Statements
Mission
Blue Monarch provides a long-term, residential and therapeutic Christian community for women and their children to break adverse cycles and rebuild their families. Most of our residents have a history of incarceration, drug abuse, poverty, and homelessness. We serve a population that typically began using drugs between the ages of 11-13 and were taught to do so by a parent or grandparent in the home. Many of our residents arrive having lost custody of their children, but become healthier parents through our program and reunite with their children before they leave. The mother and child are given a rich opportunity to adjust to their new relationship with hands-on parenting coaching and support. Addiction recovery is certainly a key component to our program, but we feel that is only one spoke in a very large wheel of issues that need to be addressed for the family to be given the tools to live healthier, more productive lives. We are a Christ-centered program and spiritual growth is at the very core of our approach to healing and recovery.
Background
Blue Monarch opened its doors in 2003. But it really began years before that. One night in the fall of 1995 Susan Binkley had a powerful dream that described in great detail how one might put together a program like Blue Monarch. At the time Susan realized this dream was like no other, but she didn't understand the significance of it until years later when the dream miraculously came together in real life. Blue Monarch is peacefully located near Monteagle mountain in Middle Tennessee. Through the generosity of Madeline and Howell Adams, who believed in Susan's vision, Blue Monarch was able to purchase a 50-acre farm property that was previously a bed and breakfast. It came completely furnished and provided everything needed to immediately begin serving women and children in the area who were looking for a new start. Since 2003 Blue Monarch has served nearly 1000 women and children from across the entire state of Tennessee and beyond the state line. Through the years the program has developed into an intensive self-help program providing priceless opportunities for women to learn an entirely new way of life, overcome generations of addiction and abuse, develop a personal relationship with God, and effectively become healthier parents to their children. Blue Monarch has gained a reputation for providing a robust learning platform for women to become better parents in order to regain custody of their children. Since 2003 close to 350 children have been able to reestablish a relationship with their mothers who had previously lost custody. On-site counseling, hands-on parenting coaching, daily spiritual development, and a rich children's program have developed Blue Monarch into a unique, life-changing opportunity - not only for the courageous women who come, but also for every previous child that crosses the threshold.
Impact
Since 2003, Blue Monarch has provided an opportunity to mothers searching for the means to rebuild their lives; most of which have been consumed by drug addiction, poverty, and imprisonment. Over the years, we have seen lives restored, families renewed, and children transformed. In addition to having served nearly 1000 women and children from 42 counties across Tennessee, we have steadily gained supporters from across the entire country and continue to receive inquiries for help from struggling mothers everywhere. Our mission is to restore hope, not only in the spirits of the residents of Blue Monarch, but in the community at large. We want to restore hope that something can be done to stop the cycle of recidivism; that something can be done to alter the course of a family's future; and that something can be done to intervene in the lives of children in desperate and terrifying circumstances. Something can be done. And Blue Monarch is doing it. In 2014, we were able to retire the nearly $1M debt on our 50-acre property, which was originally secured by Madeline and Howell Adams. We have also been able to make more in-home services available to our families, eliminating the need to send residents off-site to receive certain services. In 2016 we began our very effective WINGS Transitional Program for Graduates. This community consists of 8 single-family cottages where our graduates can transition into a life beyond Blue Monarch, but do so gradually while still drawing support from the rich services Blue Monarch offers during this critical phase. These cottages were built through a very generous gift from the Robert and Jacqueline Peters Family, and another family who wish to remain anonymous. In 2019, through a $200,000 matching gift, we were able to purchase a 58-acre adjacent farm to expand and enrich our campus. Shortly after, we received another incredibly generous gift from Joan and Ben Rechter to construct a new 8-bedroom residential home on the new land. Construction for this new home was completed in 2022, which means we are now able to serve 27 families annually. Blue Monarch has gained a reputation for helping mothers regain custody who have been separated from their children. To date, through our very effective Parenting Sober Program, and our Proverbs 22:6 Children's Program, close to 350 children have been reunited with their mothers. We put great emphasis on healthy parenting and recovery for the child. Addiction recovery is certainly critical, but we feel this is only one spoke in a very large wheel as our mothers and children recover together.
Needs
Blue Monarch maintains a waiting list of over 200 families at any given time. Because of our great emphasis on Parenting and Children, we are in great demand. Therefore, it is imperative that we find a way to serve more. In 2019, we purchased an adjacent 58-acre farm and in 2022 we finished construction on an additional 8-bedroom residential home to expand our services and house more families. We have additional goals on our Master Plan which includes the following structures: multi-purpose building, another 8-bedroom home, a training facility to prepare our graduates for the workforce, a daycare, and facilities for equine therapy. This Master Plan is estimated to cost $6.7M in construction costs only and will ultimately allow us to serve 40 families. Naturally, this expansion will impact our operating costs and staffing needs as well.
CEO Statement
We are entering our twenty-first year and have served nearly 1000 women and children. But the statistic of which I am the proudest is that close to 350 children have been reunited with their mothers who had lost custody. In about the third year, I realized that we had two issues that needed to be resolved if we really intended to break the cycle of abuse and addiction. We needed to equip mothers to parent their children sober because if we failed to do so, this could become the greatest trigger for relapse and the cycle would begin all over again. In addition to that, I suddenly realized that we had an amazing opportunity to totally change the world of that child. Since some children live with us for up to three years, this is a huge chunk in that child's life to mold his perception of healthy living. I have observed how strongly our women are pulled to their former lives, only because it is familiar. If Blue Monarch is what becomes familiar for that child, he will always be drawn to that atmosphere and environment. We have seen this to be true as we now have visiting teenagers who lived with us as toddlers, and they will say, "I want my children to live like I did at Blue Monarch, and I want my grandchildren to live like that, too." In that way, we feel we are changing the family tree and breaking powerful and destructive cycles. We also believe that one can be healed from addiction - so we strive for total freedom from addiction and not simply sobriety. Since 2003 I have seen miracles that take my breath away - as I have observed women and their children transform into entirely new creations during their time in our program, and leave here with tools and knowledge that will impact future generations to come.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Family Violence Shelters and Services |
| Secondary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Addictive Disorders NEC |
| Tertiary Category: | Human Services - Family Services |
Areas Served
Blue Monarch originally served primarily the Cumberland Plateau area. However, it was quickly apparent that the services provided at Blue Monarch were desperately needed everywhere. In 2014, Blue Monarch opened its doors to residents of all states.
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