Our Team

Keith Cox – Board of Directors, Member at Large | Certified Recovery Coach

Keith is the owner of Longmont Insurance Brokers. He was born and raised in Boulder County. He has strong ties to the Longmont community and through his service wants to give back to the people of Longmont. He has experienced the impact of addiction in his own family, and thus brings pertinent personal experience to fulfill our mission. He has proven himself to be a businessman of good character, fully aware of his fiduciary responsibilities and honest reputation in the Longmont community.

Edward “Sonny” Smith – Board of Directors, Diversity Officer

As an African-American, Sonny brings his unique perspective as having grown up during the Civil Rights Era. Sonny was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Japan, North Carolina, Colorado, and New York. Sonny is a Vietnam era Air Force veteran.  He left the Air Force 1973 and became one of the very first stewards for United Airlines.  In 1980, he moved to Boulder to study at the University of Colorado.  Sonny then worked until 1987 managing a hedge fund.  In 1989, he moved to Australia where he worked for the Commonwealth Bank.  During this time, Sonny decided to pursue his passion in Art and Art history. While working at the Bank, he enrolled at the University of New South Whales to study painting and art history.  In 1993, he returned to Boulder and in 1995, Sonny opened an art studio in Boulder, while lecturing and teaching studio painting at CU.  In 2010 he moved to Lyons where he facilitates a children’s art program, as well as other programs.  Since 2015, he has served on the Board of the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission.

Debbie Platts – Executive Director, MBA | Certified Recovery Coach

Debbie was born and raised in Boulder. Most of her career was in Banking and Financial Consulting. She speaks fluent German and Russian. She worked for the Deutsche Bank in Chemnitz Germany, shortly after the reunification of East and West Germany, as a credit analyst and later managed the credit department of a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bank in Warsaw, Poland. She worked on two different USAID projects; one in Ukraine and one in Kazakhstan advising the governments of those countries on privatization methods of large enterprises and establishing financial markets. In Moscow, she worked for the World Bank managing a $94M line of credit to the Russian Federation.  Eventually, she moved back to Colorado to be near her family and care for her elderly parents. Most recently, she worked for the SVVSD School District at a Longmont middle school as a paraeducator. Here, she was able to witness firsthand many families who suffered the impact of substance use disorders in their own families or close circle of friends. This experience helped fuel her passion to give back to our community and be of service. Debbie is a single mother of a teenage son. She has been active with her son’s Boy Scout troop, holding various leadership positions throughout his journey which began when he was 6 years old. She is also a breast cancer survivor.

Kay Huskins – Volunteer, Certified Recovery Coach

Kay has been a passionate member of the Longmont Recovery Community for over two decades.   Kay is a professional stylist and has owned and managed several salons in the St. Vrain Valley. As a single mother, she has raised two beautiful daughters and also enjoys three granddaughters.  She has been a devoted mother accompanying her eldest daughter, a nurse, on her brave, arduous battle with breast cancer. Kay is able to turn her lived experiences of adversity into compassion for others. Graciously she shares her experience, strength, and hope with all who come to A Way Forward.

Katie Server – Volunteer / Certified Recovery Coach

Katie is a Colorado native who grew up in Boulder County but has lived all over the state. She has always been passionate about creating art and has a deep appreciation for the natural world and being in the great outdoors. Growing up Katie struggled with self-esteem, obesity, untreated anxiety and depression, and self-harm. As a teenager she discovered drugs and alcohol and started self-medicating with them. In her 20’s, Katie became not only addicted to, but physically dependent on these substances. Due to her alcoholism and addiction, Katie became homeless and lived with her partner and dog in her car for 10 months. They travelled aimlessly from state to state, surviving on food banks, handouts, odd jobs and selling Katie’s art.  

Katie’s physical dependence on alcohol grew more severe and despite still being young, Katie became increasingly ill. In 2020 while living in a motel, Katie went to the ER with acute pancreatitis and was treated in the hospital for 11- days. Due to acute pancreatitis Katie also suffered a rare condition called Purtscher Retinopathy in which her retinas hemorrhaged. resulting in scarring that has left her visually impaired. Though this near-death experience was not enough to get Katie long term sobriety it did start her on the path to recovery. For the next 2 years Katie still struggled with sobriety even after a couple of inpatient treatment programs. In 2021 Katie found A Way Forward and found a renewed purpose in life – through meetings, fellowship, one-on-one counselling, and volunteer commitments. Katie has been sobered for 15 months and is now a certified recovery coach at A Way Forward. Katie is passionate about helping others on their path to recovery and happiness, as A Way Forward helped her. 

Steve Esenwein – Volunteer, Certified Recovery Coach

Steve has lived in the Longmont area since 1978.  He entered treatment for addiction to alcohol in 1983 and has been sober since then.  Most recently, Steve worked as a Peer Support Specialist for Mental Health Partners. Steve received extensive training from Mental Health Partners. One program he particularly liked was “Advocates for Recovery.  Aligned with the guidelines of peer support workers, Advocates for Recovery encourages people to build their own recovery paths, which follows their own spiritual beliefs and goes at their own pace. Steve has been active in sponsorship and service positions in the Longmont Recovery Community since 1983.  For many years Steve has been involved with many recovery groups besides AA, such as LifeRing, Dharma Recovery and Red Road.  This has given him in depth experience in a wide variety of approaches to recovery.  Steve’s life philosophy is to be helpful to people looking for help: “It helps me to be helpful.  I believe recovery is a two-way street between peers and peer support.”  Steve is very well read in a variety of philosophies and spiritual teachings as well as recovery approaches.

Aletta Martinez – Bilingual Specialist

Aletta Martinez grew up in Longmont in a traditional Hispanic household.  Having grown up on “the wrong side of the tracks.”  Aletta experienced much racism in her early days.  Aletta is the mother of 3 children, one of whom has struggled with substance use.  Aletta has the lived experience of a mother trying to help her son get healthy.  She has also experienced homelessness.  Most recently, Aletta worked for the St. Vrain Valley School District and for the City of Longmont.  Prior to that, she worked for 19 years as a Court Clerk for the 20th Judicial District.