In the spring of 2002, a group of women from First Baptist Church Nashville, calling themselves the Wild Praying Women, sought direction of how to use a vacant building on Eighth Ave that was owned by the church. They conducted a community needs assessment and learned that one of the largest unmet needs in Middle TN was transitional housing and services for women ex-offenders.
They designed a Residential Transitional Program to address the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of women exiting incarceration and welcomed their first client in 2004. Re-entry services were also provided in Chattanooga for women completing the final months of their sentences.
In 2007, the organization purchased a 21-unit apartment complex along Clifton Avenue in Nashville and launched another arm of services by creating an affordable living community for women in recovery and their children called the Freedom Recovery Community.
The organization recognized the part that addiction plays in the cycle of incarceration and expanded services in 2012 to include addiction treatment. A new facility was built in 2014 at 402 22nd Avenue North which provided capacity for 82 residential clients and 36 slots for women to continue in outpatient programs. Today The Next Door is the only organization in TN that provides a full continuum of gender-specific treatment services for women in a Christ-centered environment.
The mission of The Next Door is to provide a continuum of evidence-based substance abuse and mental health services for women in an environment of faith and healing to restore hope and a lifetime of recovery.
Our work is guided by the values of Community, Encouragement, Faith, Hope, Love, Respect and Wholeness.
