LEAD PUR
ANNA BEVINS
WESTCARE KENTUCKY PERRY
CLINE EMERGENCY SHELTER
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A LEADER COMMITTED TO UPLIFTING OTHERS THROUGH HER LIVED EXPERIENCE WITH
WESTCARE KENTUCKY PERRY
CLINE EMERGENCY SHELTER
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A LEADER COMMITTED TO UPLIFTING OTHERS THROUGH HER LIVED EXPERIENCE WITH
BY: RACHEL LOPEZ, CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
Anna Bevins, Program Director of the WestCare Perry Cline Emergency Shelter in Pikeville, Kentucky, brings a unique and powerful perspective to her leadership role one shaped by her own journey through the WestCare Kentucky Substance Abuse Program (SAP) at the Pike County Detention Center (PCDC) Years ago, Anna found herself in a place of uncertainty and struggle, facing the challenges of addiction and recovery firsthand. But it was her determination and newfound passion that guided her, allowing her to emerge stronger and more self-aware.
Now, as a leader, Anna draws on her lived experiences to connect deeply with those she serves. She understands the fear, the doubt, and the small victories that come with every step forward. This personal connection has transformed her into a leader who inspires trust, empathy, and a profound belief in the possibility of change and the success of WestCare Anna’s journey from participant to director is a testament to the power of perseverance and the impact of having a leader who truly understands what it means to walk the path of recovery.
Anna’s path to WestCare began in 2008 when her problems with substance abuse led her to the PCDC, where she ultimately served a sentence of 38 months. However, after her first nine months in PCDC, she learned about the WestCare Kentucky SAP Anna was only interested in one thing when applying to this program: getting time off her sentence so she could go home and begin her attempt to make amends. Little did she know that this decision would change the trajectory of her whole future. Anna recalled, “My morals were skewed at that point because I was using drugs and the only thing I could do was feed the addiction. But while I was in the detention center, everybody said ‘You can go to WestCare and get so much [time] off your sentence!’ Initially, that was the only reason I went. I was going to go just to get some time off my sentence so I could go home to my mom and daughter.
But when I got accepted into the SAP and went over to WestCare, I realized it was much more than just time off my sentence. I started hearing people’s stories, and progress was happening all around me. Pieces were coming back together for others, and I thought, ‘Maybe this could happen for me.’”
Filled with a new sense of hope, Anna began investing all her efforts into the program and her treatment. She began assisting the SAP; she would do administrative work, help the counselors during group sessions, and even teach classes a few times a week While Anna was only supposed to be in treatment for six months, she couldn’t stay away from the program that unlocked her true calling, helping and counseling those struggling with substance use disorders (SUD) and addiction. Anna shared, “I stayed over in treatment because I loved it. I believe that’s where my love of working with those struggling with addiction and counseling started. WestCare let me do the work that I loved. I was serving them, but they were also serving me, and I don’t think they even realized it at the time.”
In 2011, Anna left the PCDC but had no clue where she was going next. Her relationship with her mother and daughter was rocky, but despite their past, Anna’s mother decided to help her due to Anna’s positive progress So, Anna moved into the empty trailer next to her mother’s house, and even though it seemed like the worst was over, finally being out of the PCDC, it was actually the beginning of a new challenge: living in uncertainty.
“That first night out, I prayed. I said, ‘Lord, just let me go back to jail. This is just too hard.’ My daughter didn't want to come home to me and I felt so alone. Just let me go back to jail where there are people, and I know what's going on and what to do.
But the next morning I wake up to a phone call from my mom and she said, ‘Don't look out your door,’ I said, ‘Why?’ She answered, ‘There's a cop car out there.’ My stomach dropped, and I immediately thought to myself, ‘Lord, I swear I didn't mean it. Please don't let me go back.’ It turns out somebody had wrecked in front of the house and thrown pills out in my yard, which was kind of ironic given my past. But it was definitely a sign that I am where I am meant to be, not in jail but living my life, free.”
After an emotional first day free, Anna realized that all her past experiences had led her to where she is now, and she will always be grateful for it. Anna shared, “A thousand times I should have been in trouble, but my mom saved me every time. Until the day she couldn’t and I ended up in jail. She did everything she could to get me out of jail. But it's probably a godsend that she couldn't, because I would never be here today to tell this story if I got out of jail early.
I was very codependent on my daughter's dad, my ex-husband. And I thought I could save him from a life of addiction, but I couldn't save him. I couldn't even save myself. But when I got to jail and went through the WestCare Kentucky SAP, I realized that I needed to save myself, and I needed to do it for my daughter.”
