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  • Executive Director & Founder of Children Healing by Expression, The Dennis Parham Project - City of Boston: 2025 EXTRAOrdinary Women

Beverly Parham

Executive Director and Founder of Children Healing by Expression, The Dennis Parham Project

Beverly Parham, LADC II, CADC, has been Director of Family Access and Housing for the Institute for Health and Recovery (IHR) since 2013. Beverly is part of the Access Team that provides access to Family Residential Treatment and Sober Living Programs. In her role, she oversees family access and provides capacity building and technical assistance to the eight Family Residential Treatment Programs and the three Sober Living Programs. She maintains a working relationship with the Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, the Department of Children and Families, and other collaborators in the coordination of care for families. She brings years of professional experience working with diverse clients and families who are impacted by addiction, mental health, criminal justice involvement, and economic disparities. Ms. Parham was Program Director for the Spectrum Women and Children’s Program for 10 years, providing substance use treatment to incarcerated pregnant and parenting women who were released or paroled to the program. She was also a Substance Abuse Counselor for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, providing substance abuse education, case management, and counseling for incarcerated men at the House of Correction. She is a licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor certified by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Beverly Parham is a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. A woman of faith and a woman of long-term recovery. She is also a survivor of homicide, which has impacted her life in 2017 after losing her son to gun violence. He left 3 children who did not have a place to explore their grief in a therapeutic way. Beverly has navigated through her grief by becoming an advocate for peace, participating in the Mother’s Walk for Peace annually. In 2019, Beverly turned her pain into purpose by birthing a 501C(3) nonprofit organization called Children Healing By Expression, The Dennis Parham Project, in memory of her son. The organization provides a safe and trusting space for families (children) to come together to honor their loved ones, in a variety of art projects, share stories, cultivate hope, bond through mutual loss, and build peaceful neighborhoods. Helping children and families develops a powerful community of healing support. Beverly has many supporters in the community who are striving for the same goal of interrupting the cycle of community violence through healing the heart and nurturing our children, who are our future leaders.

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