Getting to know Tonya Elkins, our new MIHOW Director!

Professional Life
Tonya received her M.S.W. from the University of Tennessee in 2001 and her B.S. in Psychology from Belmont University in 1998. She took a semester off in 1997 to live and work in Mexico and now she can read, write, and speak Spanish conversationally. While in graduate school, she interned with World Relief Refugee Resettlement, working with refugee families from Bosnia and Cuba to acclimate to the United States. She also worked with an anti-hunger organization called MANNA, organizing outreach to the Spanish-speaking population in Nashville. She worked with current and former Families First participants to organize and advocate for themselves.

After graduating, Tonya worked for Metro Social Services, establishing eligibility for emergency financial services. In 2003, she became director of the South Nashville Family Resource Center (FRC) Director and Site Leader for the Woodbine MIHOW program. Her position with the FRC involved coordinating neighborhood resources, empowering neighborhood residents, organizing neighborhood events, and building on assets in the community to meet community needs.

Personal Life
Tonya was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky but spent most of her young life in southeast Tennessee. Through a series of experiences as a child, Tonya realized that she wanted to help those less fortunate than her and that many times helping others involved some type of system change. Some of those experiences included accompanying her dad, who was a minister, on visits to hospitals, nursing homes, and families' homes. Other experiences involved community service and missions experiences with her church. Tonya believes in the MIHOW strength-based approach that states that "every person, regardless of living situation or circumstances, has strengths". It is Tonya's goal to help others recognize and build on these strengths to better themselves and their situations.

Tonya married Thaddeus Brew in 2001. They have three children: Draven (13), Isaiah (3), and Ariana (4 months). Tonya enjoys spending time with her family more than anything else and has a strong extended family network as well.

Tonya's thoughts...

Best MIHOW Experience
My best experiences with MIHOW are watching people grow and become more confident. Though I've been able to see some of the participants develop skills and increase self-esteem, it's been most rewarding to see the outreach workers change. Seeing the outreach workers gain communication skills, increase knowledge, and develop professionally is a huge reward. I also enjoy meeting people from all the other MIHOW programs. I've learned a lot about the kind of mom I want to be from watching the women in the MIHOW network.

Best Parenting Advice I Ever Received
Appreciate every minute you have with your children. I see so many tragic stories on the news and I am thankful for every day we all make it home safe and can enjoy each other's company. I also believe that many of the parenting lessons I've received were more "caught" than taught--my mother almost never gives me unsolicited parenting advice, but I find myself looking to her example when I don't know what to do with my own children. My mother really loves me and enjoys my company and it's such an enormous boost to know that someone considers you so valuable. I hope my children know how precious they are to me.

Biggest Dream
My biggest dream is that my husband and I will grow old and gray together and that our children will be happy, healthy adults, able to pursue their interests. I'd like to visit exotic places and always be learning new things.