And that’s exactly what motivated Anna to keep going However, what to do next was the question continuously replaying in Anna’s head. Fortunately, a counselor for WestCare working at the PCDC, Rodney Bentley, had seen potential in Anna and told her that if she continued down this positive path, he would give her a position working for WestCare. “It's never going to happen. I'm a felon. Nobody's going to do anything to help me get a job, especially at a company like this. But I felt like I owed them so much, so if they’d have me, that would be amazing,” Anna shared. However, despite all her doubt, four months after being released, Anna received a call from Elsie Teller, the administrative assistant for Rodney, and was offered a position at the WestCare Perry Cline Emergency Shelter
After everything she has been through, Anna remains deeply grateful to WestCare not only for supporting her throughout her recovery journey but also for being a secondchance employer WestCare gave her the chance to build a fulfilling career, where she has truly found her passion
Since her first day officially working for the WestCare Perry Cline Emergency Shelter, Anna knew it was where she was meant to be. “The first walk into that building, I was like, ‘God's here.’ I just knew it. There are people here who have absolutely nothing, but they are just as happy as can be. And I couldn't understand it at first. But looking back, I remember all the times I felt like I had nothing, but I found happiness too, just like them,” Anna recalled. It turns out that Anna ended up exactly where she was always meant to be, because over 13 years later, she is still at the shelter, now serving as the Program Director
For the last 13 years, Anna has worn many hats at the shelter. She worked as a weekend warrior, a day shift employee, a counselor, an administrator, and so much more, all while using her lived experience to connect to clients and staff on a personal level. Anna shared, “It's really good to be able to tell people that you know exactly what they are going through. Recently I went back into the detention center to teach a class and all in attendance had slumped shoulders and they weren’t paying attention. But then, me and another member of my staff shared our story. I said, ‘I've been in that same jumpsuit,’ and suddenly they felt more understood and they started to pay attention to us.”
Anna would recall her time at PCDC and the WestCare staff present as inspiration for the type of employee she wanted to be. “When you are incarcerated you think people look down at you, and I'm sure that's how it feels when someone walks into the shelter. I like trying to put myself in their perspective, experiencing the worst day of my life. Then I remember the staff, like Ms. Elsie or Mr. Bentley, when I was in the detention center. Ms. Elsie always brought so much happiness, and she would be smiling and so happy. I remember thinking, ‘I want a job like hers and I am going to be just like her one day,” Anna recalled
I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT IT WILL BE OKAY, EVEN AFTER MANY FAILURES. You can still succeed.
Anna Bevins
Now, as Program Director for the WestCare Kentucky Perry Cline Emergency Shelter, Anna oversees all staff, clients, and daily operations of the shelter and all current grants in Pikeville, Kentucky, which also includes the Homeless Veteran’s Reintegration Program (HVRP).
Today, the Perry Cline Emergency Shelter has 30 beds in total and provides safe and temporary housing for individuals in crisis for up to 90 days. The shelter serves 500 individuals without housing each year, with new people coming in and out of the shelter daily Anna’s main goal is to help teach their clients how to live independently They also provide assistance with finding employment, housing, and even finding a car. The shelter has many services, such as a food pantry, blessing boxes, clothing, case management, peer support groups, MRT, anger management, parenting classes, and so much more When the weather conditions worsen in the winter season, the shelter even becomes a warming shelter for anyone who needs a place to stay warm for the night.
Anna’s dedication has led to her becoming the face of the Perry Cline Emergency Shelter, with almost everyone within the Pikeville community knowing of her involvement with WestCare and the shelter Anna and all the staff at the shelter will take any opportunity to speak about the shelter with the hopes of bringing awareness to the shelter’s positive impact on their community and they hope to break the stigma around homelessness, recovery, co-occurring disorders/trauma intertwined with substance abuse, domestic violence and so much more that is present in their community
Anna has accomplished so much since joining WestCare in 2011. Alongside working at the shelter, Anna has gone back to school and received her Associate’s, then her Bachelor’s, and finally her Master’s degree Currently, she is preparing to enroll for her PhD “The job with WestCare was perfect for me. After working the weekends, I switched to the day shift so I could be at home with my daughter on the weekends. With this job, I could even go to school, so I did. I started going back to college because I'm always really interested in education. But in the beginning, I think I went back because I thought, ‘Nobody can take your education from you,’ and honestly, I believed the judge wouldn’t put me back in jail if I'm enrolled in college.”
