—Having earned his Ph.D. in humanity from the University of Hard Knocks, Shawn Baker, president, CEO, and founder of Freeman Recovery Center, immediately became aware of a void in Dickson – aftercare for persons in recovery. It began humbly enough, one man sleeping on an air mattress at the foot of Mr. Baker’s bed in his mother’s home. A backyard shed served as the next backdrop for clients seeking refuge from their hometown environmental storm. Then came the trials and tribulations associated with launching the business of assisting others. In 2008, FRC purchased its first house, and for the next four years, served as a sober living atmosphere, followed in 2012 with contracts for a variety of professional and social services. But in 2014 and 2015, with licensure from the state’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and accreditation by the Joint Commission, the highest achievement level available for healthcare institutions, FRC catapulted into its exponential growth experience. Today, FRC constitutes 200 beds for detox, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and sober living programming. It has become a model for treatment across the state. “I had an extremely challenging childhood, that without them [parents] I wouldn’t have made it at all,” Mr. Baker said recently. “We’ve done this because it matters . . . because people matter. I want to provide people the ability to shatter that poverty state of mind, to measure their lives in outcomes, not their past. I want people to feel they can be loved for who they are.” Shawn views Tennessee as uncharted territory but believes the Freeman Recovery Center approach to recovery is applicable across the United States and the globe. His goal is a soup-to-nuts life reconstruction formula that includes education, jobs and job services, life skills, housing, investment opportunities, inpatient and outpatient treatment, acute psychiatric care, missions, and entire sober living complexes – a community comprised of recovery.

—Extensive contributions during a 10-year period participating in the construction of a top-tier company from the foundation to the steeple, Tabatha Baker, co-founder and chief compliance officer at Freeman Recovery Center, LLC, brings knowledge, experience, and leadership to enhance substance use and mental wellness care access at the decade-old company. Serving in a variety of capacities over the course of its voluminous growth, Mrs. Baker found her niche in compliance – it’s about ensuring FRC performs at a level exceeding expectations and setting the standard for substance use disorder treatment across the state, country, and worldwide. Having obtained her minister’s license, Mrs. Baker provides pastoral services for clients and staff alike as precipitated. Tabatha and husband, Shawn, founder of FRC, have two children and live in their Dickson, TN, hometown. Delving into diverse cultures and experiences, the family thoroughly enjoys adventures traveling to new destinations that provide unique encounters.

— A grandfather’s southern Middle Tennessee farm produced the work-ethic environment Robert Hutto, LMSW, clinical supervisor at Freeman Recovery Center, needed as a backdrop for nearly two decades in commercial construction. In 2007, Mr. Hutto was presented an opportunity to attend college, first earning his bachelor’s degree in social work and completing graduate studies at Middle Tennessee State University in 2012 with a master’s in social work. He graduated from both MTSU programs distinguished summa cum laude, the highest academic honor available to students. Mr. Hutto launched his behavioral health career at Centerstone through behavioral treatment before joining Bradford Health. Mental wellness became his passion after migrating to the care team with the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers Association and continued that path during 1-1/2 years at Resurgence. In June, he answered a substance use counselor application, but was hired in his clinical supervisor capacity instead. “I am thrilled to have found such a wonderful team with which to work,” he said shortly after accepting his new post. “I envision Freeman being a premier name in behavioral health and addiction treatment services.”

Appropriate for David “Pops” Page, client services director for Freeman Recovery Center, to have a background in making electrical connections. Music, math, and ministry may have long been master skills sought and modeled by Pops, but despite having been a high school teacher, writing and instructing his own curriculum for Procter & Gamble, and purveying the launch of two different successful businesses, he was never able to mold all his proficiencies in one place until about four years ago when he joined the Freeman family. Married with two adult sons and five grandchildren, Pops was born and raised in Jackson, TN, obtained his bachelor of science in education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and pioneered the practical applications for digital engineering at ITT. In 1984, while working at P&G, he launched the first business, Professional Video, which later became PVS, Inc. He sold that company in 2012 and launched his next career – golfing, hunting, and fishing. It wasn’t enough, so he put together a consumer electronics business in Corinth, MS, and again sold it six years later to spend more time with family; he didn’t realize it wasn’t the traditional definition of family. What Pops recognized for his Freeman family was the need for branding, building relationships, and breeding care among its clients. “I’ve never gotten up one day and dreaded coming to do what I felt like I had to do,” Pops said recently. “It’s been a blessing and an absolute joy. I did it by doing what I was told I couldn’t do . . . I broke the rules by getting close to people, and at one time that would have been considered fraternization. I didn’t spread it [love and kindness], they did, or maybe it was God through me. I want every person when they come here to feel like there’s not a single staff member anywhere who doesn’t care for them. I want that to be our way of life.”

–Health, both pet and human, has always been at the forefront of Robbyn Griffin’s mission for contributing to the community in which she was raised. A native of Dickson, TN, Robbyn spent a decade in the veterinary field sharing her experience through the animals she served and the people who love them. It wasn’t enough, she determined and endeavored into a new chapter of life through behavioral health. Having earned a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and psychology, with a minor in sociology, from Tennessee State University, Robbyn earned an MBA in healthcare administration from Western Governors University in 2016 and is nearing completion of a bachelor of science in nursing from Aspen University. Married to the love of her life, Adam, since 2006, they share three beautiful daughters, Peyton, Brooke, and Elyse, and reside in White Bluff, TN, among a bevy of pets. When she finds time for leisure activities, Robbyn enjoys reading, spending time in nature, and being near the water.

For nearly 70 consecutive hours, Katrina Klein, sober living supervisor at Freeman Recovery Center, appeared to resist being born. Then her heart stopped and everything changed. An emergency Caesarian section later, she arrived at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Her heart hasn’t stopped since that day in 1979, and she continues to share its love, kindness, compassion, and tolerance with anyone and everyone touched by it. Katrina witnessed the overt impact of AUD and SUD from family members on relationships, finances, physical and mental wellness, and emotional regulation and maturity, but steered clear through the first three decades of her life. Experimenting with alcohol while working as a restaurant server and two DUIs later, Katrina found her escape solution. “When I quit drinking my right side hurt a lot and I was prescribed pain medication,” she recalled. “It just went downhill from there.” By that time, however, she’d weathered numerous experiences that likely contributed to her transition from recreational use to dependence. Growing up in Ashland City, she was nearing graduation when she found out she was pregnant, got married, moved just across the school zone line, and was not allowed to attend Cheatham County High School to earn a diploma. By the following year, 1998, she was divorced with an infant and the sole provider for her family. Nearly four years later, Katrina’s second daughter was born and she experienced an identical environment – now there was a toddler and an infant, and she was still the lone source of income despite having a partner. It was at that time she managed to obtain her GED as well. Having worked as a server over the next handful of years, in 2006, Katrina launched into what she deems her most destructive intimate relationship, one that would last nine years and spiral into eight months incarceration after a terminated drug court opportunity and subsequent trip to SUD treatment. In June 2019, on her grandmother’s birthday, she was admitted to FRC and moved out 14 months later as a member of the transportation corps. She now has three daughters, ages 25, 21, and 6, and believes her role is administering stern accountability with a conscience. “I think I relate to a lot of people’s stories,” she admitted recently. “It’s about consistency . . . showing up to help. It’s about living in the day and doing what I can to help others. The thing I tell most people is just don’t ever give up. The more people we have here in recovery the fewer people who are out there dying.”

Bio coming soon..