Cassandra Williams-Richards

Cassandra Williams-Richards describes herself in many ways. She is a woman in recovery. An unpublished poet. A loving daughter. The proud aunt of fifteen nieces and nephews. A compassionate, supportive sister to seven amazing siblings. A 31-year-old African American Lesbian.

She feels blessed to have been afforded a multitude of opportunities through the rediscovery of who she is. She is honored to be a part of the Black Women CARE Consulting Corps. She is the co-creator of Rainbow Resilience, which is a recovery/peer support group exclusively for the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

At Lost Dreams Awakening Recovery Community Organization, she works as a Recovery Coach, with training in the Community Resiliency Model. She also takes particular pride in spreading overdose awareness and overdose prevention in the town of her birth, New Kensington. She is honored to walk this journey to freedom alongside fellow individuals seeking recovery.

On the wall at Lost Dreams Awakening hangs a sign that has always resonated with her spirit: “Harm Reduction met me with open arms, and helped me to feel like a human being again.”