McShin co-founder Shinholser to retire

John Shinholser, who in 2004 co-founded The McShin Foundation, a non-profit recovery organization, announced recently that he will retire from the organization Dec. 31.

On July 19, 2004, Shinholser and Carol McDaid founded the organization, which takes its name from a combination of portions of their last names.

The duo began their endeavor to provide recovery services to persons with substance use disorders in a small 56-square-foot office located within the Rubicon recovery building on MacTavish Street in Richmond. Today, the McShin Recovery Center is located in a 15,000-square-foot space at 2300 Dumbarton Road in Lakeside and has a staff of 26 employees managing jail programs, 16 residential recovery homes, and full-time programming.

Shinholser has been in active recovery since Aug. 10, 1982.

Under his leadership, McShin helped pioneer the peer recovery movement. Shinholser and McShin also spearheaded the movement to begin jail peer recovery programs in Virginia.  The McShin model is now used not only in Virginia jails but in correctional facilities nationwide. McShin currently operates jail recovery programs in Henrico County, Richmond City, and two other Virginia jails. Shinholser also was a member of the Henrico County Drug Court Advisory Council and co-authored the McShin Recovery Coach manual.

McShin is recognized as the first RCO (recovery community organization) in Virginia, and is the only RCO in Virginia to be nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Peer Recovery Support Services, the national accrediting body for RCOs.

Shinholser and McDaid have traveled internationally presenting on recovery topics. Shinholser also travels to jails nationwide presenting on peer recovery topics and programming.  Shinholser has represented McShin in 46 states and is a subject matter expert for The Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, University of Missouri-Kansas City.  He served on the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Virginia General Assembly Joint Senate/House sub-committee on substance abuse (SJ77) and is a board member of the National Peer Recovery Alliance.

His numerous awards include Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year (2016), Caron Foundation Outstanding Alumni Award (2005), OSAS Award of Virginia for significant contributions to the field of substance use disorder and recovery (2006), and the Visionary Leadership Award, The Virginia Summer Institute for Addiction Studies (2022).

In 2021, Virginia General Assembly House Resolution 738 commemorated the efforts of Shinholser and McDaid efforts in pioneering and establishing the peer recovery support model, recovery community organization model and recovery residence model in Virginia.  McDaid partnered with Shinholser and McShin to support such initiatives as ensuring that addiction and mental health were covered as an essential benefit in the Affordable Care Act and establishing the first federal grant program for RCOs in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.

Shinholser's efforts at McShin have been featured in numerous local publications as well as national magazines such as Newsweek; he has also appeared on news broadcasts and national documentaries such as Face the Nation, The Anonymous People, Heroin: The Hardest Hit, podcasts, and other wire media.

A scholarship fund has been established to honor Shinholser and McDaid as Shinholser prepares to retire.  For details about donating to the "Co-Founders John and Carol" Scholarship Fund, visit https://mcshin.org/donation-campaigns/ or call (804) 249-1845.