From Surviving to Serving: Sherry Matthews’ Journey to Becoming a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist

There was a time when Sherry Matthews could not see a future for herself.

After twenty years of drug use, her life had become consumed by hopelessness, chaos, and despair. The kind of despair that makes you forget who you are. The kind that convinces you this is all life will ever be.

But Sherry’s story did not end there.

It changed when she found recovery and, with it, something she had not felt in a long time: purpose.

Before entering the Certified Peer Recovery Specialist program, Sherry was living in the Voices of Hope Recovery House. Her journey with Voices of Hope began through the syringe service program, at a time when she was still fighting for stability and trying to find her footing. After experiencing incarceration, she made the life-changing decision to stay clean and move into recovery housing upon her release from jail.

That decision marked the beginning of a new life.

For the first year and a half, Sherry focused on rebuilding from the ground up. She was learning how to live without drugs. Learning how to face life on life’s terms. Learning how to keep going, even when the road ahead still felt uncertain. She was working a job that was going nowhere, but inside, something bigger was happening.

She was changing.

Somewhere in that season of rebuilding, Sherry realized she wanted more than survival. She did not want to just make it through. She wanted her life to mean something. She wanted to give back. She wanted to reach the very people who were living the same pain she had fought so hard to overcome.

That is what led her to the CPRS program.

While still living in the recovery house, Sherry enrolled in the program just before moving into independent living. It was a season full of transition, but she stayed committed. She kept pushing. She kept showing up. And when an opportunity opened up at Voices of Hope, she stepped into it. She was given the chance to work in the recovery field, help others, and continue pursuing the certification that had already become so much bigger than a professional goal.

For Sherry, this was personal.

This work was not about a title. It was about using every painful chapter of her life for something good. It was about turning struggle into strength and lived experience into connection. It was about becoming the kind of person she once needed herself.

Throughout the CPRS program, Sherry remained focused and determined. She gained valuable skills in advocacy, mentoring, education, recovery and wellness, and harm reduction. But the skill that impacted her most was motivational interviewing, because it gave her a way to truly connect with people, hear them without judgment, and meet them where they are.

And that is exactly what makes Sherry so powerful in this work.

She does not serve people from a distance. She serves from experience. She knows what it feels like to be lost. She knows what it takes to fight your way back. She knows the courage it takes to choose recovery one day at a time. That kind of understanding cannot be faked, and it cannot be taught from a textbook.

Today, Sherry brings both lived experience and lived hope to her role. As a Cecil County native, she carries deep roots in her community and a deep passion for helping others find their way out of darkness. What once felt like a life lost to addiction has become a life anchored in purpose, service, and compassion.

And that is the beauty of her story.

The woman who was once rebuilding her life in recovery housing is now standing as proof that recovery is real. The woman who once had to fight to believe in herself is now helping others believe in themselves. The woman who once wondered whether change was possible now shows people every single day that it is.

Today, Sherry has the letters behind her name and a career that is meaningful, fulfilling, and rooted in service. But more than that, she has become a living example of what recovery can look like when someone is given support, opportunity, and the space to rise.

Sherry Matthews is not just a recent CPRS graduate. She is a testament to resilience. To transformation. To the power of recovery. To the truth that no matter how broken life may feel, there is still a way back.

In her own words:

“An addict, ANY addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.”

And Sherry is living proof.

We are proud to celebrate Sherry Matthews on this incredible accomplishment and all that it represents!

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