After receiving her Associate's degree, Stephen Wright, COO of WestCare’s Eastern Region, was the one to persuade Anna to pursue her Bachelor's degree Then after, while working on her Master’s degree, Anna moved to work at the WestCare Kentucky Hal Rogers Appalachian Men’s Recovery Center in Ashcamp as a Counselor, which she truly enjoyed doing. Eventually, Anna made her way back to the shelter in Pikeville to work on a grant that funded work to help veterans. “That shelter is my safe haven. It's where I started and it's my roots,” Anna shared When asked how she was able to succeed after past failures, Anna will always say that her lived experience helped her get to this point, “Had I not gone through WestCare’s program, I probably would have never made it in this job. But I love what I do and I’m so glad I went through everything I did in the past,” Anna shared
Beyond securing her multiple degrees, Anna has also received professional counseling credentials, the Licensed Professional Counselor Associate (LPCA), and in 2024 she became a Temporary Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (TCADC). Anna has proven herself to be a dedicated and driven individual, always striving to better herself and those around her.
As most would agree, no matter your accomplishments or credentials, it’s difficult to view yourself from the perspective of your peers, especially when you are in a position of leadership But when asked to reflect on her leadership style, Anna answered, “I feel I am similar my to all of my previous and current leaders. I am a coach. I like to put people where I see that they'll flourish or where I feel that they enjoy their work the most. I'm always open to suggestions because I don't know everything.
For my entire career at WestCare, when I go to work every day, I truly feel like I am going to see my family. My coworkers are my family, and I want them to feel the same. I don’t want them to be mean or punitive to each other. We should be able to coach each other. We should be able to do our work, and if there are any problems or concerns, I want them to trust me to bring them up.”
Anna has always been the type of person to learn from others, using their expertise to guide her on the type of person she wants to become, and this trait is evident in her leadership style as well Anna will always accredit her leadership style to all the previous leaders she has worked under, such as Rodney Bentley and Stephen Wright. She even frequently quotes her first supervisor from a job she had when she was only 19 years old, which was, “If you are not training somebody to be able to replace you, you're not doing your job.”
experience, we tend to accept and understand each other more effortlessly, and I really love that. I really think that's why I've never left WestCare, and that is because I feel like WestCare helped save my life.”
Anna truly embodies the WestCare mission of Uplifting the Human Spirit in all those we come into contact with within the communities we serve. “When you work at the shelter you have to remember, you are meeting people on the worst day of their life. Most of the time, our clients are at the point where something has to change. So when you give them the grace that they deserve and show them that you genuinely love and care about them, they can change. That's what Uplifting the Human Spirit means to me,” Anna shared.
also a biker girl too, my husband and I ride Harleys. ” Anna shared.
“My husband is my best friend, my daughter, and grandbaby are the light of my life, and my mom is my absolute everything. I would not be here without her. My mother had me when she was young, so we grew up together. We learned a lot together, but I truly would not be where I am today without her and her support.”
With her mother as an inspiration, Anna also works in multiple counseling positions outside of WestCare solely because she is authentically passionate about helping others who are struggling and in crisis.
p g and more, Anna wanted to share this overall message: “There is power in numbers. When people start talking and connecting with each other, they open up, and any shame or guilt kind of just goes to the side. You realize that you are not alone in this and you do not have to go through this alone.
When you give someone the grace that they deserve and show them that you truly care, you uplift their spirit and tell them, ‘You'll make it. It ain't going to be easy, but you will make it.’ You'll learn a lot of tough lessons, but you'll be fine.
And I like to always remind myself that all the things that I went through saved my life. So I don’t regret anything I did in my past because it led me here, and all I can do is learn from it and keep moving forward,” Anna shared.
At the end of the day, if Anna could at least help one person learn from her experience, then everything she has gone through would have been worth it, and she can call that a success
When asked to define what success looks like to her, Anna recalled a conversation she had with her mom. “When I think about what success in my career looks like to me, I think about a time that my mom said to me, ‘You know, one of these days when you die, that funeral home is going to be filled with homeless people.’ And I said to her, ‘I hope it is Mom because that would be a testament to my life and the positive
Anna Bevins' story is one of resilience, transformation, and unwavering dedication to service. From overcoming her own battles with addiction to becoming a leader at WestCare, Anna has turned her lived experiences into a source of strength and inspiration for others. Her commitment to education and professional growth, alongside her passion for helping those in need, has solidified her role as a beacon of hope in her community Through her work, Anna continues to uplift the human spirit, showing that with perseverance and compassion, positive change is not only possible but powerful.