We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Susan Binkley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Susan below.

Susan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I love taking risks. In fact, I once opened a large horse boarding operation when I knew very little about horses, and I opened a bakery when I didn’t know how to bake. But the biggest risk I ever took was securing a million-dollar property note for a brand-new non-profit when I had no idea how I would pay it off, while opening a recovery home for women and their children when I knew absolutely nothing about addiction. During that time, I felt like I began every single day with a trust fall. I relied completely on God to guide my steps because I never knew where that journey was leading me. In looking back, however, I think it was perfect that I began Blue Monarch with no preconceived notions about recovery. By doing so, it gave God an opportunity to design the program he wanted without my getting in the way. As a result, Blue Monarch has become a very unique, highly successful recovery program, which has served nearly 1,000 women and children since 2003.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Through the years, I have developed a number of unrelated businesses. Each of them prepared me in some way for what I do today at Blue Monarch, which is a long-term, residential recovery program for women and their children. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee, I taught printmaking and also directed a college gallery. My own artwork was sold at a Nashville gallery for a number of years until I started a large horse boarding operation with a vacation rental, which was outside Franklin.

After moving to the Cumberland Plateau near Monteagle with my family, I opened a bakery/coffee shop/café in the university town of Sewanee, which introduced me to the population we serve now. I had women coming to me for jobs, but they weren’t able to keep their jobs for long because of the dreadful circumstances at home. It gave me an inside look into some of the generational issues we now deal with at Blue Monarch, such as abuse, addiction, and severe trauma. This ultimately led to the development of Blue Monarch, which is a unique program that focuses on the child’s recovery as much as the mom’s and we put great emphasis on equipping mothers to parent their children sober, sometimes for the first time. The women in our program have a history of crime, addiction, abuse, and incarceration. Many of our moms lost custody of their children as a result, but we help them become healthier mothers so they can regain custody. Since we opened in 2003, over 350 children have been reunited with their mothers who had lost custody.

I also developed Out of the Blue Granola through my bakery/cafe. This business was later purchased by Blue Monarch to provide on-site jobs for the women in our program. This product is widely distributed through stores like Whole Foods, Publix stores, and specialty markets throughout the Southeast. Inside every bag is a photo of one of the women who baked the granola with her special story of recovery on the back. This has become a powerful marketing tool for Blue Monarch, while offering employment to the women in our program to pay off fines, purchase a car, or establish a strong foundation for their independence once they are on their own. As a result of this twenty+ year experience, I was granted an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Civil Law from the University of the South. I also documented this amazing journey in my book, From My Front Row Seat, which was #1 in two categories on Amazon.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I would love for there to be no need for the services we provide. But unfortunately, there are hundreds of families seeking our help because of the emphasis we place on the child’s recovery and parenting. Most of our clients are referred to us by the court system, the Department of Children’s Services, or family members desperately seeking help for someone they love. We have never had to advertise for clients because the need is so great for the services we provide, and our reputation for reuniting mothers with their children has grown significantly. We also believe one can find complete and total freedom from addiction and not have to “white-knuckle” their sobriety the rest of their lives. Therefore, we have many women coming to us who seek this kind of recovery. Since 2003 we have grown from 50 acres and 3 homes to 108 acres with 14 homes. We are also currently building a 24,000 square foot multi-purpose building, which will allow us to turn our existing office space back into residential housing to serve more families.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Having no experience with addiction and recovery, and no training in social work, it comes as no surprise that I eventually got extremely burned out in the early days of Blue Monarch. At one point, when I had lost all compassion, I took a month off for a sabbatical. I walked the beach one morning praying for God to help me overcome my burnout, asking him how to prevent my staff from suffering from this as well. Just as clear as day, I heard him tell me, “Your job is to serve, not fix. Love, not judge.” This stopped me in my tracks. I realized in that moment I had been trying to fix people, which meant I was ending every day feeling I had failed. After all, we can’t fix people. But I could, indeed, say that I served them and did it well. And I could certainly love them. I took this message back to my staff and none of us have reached the point of burnout since. We live by this concept every day and even have it inscribed on mugs and t-shirts because the message is so true and profound. When other organizations come to us for help, I always tell them this first: “Serve, not fix. Love, not judge.” It was an absolute game changer for us. The work we do is intense. We might have our hearts broken into a million pieces or see the greatest miracle we’ve ever seen. And both can happen on the same day. But I’ve always said, even though the frustrations and challenges outnumber the rewards, the rewards always outweigh the headaches. I am grateful for my journey, and I feel I have a front row seat at the greatest show on earth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bluemonarch.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluemonarch10
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanbinkleyauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpsrdeziGH9Hd5N00arCR8Q
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/BluemonarchTN

Image Credits

Michelle Barnett Photography
Dona Masters Photography