Our team.

Sharon Garrett is the Founder and Executive Director of Safe Haven, a Clarksville-based 501(c)(3) recovery and family-support organization she launched in 2018. Under her leadership, Safe Haven operates Arkansas's first NARR-certified recovery residence for women, alongside a Community Crisis Center, counseling services, and a 12-week faith-based recovery program. A former CPA and graduate of the University of the Ozarks, Sharon is also a published author and speaker whose work focuses on women and families affected by substance use, generational poverty, and educational disadvantage. She brings financial stewardship, faith-rooted vision, and frontline operator experience to AARR's board.

Justin Buck serves as Executive Director of the Wolfe Street Foundation, one of the South's leading Recovery Community Organizations, where he leads a statewide network connecting Arkansans to recovery housing, peer support, and youth recovery programs. With more than a decade of nonprofit leadership experience, Justin draws on his lived experience as a family member affected by addiction to advocate for the recovery community. He also serves on the boards of the Arkansas Alliance for Recovery Centered Organizations and Positive Energy Affecting Recovering Lives (PEARL). His leadership centers on the belief that recovery is about building a life of purpose, belonging, and growth.

J.D. Skelton serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Natural State Recovery Centers in North Little Rock, supporting individuals and families through every phase of substance use treatment and long-term recovery. A person in long-term recovery, J.D. draws on years of lived experience and peer support training to mentor clients and connect them with community resources. He is a recipient of the Naloxone Life Saving Award from Arkansas Drug Director Tom Fisher for his role in saving lives through overdose response. His work centers on a simple belief: recovery is a daily gift, and no one should have to walk that road alone.

Rodney Beaver is the Executive Director of Recovery Center of the Ozarks (RCO), a Harrison-based nonprofit providing a one-year peer-based residential recovery program for men with substance use disorder. Under his leadership, RCO operates a holistic, community-integrated model and was recently awarded Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership funding to add 12 additional beds, expand peer specialist staffing, and strengthen its data and grant capacity. A person in long-term recovery and a certified Peer Recovery Specialist through the Arkansas Department of Human Services' Arkansas Peer Specialist Program (APSP), Rodney received the 2023 Above and Beyond Award from the Rise Above Alcohol & Drugs (RAAD) Region 2 Prevention Task Force. He brings lived recovery experience, formal peer credentialing, and rural Arkansas operator experience to AARR's board.

Tom Barron is the founder of Bear State Law, PLLC, with more than 38 years of trial experience in civil litigation and criminal defense, and has held Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent® rating since 1996. Appointed to the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP) Committee by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2007, he later served as Chair and received JLAP's 2014 Justice Robert L. Brown Community Support Award for advancing recovery in the legal community. Tom also serves as legal counsel to the Friends of Recovery Foundation and on the advisory board of the Arkansas Opiate Recovery Partnership. He holds a Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Arkansas.

Brad Lovan, LCSW, AADC, is the Executive Director of SOZO Recovery Center, a Jessieville-based 501(c)(3) faith-based addiction recovery program for adult men, originally founded in 2013. Under his leadership, SOZO operates a CARF-accredited, Arkansas-licensed continuum of care that includes medical detox, long-term residential treatment, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and on-campus transitional sober living, blending Christian discipleship with the 12-Step model and evidence-based clinical therapy. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Brad brings clinical licensure, faith-based program leadership, and frontline operator experience running a licensed treatment facility to AARR's board.

Blake Polston is a leader in Christ-centered recovery and advocacy based in Little Rock, Arkansas. A person in long-term recovery alongside his wife, Ashley, Blake serves on the National Board of the Association of Christian Recovery Ministries and is the Board Chair of ACRM Arkansas, helping unite and strengthen Christ-centered recovery ministries through advocacy, collaboration, training, and standards of excellence. Blake also works in development at Renewal Ranch, where he helps support strategic growth and sustainability initiatives.

Previously, Blake founded and led M18 Recovery, a discipleship-based residential recovery ministry in downtown Little Rock, and served as a pastor at New Life Church in Arkansas. His work has helped foster statewide collaboration between recovery ministries, churches, and public leaders while advocating to protect and strengthen Christ-centered recovery efforts across Arkansas.

He brings lived recovery experience, faith-rooted programmatic leadership, and a community-integrated recovery model to AARR's board.

Shalinda Woolbright is the Founder and Executive Director of NEA Divine Intervention Inc., a Jonesboro-based peer recovery organization she launched in 2021. Under her leadership, NEA Divine Intervention operates a women's sober living home, a peer-to-peer recovery community center, and a Women and Children's Center on a 16-acre campus in Turrell, with a men's sober living house also in development. A person in long-term recovery for nearly two decades, Shalinda is a Peer Recovery Supervisor, a Trainer of Trainers, and a member of the Arkansas Peer Advisory Committee (APAC). She brings lived experience, frontline operator expertise, and a peer-employment hiring model rooted in second chances to AARR's board.

Kathy McConnell serves on the board of the Arkansas Alliance of Recovery Residences (AARR), bringing extensive frontline experience in addiction recovery and reentry. She directs the re-entry program at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, where she helps incarcerated men and women rebuild their lives through education, life-skills training, vocational certification, and recovery support — including medication-assisted treatment and housing assistance that continue after release.

Under her leadership the program serves roughly 120 participants at a time and has helped drive recidivism among graduates to about 17 percent, well below the state average. A longtime prison-reentry volunteer before stepping into the role, Kathy’s commitment is deeply personal: she lost her youngest son to addiction after a years-long battle with opioids and fentanyl, and has devoted her work to helping others find a path forward.