From Lived Experience to Lasting Impact: Celebrating Kasey Sharrow’s CHW Certification

At Voices of Hope Maryland, we are proud to celebrate a meaningful milestone for one of our own: Kasey Sharrow has officially earned her Community Health Worker (CHW) Certification.

Kasey’s achievement is more than a professional accomplishment. It is a powerful reflection of resilience, growth, and the kind of purpose that can rise from even the hardest chapters of life. Her journey is one that speaks to the heart of what community health work is truly about—using lived experience, compassion, and determination to support others in finding hope.

As Kasey puts it, “My past no longer defines me—it gives purpose to the work I do every day.”

Before entering the program, Kasey was fighting through one of the darkest times in her life. Lost in addiction and struggling to see a way forward, she began rebuilding through a Mommy and Me recovery program. With time, healing, and hard work, she started to reconnect with herself and rediscover the passions and strengths that had always been there beneath the pain. After about a year in recovery, she began to believe that a better future was possible.

That personal transformation became the foundation for her next step.

Kasey shared that her own life experience is what led her to become a Community Health Worker. During her time in active addiction, she reached out to Voices of Hope many times and found support from peers who stood beside her during some of her hardest moments. Even before she was fully ready to begin her recovery journey, she knew Voices of Hope would still be there when she was. That consistency, compassion, and care left a lasting impact on her. It also planted the seed for the work she now does today: showing up for others the way people once showed up for her.

Before becoming a member of the Voices of Hope team, Kasey was already on her path toward becoming a CHW through the Susquehanna Workforce Network. From the beginning, she showed determination and persistence in educating herself and using her skills in the recovery field and throughout the community. Her drive to grow, learn, and serve others has been clear every step of the way.

Kasey described her experience in the Voices of Hope CHW Certification Training Program as smooth and meaningful. While there were moments when she wished the process would move a little faster, she now recognizes that the pace gave her space to truly learn and grow. That growth was both personal and professional, helping prepare her for the work she is doing today.

She entered the program already carrying important strengths: determination, patience, and life experience. But through the training, she gained even more. Kasey built confidence in herself and developed professional skills, including motivational interviewing, that now help her better support the individuals and families she serves. She also deepened her knowledge of advocacy, community resources, and how to meet people where they are without judgment.

Today, she comes to work each day excited by the possibility of helping someone who may be struggling, just as she once did.

That right there is the good stuff. Not just a certificate on paper, but a woman who turned pain into purpose and kept pushing until her story became power for somebody else.

It has been an honor to have Kasey as both a student in the Voices of Hope CHW Certification Training Program and as a valued member of our team. Her journey is a reminder that recovery creates room for growth, healing can lead to leadership, and lived experience can become one of the strongest tools for change.

Please join us in congratulating Kasey Sharrow on this incredible achievement. We are proud of all she has accomplished, and we are even more excited for the lives she will continue to impact as a certified Community Health Worker.

Congratulations, Kasey — your hard work, heart, and dedication are inspiring, and this milestone is so well deserved.

If you have a passion for helping others in the community and becoming a beacon of hope for those who are dealing with substance use or behavioral health disorders and are interested in getting your certification as a Community Health Worker, please visit our page: https://www.voicesofhopemaryland.org/

And fill out the Interest Form on our "Training & Certification" page.