Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of Tri-Cities. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Tri-Cities, Tennessee.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 26: Improving Lives and Communities: Tia Hughes' Mission with Bridge to Shore Recovery
What makes Tia Hughes with Bridge To Shore Recovery a good neighbor?
What if your voice could rebuild lives and communities? Join us on the Good Neighbor Podcast as we explore how Tia Hughes, executive director of Bridge to Shore Recovery, is transforming the Tri-Cities area by offering a lifeline to women emerging from the shadows of addiction and hardship. Tia's compelling journey from her own recovery to establishing a beacon of hope for others illuminates the powerful role of compassion and community support. Through her organization, women find not just a safe place to live, but a comprehensive support system that includes peer support, financial literacy, and opportunities for community involvement.
Tia demystifies common misconceptions about recovery and emphasizes the importance of seeing those in recovery as valuable members of society. Learn how Bridge to Shore Recovery is breaking away from the traditional stringent guidelines of many programs and instead fostering an environment focused on rebuilding lives and reestablishing community ties. Hear firsthand stories of transformation and growth, and discover the profound impact that stable housing and community support can have on women who are striving to reclaim their lives. Don't miss this inspiring conversation that reveals the tremendous positive changes happening, one step at a time.
To learn more about Bridge To Shore Recovery go to:
https://www.bridgetoshoretn.com/
Bridge To Shore Recovery
(423) 470-9203
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. We have an incredibly special guest with us today who is doing a lot of good, positive things in the Tri-Cities lot of good, positive things in the Tri-Cities. So it's my pleasure to introduce your neighbor, Ms Tia Hughes, with Bridge to Shore Recovery. Tia, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you for being here. So I know I am excited and I'm familiar with several recovery programs, such as Celebrate Recovery, and have interviewed a few folks, so I'm really interested in hearing more about your organization. So, if you don't mind, just tell us a little bit about what you do.
Speaker 3:Yes, so Bridge to Shore, we focus on women's sober living. So we are Tennessee Department of Corrections approved and we are certified by the National Sober Living Association. So we house women from all across the state the prisons, the local treatment centers, all the community jails, even some women who haven't went through treatment, and we have had some women who are coming from homelessness. So the goal is to really stabilize women who suffer from substance misuse disorder and to get them back to a healthy life.
Speaker 2:Very good, A great cause, Great cause. How, how exactly did did you? Now you're the executive director.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay, how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:So, to be honest, I am in recovery and so I saw a need. There was a day that I was sitting there and I got a phone call. And so I work in a 12-step fellowship and I was working with a lot of women to get their lives back just on my own free time and, um, I got a call and this woman, she didn't have any housing and so, and I couldn't get her in anywhere. I called the places that I knew about it and in that moment I was just like there's gotta be something, there's gotta be something done. Um, and so me and a couple of friends who now sit on my board of directors, we come up with Bridge to Shore and said, ok, we see a need, so let's fill it. And so since then I've been nothing but Bridge to Shore.
Speaker 2:Yeah all the time. Well, are there? Are there any myths or misconceptions about what you do?
Speaker 3:Myths or misconceptions when I was actually this question.
Speaker 3:It's a hard question for me to answer, right, because there's a lot of myths and stuff that come along with recovery what recovery looks like, what it's supposed to look like and, to be completely honest, it's not a lot of programs where you either have to, you know, follow this extremely strenuous guideline of you can't do this, you can't talk to this person, you can't do this, and so with Bridge it's been more of a peer support type of sober living, and so the I think the myth that we can't get sober and that we can't find a better way of life, even if you've, with these women there.
Speaker 3:They've lost their children, they've lost their homes, they've lost to where society looks at them as a, as someone that contributes to it, right, so you can build that back up, and so that's that's kind of been the goal at bridge is is let's get you grounded in the recovery community, of course, but at the same time let's also get you grounded in the community that you're from. Let's work on those savings accounts and banking accounts, let's work on those good jobs. Let's get you back into the community and so that way people see that you're not just someone who lives on the streets. You're not just someone who has spent the last four years in the penitentiaries or someone who's constantly tied up in the legal system. That you, you know that your voice matters and that you matter as a human.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that sounds so awesome. Doing a lot of good work. Thank you Outside of work. What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, Well, work consumes me, if I'm completely honest. But my daughter dances, and so we get to travel a lot for that. We get to travel a lot for that, and so I really enjoy being on the road, seeing new places, um, and getting to watch her, um, just like, grow into her own little tiny human slash adult. Um, that's, that's probably my favorite. And then, um, me and my fiance, we, we try to travel and go see shows as much as we can get. You know that free time down.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. How old is your daughter? She's 14, going on 35. Yeah, a 21, 22-year-old now. Yeah, I understand, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So let's, let's change gears. So and I think you, I'm sure you've got a good, a good response to this but can you describe a hardship or life challenge that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger?
Speaker 3:Yes, actually. So before I started Bridge, I had walked through a relapse, or return to use. So I had five and a half years of sobriety and when COVID hit, it completely shattered my world. Everything had shut down, I was stuck at home and I didn't have these outlets that I was used to having as someone in recovery. And so I relapsed from all of the outside circumstances and so when I got back on my feet, so I was out for about I don't know right at six months, while the world was, you know, doing its thing, and um, that's when I created bridge. Um, I come back from that relapse a completely different person. Um, it had brought me to a point that I didn't ever think was possible to get to, um, mentally and physically, um, and so, because of that, bridge was born, born. I was able to refocus my life and really look at what I was trying to contribute back to society that I had taken from, and so, yeah, the bridge was created from that hardship.
Speaker 2:Wow, born out of the ashes. Yes absolutely Well, what's one thing? If you could think of one thing that you would want our listeners to remember about Bridge, what would that be?
Speaker 3:society, their mamas and their daughters back you know their aunts and their sisters that were giving those women back. Right, we're helping women find themselves, find out who they, you know, truly are meant to be, but we're giving that back, and so that's a big one for me.
Speaker 2:That is a big one, and a great one too. So how can our listeners learn more about Bridge to Shore Recovery?
Speaker 3:So we have our website, which is bridgetoshortncom, and from there we've got all of our social media links connected to that website. My phone number's on that website it's on 24-7, seven days a week and so I would love to. Bridge is very big on partnering with many different organizations in the community so that way we can get the women the most help that that's offered, and so we'd love to partner with people and, yeah, my phone's always on.
Speaker 2:All right, very good. Well, tia, I know your time is precious and I can't phone's always on. All right, very good. Well, tia, I know your time is precious and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being on the show. I'm sure our listeners appreciate it as well, and we wish you and Bridge to Shore Recovery all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much and thank you for having me on the show.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, thank you. Hopefully we'll get you back.
Speaker 3:Yes, I would love to.
Speaker 2:All right, sounds great.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.