Abbie

Firsthand Guide

Abbie joined firsthand in November 2025, after a friend who already worked here told her about the role. It felt like the right next step. Born and raised in Florida, Abbie moved to Virginia in 2013, and not long after began struggling with substance use disorder. For years, she carried that weight alongside untreated mental health challenges, though it took getting clean in 2021 to fully understand how the two had been intertwined all along. She's been in recovery ever since.

Abbie's path to recovery began during a period of incarceration. There's a quote that has stayed with her, "when the pain gets great enough," and she says that's exactly what it took. She'd been broken down so completely that the only way left was to build back up. While she was inside, she participated in a treatment program, and when she got out, she went straight into the program she'd connected with from the inside. She became a resident, then a house leader, and eventually started working in the recovery space herself, first at a substance use treatment center she joined until federal funding cuts ended the role.

Working at firsthand is unlike anything she's done before. What drew her in, and what keeps her here, is that the work feels like a calling. Having experienced both homelessness and incarceration, she knows what it feels like to wonder if life will ever look different. Walking alongside others as they ask that same question is exactly where she wants to be.

Outside of work, Abbie loves anything to do with the water. Fishing is her favorite, catfish above all, but she'll happily reel in bass and bluegill too. At work and in life, she tries to keep one thing at the center: the person in front of her.