Shauntelle is a co-founder of Peter’s Place RVA. Peter’s Place RVA is a not-for-profit LLC that provides recovery support, and housing for the LGBTQIA community. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Recovery in Higher Education. Shauntelle’s an advocate for equity and justice within recovery spaces and devotes a majority of her time advocating for trans and nonbinary individuals seeking recovery support. She is a Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (PRSS), a Peer Recovery Coach, a Substance Abuse Counselor Assistant, and a person in long term recovery. She was introduced to alcohol and other substances in her [pre-teen/early teen] years, developed a serious substance use disorder, dropped out of school, and became homeless. Through participation in mutual aid groups, she began her recovery process. She got her GED, worked hard to support herself and continued to attend and actively participate in mutual aid meetings.In August 2017, Shauntelle became the manager of a Recovery House in Richmond, and from October 2017 until September 2019, she served as an AmeriCorps member with the Richmond Healthy Futures Project at the VCU Rams in Recovery (RIR) site. In this role, she served as a one-on-one and group mentor and coach for students in recovery and has created content for and facilitated recovery group meetings at the Richmond City Justice Center, VCU’s outpatient MOTIVATE Clinic (which provides medication assisted treatment for patients seeking recovery from opioid addiction), and RIR. In addition to her PRSS certification, Shauntelle has completed SMART Recovery facilitator training as well as training to become a REVIVE! Master trainer. She regularly trains groups in the use of the life-saving drug, Naloxone, organizes recovery-focused informational events for prospective students, and shares her recovery story to attendees at RIR’s Recovery Ally trainings. Respectful of all pathways to recovery, Shauntelle previously attended J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College where she received her Certified Substance Abuse Counselor certification and is currently attending VCU to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work. Shauntelle previously interned with the REVIVE! Program, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s opioid overdose and naloxone education program.