“I believe that ‘community first’ is important,” said Chelsea Simpkins. And to this recent graduate of Indiana University’s Master of Public Health Program, these aren’t just words – they’re a guiding principle for her career.
She draws on this community-first mindset to combine her passion for health access and community engagement to strengthen health communication efforts across rural Indiana.
Born and raised in Central Arkansas, Chelsea’s public health journey started long before coming to Bloomington. After undergrad in Arkansas, Chelsea worked as a research assistant at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she contributed to projects focused on rural communities throughout the state. She continued this commitment to rural health when she began her master’s degree at IU in 2021.
Shortly after enrolling at IU, Chelsea began working as a program manager for Dr. Priscilla Barnes, a faculty member in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington- and an affiliate of the IU Center for Rural Engagement. Chelsea began to collaborate on a variety of health-centered community initiatives where her hands-on work as a program manager exposed her to the role that communications play in public health initiatives.
This experience inspired her to explore health communications in a new lens while interning for the center in the spring of 2025.
Chelsea Simpkins helps facilitate activities at the Brown County Health and Wellness Expo. Photo(s) by Sarah Duis/Indiana University
“I was really intrigued by how the community members communicated with us and how we used their verbal and nonverbal cues to inform the way we disseminate information back to them,” she said. “When it was time to do my final internship program, I wanted to focus on health communication across several projects.”
Among these projects was the Daviess Advances Recovery Access Consortium (DARAC), a collaboration between IU and local organizations in Daviess County aimed at improving access to addiction recovery services. Chelsea played a key role in supporting the consortium’s operations.
A major part of Chelsea’s work as an intern involved engaging with peer recovery coaches, licensed and trained individuals who provide support to those in recovery from substance use. There are a handful of organizations that provide these services to residents in Daviess County.
Former Master of Public Health classmate and current colleague Mylan Gaston, who serves as the Center for Rural Engagement’s Healthy Hoosier Communities liaison, has worked with Chelsea in her capacity as a program management specialist with the School of Public Health and on the DARAC project. Last year she and Mylan collaborated on an interview project to better understand the challenges and community perceptions of the peer recovery coach role.
“The role is so complex,” Mylan said. “Even across two different organizations in the same county, the job descriptions varied widely.”
Building on that research, Chelsea created a self-care guide for peer recovery coaches as part of her final project. She shared that the work was met with enthusiasm by the community and noted how proud she is to see new initiatives emerging from the consortium’s efforts. Among the most significant outcomes are two newly established certified recovery community organizations in Daviess County, created through a collaborative effort between DARAC partners, the School of Public Health-Bloomington, and the Center for Rural Engagement.
Focusing on community engagement and building relationships became a central part of Chelsea’s approach.
“A big part of my professional career is community engagement,” Chelsea observed. “It’s a value of mine, and I believe that ‘community first’ is important, and that community should inform decisions of policy, and this experience gave me the opportunity to dive deeper into different types of communities and get to know them on more of a direct basis.”
In terms of getting to know rural communities, Chelsea emphasized entering rural communities with humility and a strengths-based mindset.
“These rural communities have so many things of value,” Chelsea said. “A lot of the time, conversations about rural places focus on what they lack—resources, transportation, housing. I think it is really important when working with rural communities to come in with the mindset that they have strengths and assets and go in to get to know them before asking for anything.”
Of course, the work came with its challenges. Coordinating across multiple community organizations, navigating the complexities of a federal grant, and balancing differing timelines between the university and grassroots groups all proved difficult.
“There were competing perspectives, organizational differences,” Chelsea said. “But we learned to meet people where they were, even if it meant changing our approach.”
Despite the hurdles, Chelsea found the experience rewarding.
“My favorite part was going to Daviess County and being there in person,” she said. “We would have our consortium meetings hybrid and would rotate hosts in what organization would host the meeting. It gave me the chance to meet people, talk to people and get to know them.”
Now serving as center manager for the Center for Community-Engaged Dissemination and Implementation Research (CEDIR), Chelsea continues to build on the lessons learned through her work with the Center for Rural Engagement and DARAC. She runs meetings, coordinates communications, and helps align various partners working across public health initiatives.
Reflecting on her journey, Chelsea says what’s stayed with her most are the connections she’s made with the people she’s met.
“Professionally, I’ve gained experience running a consortium and creating health communication tools,” she said. “Personally, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some really incredible people.”
