Theresa O’Laughlin Carmody is the Executive Director of Recovery Africa, Inc (RA). She is of American, Ethiopian and Ghanaian heritage and has lived and experienced the cultures of various African countries. As a person in recovery, while living in Ghana, she and the founders of Recovery Africa noticed the lack of community-based support services for people suffering from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Recovery Africa was founded out of that vacuum.
Theresa’s first exposure to the recovery movement was through lending support to her father, Dan O’Laughlin, through his journey. Early in her own journey in recovery, she traveled to Ghana to assist in developing 12-step groups and raised awareness of the dangers of alcohol and drug addiction. She, often, was the only woman at the 12-step meetings where she helped share the message of recovery. While in Ghana, she helped establish The Hopeful Way Foundation, RA's main partner in Ghana.
Theresa has a Master’s Degree in International Development from American University, DC and a Bachelor’s Degree in Politics and Spanish from University of San Francisco, CA. She lives with her eight-year old son, a Shih-Tzu, and her rescued cat. She is a woman living in recovery since 2013.