The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd & Guest Tina HarrisThe #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd & Guest Tina Harris
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Conversation between Mike Todd and Tina Harris about her long history with addiction, her current outreach work with FAVOR Greenville, and the struggles and importance of underfunded recovery housing. Themes include harm reduction, meeting people where they are, and supporting indigent individuals and small housing operators.
58:47•27 Aug 2021
Meeting People Where They Are: Tina Harris on Recovery, Housing and Hope
Episode Overview
- Recovery can be built from many ingredients – church, mutual aid meetings, all‑recovery groups and service – rather than a single pathway.
- Harm reduction is about far more than naloxone; it starts with meeting people where they are with consistency, care and no judgement.
- Family support and family recovery coaching can significantly strengthen a person’s chances of sustaining recovery.
- Small recovery housing operators serving indigent people face serious underfunding, high costs and burnout, despite doing vital frontline work.
- Certification and insurance requirements risk leaving low‑resource houses behind unless funding and practical support are offered alongside standards.
“We’re hope pushers. We bring out to the community hope, hope for families, hope for solutions, and hope for recovery, Mike.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This conversation brings that question to life as Mike Todd sits down with Tina Harris, outreach coordinator at Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) Greenville, to talk frankly about recovery, harm reduction, and the reality of running recovery housing on a shoestring.
Tina shares how her substance use began in her teens in southern California and continued for over 30 years, with crack cocaine eventually "taking everything" and pushing her toward change. She talks openly about choosing drugs over her children, abusive relationships, and the long road to finding freedom. Her pathway these days? What she calls a "recovery cake" made up of church, NA, AA, all‑recovery meetings and, crucially, helping others.
As director of community outreach, Tina explains how FAVOR’s approach is to “meet you where you’re at” – whether that’s on the street, at a soup kitchen, or in an encampment – with zero judgement and a heavy dose of consistency. She and Mike swap stories about harm reduction, handing out naloxone, and even why clean clothes and “drawers” can matter as much as pamphlets when someone has nothing. A big part of the chat centres on recovery housing.
Tina and Mike highlight how small, low‑budget operators taking in indigent people are "underserved and marginalised" while shouldering huge responsibility. They unpack fears around certification, the cost of insurance, burnout, and how well‑resourced programmes can leave those working with the most vulnerable further behind. If you’re interested in harm reduction, community outreach, or how recovery housing really works on the ground, you’ll get a raw, honest look at both the problems and the hope.
It might leave you asking: who is looking out for the people quietly keeping recovery houses – and lives – going?
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