About our Women

Angel Jones always wanted a career, but life intervened in a number of ways. She experienced trauma as a kid and was in the state’s care. When she got out of the system, she was past 18 and hadn’t had a chance to finish high school. She struggled ... [Continue reading]

Sarah Rose wants to make people happy. She has a cheerleader costume, a clown suit and a purple sparkly cape. “When you look at me, I want to give you hope,” she says. But Sarah herself has seen some dark days. In 2013 her husband died of kidney ... [Continue reading]

Latona Gamble describes herself as a “generational curse breaker.” After years of family toxicity, she came to the New Opportunity School for Women in 2014—mentally, physically, and spiritually broken. She was referred by her counselor, a graduate ... [Continue reading]

Chaney Jackson lives in Eastern Kentucky and is the proud mother of twins. “My twins make me want to be a better version of myself,” she says. “That’s how I was introduced to the New Opportunity School for Women.” A co-worker had attended NOSW, ... [Continue reading]

Even before she came to NOSW, Barb Harvey was an advocate—for women, rural people, and those who struggled with mental health and addiction. She lobbied in Frankfort, convincing legislators to fund peer support for people with addiction. “I ... [Continue reading]

Jennifer West arrived for the fall 2019 residential program after having just completed drug rehab. During those two weeks in Berea, the barriers and chains that had held her seemed to fall away, she explains. She learned it was okay to ask for help ... [Continue reading]

Tami Gentry is a native of Winchester, Kentucky. After breaking her shoulder in an accident, she developed an addiction to prescribed pain pills. For years, she was a functioning addict who managed to balance work and family in the throes of her ... [Continue reading]

Sheila Brown attended our three-day non-residential program in Winchester, Kentucky, in the summer of 2018 after hearing about it through a friend and fellow drug court alum. Determined to make her recovery from opiate addiction last, Sheila was ... [Continue reading]

Nora McClain attended one of the first community-based workshops the New Opportunity School hosted in the summer of 2017. A resident of Laurel County, Kentucky, Nora had been recently widowed and was in depression from that loss. Hoping to coax her ... [Continue reading]

When Fran LeMaster applied to attend NOSW’s residential program, she was at her lowest point in life. A native of Flat Gap in Johnson County, Kentucky, she was nearing retirement age when she was unexpectedly let go from the nursing home where she ... [Continue reading]