Help me, help you, help us
Gregory Berry
Executive Director
Gregory Berry is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Strategic Peer Solutions, a public health and safety consulting organization focused on harm reduction, criminal justice diversion, and community-based recovery systems. His work bridges the gap between public health and public safety by helping communities implement practical, evidence-based strategies that reduce harm, improve access to care, and strengthen community well-being.
Greg brings a rare combination of professional expertise and lived experience to this work. As a person in long-term recovery who has personally navigated the criminal justice system, he understands firsthand the structural barriers faced by people impacted by substance use and incarceration. This perspective informs his commitment to developing solutions that are compassionate, effective, and grounded in real-world experience.
As a professional his expertise includes harm reduction, criminal diversion, communicable disease prevention, and peer recovery support systems. His work has included supporting the implementation of reentry programs, peer-based recovery interventions, modified therapeutic communities, syringe services programs, naloxone distribution initiatives, overdose prevention and response education, post-overdose response teams, drug monitoring and education programs, community based participatory research, and community coalition initiatives.
Greg graduated summa cum laude from Fayetteville State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Health Sciences degree at Campbell University. He holds multiple professional certifications, including North Carolina Certified Peer Support Specialist, Certified Harm Reduction Specialist, PMHCA Forensic Peer Specialist and Trainer, HIV CTR Whetstone Counselor, Registered Drug and Alcohol Counselor, and graduate of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion National Support Bureau LEAD Academy.
Shaymarie Echevarria
Clinical Director
As co-founder of Strategic Peer Solutions, Shaymarie, brings a wealth of both professional and lived experience into the organization.
Her professional experience includes working in outpatient opioid treatment as a substance misuse counselor, as well as working within harm reduction operating a comprehensive syringe service program.
She is a master level clinician, earning her master's degree in social work from UNC at Pembroke, where she developed an education program to teach clinicians how to integrate harm reduction into their professional practices. Shaymarie is both an associate licensed clinical addiction specialist & an associate licensed clinical social worker, who specializes in integrating harm reduction and trauma informed approaches.
As a person in recovery herself, she also understands what it is like to confront the trauma that lies at the root of many people's addiction. Substance misuse and criminal behavior almost cost Shaymarie her life. The incredible journey, which is Shamarie's recovery story, embodies the central premise of recovery, which is to heal.
Here at Strategic Peer Solutions, we believe that at the root of most addictions and mental health issues, trauma is the cause. Healing from this trauma is a journey that many people refer to as recovery.
For Shaymarie, learning to heal from the trauma caused from adverse childhood experiences, as well as learning to heal from the trauma experienced as someone who survived domestic violence, was paramount to her recovery.
This lived experience not only fuels her commitment to her work but also serves as a beacon of authenticity for those she serves.