"Walking With the Community: A Journey Through Harm Reduction, Healing, and Hope"

Dr. Ali ABY Muhammed, CHW workforce Development

Good Day everyone,

It’s truly an honor to sit before you today and share a few words about a path that has not just shaped my professional identity—but my entire purpose.

My name is Dr. Ali ABY Muhammed. I’m a Community Health Worker, a harm reduction specialist, a mental health advocate, and someone who has stood at the intersection of trauma, recovery, and healing for most of my career. But more than that, I am a student of the community—forever learning, forever serving.

My journey began not in the classroom, but in the hallways of shelters, the waiting rooms of hospitals, and the sidewalks where our most vulnerable neighbors live. At Pine Street Inn, I witnessed firsthand the crushing burden of homelessness and untreated addiction. It was there that I first administered Narcan—and saw a life saved in front of me. That moment changed me. It was not just the reversal of an overdose; it was the restoration of possibility.

Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with institutions like McLean Mental Health Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where I learned how to combine evidence-based practice with human compassion. I pursued advanced training through programs like the MA OBAT ECHO® series, the Harm Reduction Series, and the CHW Consortium. These were not just certifications for me—they were tools to break stigma, to build trust, and to center dignity in every patient interaction.

I’ve trained in youth addiction, stimulant misuse, overdose prevention, grief in SUD care, and how social determinants shape recovery. One of the most meaningful lessons I’ve taken from this work is that healing is not linear. Recovery does not happen in isolation. And harm reduction is not a tactic—it’s a philosophy rooted in humanity.

Today, as the founder of a CHW Workforce development, I’ve made it my mission to redefine care for our elders. A place where healing means more than medicine. Where healing and meditation meet Narcan and mental health support. Where victims, many of whom have survived trauma, addiction, or systems of neglect, are given space to breathe, to recover, and to belong.

This work is not easy. We face burnout, bureaucracy, and broken systems. But we also face miracles every day—a client who returns, a young person who chooses treatment, a family that reunites.

So, to my fellow health workers, clinicians, students, and change-makers: keep walking with the community. Keep listening more than you speak. And never underestimate the power of showing up—for one person, one crisis, one day at a time.

Thank you for allowing me to be part of this movement. And thank you for continuing to believe that everyone—regardless of their past—deserves a future full of dignity, health, and hope.

Thank you.

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