Portrait coming soon
Sharletta C. Evans
Founder · Keynote Speaker
Founder of I Belong Here TOO. Sharletta shares her family's story with agencies, schools, and communities so that no one else has to learn these lessons the way she did.
Our Founders
Lived experienceleads here
This initiative was not built from a textbook. It was built by people who survived what they now speak about, and who decided their pain would become someone else's protection.
Founder
Sharletta C. Evans
Founder of the I Belong Here TOO Initiative. A mother, a survivor of unimaginable loss, and a voice for everyone who carries invisible wounds.
I Belong Here TOO was born from personal trauma, love, loss, and a deep understanding of what happens when people suffer in silence.
Sharletta's journey began with the traumatic experience her eldest son endured when he was six years old. Her family became victims of a tragic drive-by shooting that changed their lives forever. On that heartbreaking night, her youngest son, Casson Xavier Evans, who was only three years old, lost his life.
Her eldest son was present during the tragedy. He sat beside his little brother as his brother's life was taken. Although he survived physically, the emotional and psychological wounds remained with him throughout his life. He lived with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and later received a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, enduring painful and harmful messages from voices that were not there.
Watching someone you love struggle with an invisible illness every day is a pain that is difficult to describe. Through her son's journey, Sharletta learned a truth that now anchors everything this initiative does.
Mental illness is not merely a diagnosis. It is a human experience. It affects families, communities, and generations.
Too many people suffer while feeling rejected, judged, isolated, or misunderstood. I Belong Here TOO was created because every person deserves a place to belong.
A place to speak. A place to listen. A place to heal. A place to be seen.
In Loving Memory
Casson Xavier Evans
Every circle we hold, every officer we train, every stage we speak from carries the memory of a three-year-old boy whose life was taken by violence he never had a chance to understand.
His name is why this work will not stop. Communities that understand trauma, mental illness, and brain injury respond differently, and when they respond differently, children are protected, families stay whole, and lives are saved.
This initiative is part of his legacy.
Co-Founders
The voices beside her
Survivors and advocates who bring their own stories, skills, and strength to every circle and every stage.
Portrait coming soon
Kareem Hassan Alaziz Pasha
Co-Founder · Keynote Speaker
Co-founder of I Belong Here TOO. Kareem brings his lived experience and his commitment to survivors into the circles we hold and the rooms we train. His full story is coming to this page soon.
Portrait coming soon
Justin Merow
Co-Founder · Keynote Speaker
Author, entrepreneur, community leader, network specialist, and traumatic brain injury survivor. Justin knows the invisible injury from the inside, and he speaks about it so others feel less alone.
Why Lived Experience Matters
You cannot teach
what you have not carried
Plenty of organizations can present statistics. Very few can put a person at the front of the room who has sat in the emergency waiting room, answered the late-night phone calls, navigated the court dates, and still chosen hope.
When our founders speak, officers lean forward. Judges take notes. Families exhale, because finally someone is describing their life accurately.
That is the difference lived experience makes, and it is the reason agencies invite us back.
Bring their story
to your room
Keynotes, workshops, and lived experience trainings for agencies, schools, churches, and workplaces.