion. She is a passionate advocate for wellness, recovery, family support, a compassionate public health response to substance use and creating environments that support recovery.
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She is certified in The Anatomy of Transformation, RYT 500 and is an ARISE Certified Interventionist. She is also on the board of Unity Recovery in Philadelphia, facilitates the STAR Family Program at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, and serves on opioid task forces, consults with healthcare organizations, workplaces & law enforcement to better serve families impacted by substance use. She is the creator of the first ever family recovery conference, a virtual conference for families impacted by substance use.
When's she not studying the latest brain development, attachment theory, nervous system and recovery research, she's walking with her big black lab or enjoying movies, good food and music with her family preferably somewhere warm and sandy.
Brittany Roberts Martin
Hope Team Program Coordinator
Peer Support Specialist
Brittany Roberts joined our CAF team as a Peer Support Specialist in August 2020. Since then she is always excited to share her personal experience in recovery since 2017 to help anyone seeking support with substance use disorder. She is an Alumni of Roseberry Oxford House in Manassas, VA and continues to work closely with the organization. When not working, Brittany enjoys going to the movies, spending time with family and trying to learn to cook.
While Brittany believes there are many pathways to recovery, she’s found AA/NA most useful in her own journey and is always willing to take someone along to a meeting. She welcomes anyone to contact her to learn about her story since incarceration, Oxford houses, AA/NA meetings & The CAF services.
Sean Fitzgerald
CHR Program Coordinator
Sean Fitzgerald is the Program Coordinator for the Chris Atwood Foundation’s Comprehensive Harm Reduction program. Sean is an advocate for compassionate drug policy and is currently earning a Masters in Public Policy from George Mason University where he studies issues effecting drug user health.
Sean cares deeply about people who use drugs and has worked to help drug users stay safe for a long time. Sean is a Virginia Certified Substance Abuse Counselor and has been employed as an Addictions Counselor since 2014. He has been affiliated with the Chris Atwood Foundation for almost as long! Sean began helping out as a volunteer revive trainer shortly after the Virginia Revive program began and over the years he has gone on to assist the CAF in many other ways as well. In 2019 the Chris Atwood Foundation recognized Sean’s contributions with our ‘Recovery Hero’ award, he sees this as the greatest honor of his career.
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Sean sees harm reduction as a practical solution to a range of social problems but more importantly he thinks that harm reduction is the right thing to do. Sean believes that all human beings are deserving of compassion and that there is a moral imperative to help people to stay safe even when they do things that we don’t understand and even when they do things that we disagree with. It has been a longstanding ambition of Sean’s for Syringe Access to be available in Virginia and it is a dream come true for him to see the CHR begin to operate in his home state.
Sean grew up in Northern Virginia and has lived here for almost his whole life. He loves this state and this regions and he loves Virginians who use drugs.
Lindsey Kearney
Director of Development
Lindsey Kearney is Director of Development at The Chris Atwood Foundation. She comes to us from the Northern Virginia Family Service, a $38 million nonprofit serving vulnerable populations throughout Northern Virginia. Lindsey brings over 14 years of experience and expertise in corporate relations, event management, and grant writing. Through various roles at consulting firms and in-house, she has successfully raised more than $10M for programs and projects ranging from student athlete scholarships to homeless shelter operating support, and everything in between.
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Jenny Hagerup
Care Coordinator Peer Support Specialist
There are some people in life that are always striving to better themselves, to grow. Jenny was NOT one of them. In fact, she was fine with drifting through life without any true purpose, aside from feeding her addictions.
A true native to NOVA, Jenny was born and raised in Great Falls. After spending 15 years jumping from substance to substance, and a little push from the federal government, Jenny decided to give sobriety a shot. After serving 27 months in federal prison for drug related charges, she moved out to Winchester to be with her son and parents. Still using while on probation, sitting outside and contemplating yet another positive drug test, the thought came crashing in that there has to be another way. Drugs and alcohol had been the drive for so long, but they weren’t working anymore.
She was broken and couldn’t fix it
So, Jenny made that hard decision to go into her 10th rehab. This time, it was for her, not for anyone else or to manipulate a situation.Jumping into the deep end of recovery, Jenny finally found peace. She met her now husband and had another son. Life got messy and busy, but Jenny stayed sober.
After her dad passed, she knew that it was time to find that meaning in life, and that was to help others like her. In the summer of 2021 Jenny took the PRS course and started volunteering at the CAF, became an intern, and has now been brought on as a care coordinator. She is living proof that there is another way.
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Myesha Issac
Peer Support Specialist
Myesha Isaac is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist with the Chris Atwood foundation to whom is driven by compassion to save lives. Myesha uses synergy to help people reconnect because, recovery equals connection. Myesha Isaac grew up in the metropolitan city of Baltimore. She is the perfect example of what diversity is, promoting equality for all. When you think about ,''what a role model in recovery looks like''? You can look at her ,and find hope, and joy, and get a clear understanding that recovery is possible. She has lived experience with substance use disorder and even in the midst, of your obstacles, trials, and tribulations. She will stand with you, she will walk and talk with you, and will teach you how to receive, ''beauty for your ashes''. Myesha Isaac is a trailblazer for the GLBTQ community . She has formed many alliances with the IWOCDC (incarcerated workers organization committee), that advocates for the voices of incarcerated individuals, to be heard. Myesha Isaac is a member of the National Action Network and has written many publications that advocates to protect the civil rights of all individuals, to increase voter education and participation, amongst all voters. Fought discrimination in housing, accommendation/ services, employment, education, and other areas.....
IN HER EXACT WORDS: Recovery is a lifelong journey of self-discovery, growth, and transformation. Managing addiction requires you to make a thousand different changes in yourself , and in your outlook of how you view the world, in its totality. The person you are at the start of addiction treatment, is completely different from the person you''ll become after 10 years of sobriety, BUT it is still you, who will make that transformation happen...