Before the Interview: Who Is Josh Morrow?

Before you ever hear Josh Morrow speak, you feel something about him. There’s a steadiness in the way he carries himself, a grounded presence that comes from surviving things most people never talk about. He’s the kind of person who can walk into a room full of strangers and immediately make it feel safer. Not because he’s loud or commanding, but because he’s lived enough life to recognize pain, resilience, and truth when he sees it. And he meets all of it with respect.
Today, Josh is a respected leader at Sunrise Community for Recovery & Wellness, one of the most trusted peer‑run organizations in Western North Carolina. He works on the front lines of recovery, harm reduction, and community support — not from theory, but from lived experience. When people in crisis meet Josh, they’re not meeting a professional who learned about addiction from a textbook. They’re meeting someone who has walked the same roads, slept in the same shadows, fought the same battles, and clawed his way back into the light.
But this pre‑story isn’t about the details of Josh’s past. Those will come later, in his own words, in the full interview series we’re preparing. This is about why his story matters, and why PeerSeed is choosing to introduce him now.
Josh represents something rare in Asheville’s conversation around homelessness, addiction, and recovery: a bridge. He understands the systems — the shelters, the hospitals, the jails, the treatment centers, the outreach teams — because he’s been on both sides of them. He knows what it feels like to be dismissed, judged, or overlooked. He also knows what it feels like to be supported, believed in, and given a chance to rebuild. That dual perspective gives him a clarity that few people have, and a compassion that can’t be faked.
When Josh talks about the overdose crisis, he’s not talking about numbers. He’s talking about people he’s lost. People he’s saved. People he’s still fighting for. When he talks about homelessness, he’s not talking about “the issue.” He’s talking about nights he remembers, faces he can’t forget, and the quiet ways people survive when the world stops seeing them. When he talks about recovery, he’s talking about a process that is messy, nonlinear, and deeply human — a process he continues to walk every day.
This is why PeerSeed is featuring him.
Because Josh’s story is not just a personal journey — it’s a lens. Through him, we can see the gaps in our systems, the failures in our assumptions, and the possibilities for real change. Through him, we can understand what it means to rebuild a life from the inside out. Through him, we can learn what it looks like when lived experience becomes leadership.
This pre‑story is the doorway.

He is a RCC Coordinator
He is a Certified Peer Support Specialist
He is a Recovery Coach
He is a Forensic Peer Support Specialist

The full story — the one only Josh can tell — is coming soon.
And when you hear it, you’ll understand why his voice matters so much to this community, and why PeerSeed is honored to help share it.