Trina Frierson, Founding CEO and President at Mending Hearts, spent the summer of 2024 relaxing.
For a year or two prior, she was exhausted but didn’t see any way she could break away. She didn’t need a weekend at the beach, she needed weeks with her toes in the water. She didn’t need a long weekend, likely still spent sending a handful of emails on her days off. She needed no requests, no obligations, and space to clear her mind.
Mending Hearts helps women overcome addiction and find healing through long-term treatment in a supportive community, regardless of their ability to pay. In her own recovery with 28 years sober, and over 20 years caring for women at Mending Hearts, Trina has devoted herself to this work. But as she says, a week or two off throughout the year isn’t enough to feel rejuvenated in this industry.
Trina was awarded a Sabbatical Grant from The Healing Trust, which supported her to take a three-month planned absence from her day-to-day duties. During this time, she was required to not answer emails, attend meetings, or do any work related to Mending Hearts. She was required to rest, dream, and simply be.
In the months leading up to her sabbatical, she learned this was an opportunity to trust the right people were in position, and they could own their departments and step into their leadership during the interim. A teammate said to her, “Trina, we want to show you what you’ve built in us.”
Trina said it can feel like a free fall stepping away, especially when you are used to being all things to all people. “It breaks up Founder’s Syndrome,” she said, which can make it feel challenging to delegate and share power within an organization.
“I learned that I am not in this by myself,” she said. “My team showed up and showed out.”
She spent her sabbatical unobligated. She rested with family without distractions, traveled to Puerto Rico and Cancun, and focused on her own healing through therapeutic intensives.
“I could have taken a spurt here and a spurt there over a two-to-three-year process to be able to attain what I did in 90 days,” she said. “It gave me space to think. I came back with so much energy.”
She has on a new set of lenses when it comes to setting strategy and holding vision. Her mind is clear. She is able to respond to “hot points” with pause and peace. In her words, “everything isn’t a crisis. I am not in crisis.”
Post-sabbatical, she continues to seek balance in her life. Asking “is it necessary?” before responding to requests. She is not in a rush when she doesn’t need to be, making sure there is breathing room in her schedule to “find Trina in the midst of the hustle and bustle.”
“I am living to embrace what God wants for us—the gift of life itself,” she said.
Abby Hyman is a Program Partner at The Healing Trust and manages the Sabbatical Fund at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.