Rosemary Tisch Receives Coveted Vernon Johnson Award

Rosemary has dedicated her life to breaking the cycle of addiction in families. Since entering recovery in 1982, she has focused her energy on prevention, founding Kids Are Special (KAS) in 1983. KAS was one of the first nonprofits working with children of alcoholics, developing prevention programs for school children and Training Institute in Santa Clara County, CA. As the parent of two young children, Rosemary knew that addiction and recovery do not occur in a vacuum.

She has presented locally, nationally and internationally, providing the first prevention trainings in Russia in the late 1980s and later developing a school-based prevention curriculum, Keys to Healthy Living, for the Moscow schools. It's used today in 23 Russian cities in a variety of settings.

Rosemary moved on to found Family Education Foundation to support the recovery of children and families addressing multiple issues of addiction, mental health problems, violence and abuse. She has collaborated and consulted with experts in overlapping fields, incorporating innovative thoughts and strategies in new strategies. As she developed programs, founded organizations and her work evolved, she immersed herself in the research and theory of recovery and family therapy. Her knowledge and experience, driven by her desire to break the cycle of addiction in her own family, has helped many, many others.

Over the last eleven years, Rosemary has focused on the development and implementation of Celebrating Families!™ - an evidence-based, multi-family skill building curriculum focused on whole family recovery. Celebrating Families!™ (CF!) is now listed on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices and was transferred to the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) in 2005. CF! was recently translated and culturally adapted by a team of Hispanic program experts. CF! Is about the children of the next generation not struggling with addiction, providing their parents who are in early recovery the respect and support they need - reuniting families.

She serves as an advisor to a variety of state, national and international bodies. Perhaps what is most powerful about Rosemary's work has been her ability to communicate so successfully with people who do not have direct experience with people in long-term recovery. Rosemary's quiet, intelligent passion about teaching families what they need in order to lead healthy lives motivates everyone with whom she comes in contact.