Sheila Brown and Tami Gentry are friends, fellow Clark Countians, NOSW graduates and women in recovery who are using their experiences to help other women.
Recovery from addiction is a long journey. Tami is seven years clean, and Sheila will be four years clean this fall. They understand the temptations women in recovery face and the lies they tell themselves when in the grip of addiction.
Sheila is a project coordinator with Achieving Recovery Together in Winchester. She helps women along the journey that sometimes begins in jail or the emergency room. She holds them accountable to their treatment plan, helps them meet basic needs like obtaining a social security card, and even helps find housing. Sometimes she has to tell them hard truths. “I love my girls that I work with,” she says. On Fridays, she works the needle exchange at the local health department.
Tami came to NOSW because her drug court judge ordered her to apply. After completing the residential program in 2016, she decided to work toward a bachelor’s degree in human services while continuing to help women in her community.
“We all come full circle in one way or another,” says Tami, who now lives a block from where she made mud pies as a child. She says that though life can be difficult for everyone, “I have to learn how to live and do it responsibly.” She shares the lessons of her life with others.
Tami recommended NOSW to Sheila, who attended a three-day program in Clark County in the summer of 2018 and the two-week residential program in Berea that fall. Both continue to recruit women to NOSW.
