Anita Nichols-Habib — Compassionate Care

“I always say there’s no one path for recovery,” says Anita Nichols-Habib, Pine Street Inn’s associate director of housing recovery services. In her role, Anita oversees two different programs related to recovery and substance use disorder.

“The housing stability support program is for people who are formerly homeless and in independent housing with either a past or current history of substance user order,” says Anita. “We help them have all the tools and the support that they need to live independently and maintain their housing.”

“I also oversee a recovery coach program, where staff use their lived experience to support people in recovery across our housing sites,” says Anita. “We meet people wherever they’re at and support them both in and outside their recovery program, connecting them to counseling, harm reduction and more.”

Prior to her career at Pine Street, Anita helped people with substance use disorder in the public health field, where she discovered her interest in supportive housing. “A lot of the population we served was homelessness, and some were getting housing,” says Anita. “I became really curious about what happens after a person gets housed.”

“I knew Pine Street would be a perfect complement to what I had been doing,” says Anita. “I’m able to teach a lot of the skills that I’ve learned. I’m really passionate about supporting people in supporting others.”

What draws Antia to her work is a sense of compassion. “There is a lot of stigma. That’s why it’s important to treat a person as a person first and foremost. I would tell anybody who is experiencing homelessness or substance use disorder that there’s hope and there’s always a solution or a way to find that solution.”