Brad Turner on Disability and Aging in Tennessee
Brad Turner serves as the first Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging, leading statewide programs serving 1.5 million Tennesseans with disabilities and aging needs.
About Brad Turner
Brad Turner is the first-ever Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging (DDA), a newly formed agency created to streamline and strengthen support for older adults and people with disabilities. Appointed in 2024 by Governor Bill Lee, Turner brings decades of public service experience—and a deeply personal connection to his work.
Prior to this role, Turner served as Commissioner of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) from 2019 to 2024. Under his leadership, Tennessee has earned national recognition for innovative programs that promote independence, employment, and community integration for people with disabilities.
DDA now oversees services for more than 1.5 million Tennesseans, ranging from early intervention and assistive technology to caregiver support and public guardianship. Programs like the MAPs initiative for young adults, Katie Beckett funding for medically complex children, and inclusive playgrounds are just a few of the efforts shaping a more inclusive future.
Tennessee is the first state in the nation to provide early intervention services for children with disabilities all the way up to school age.
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Spencer: Brad Turner. Commissioner of the Department of Disability and Aging, welcome to Signature Required.
Brad: Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here, and it's an honor and a privilege to be your guest, so thanks From the invite.
Spencer: So not only are you the commissioner of that department mm-hmm. You're the first [00:01:00] ever commissioner of the Department of Disability and Aging. So is this kind of like a new thing that people are aging for the first time and like
Carli: Yeah, for real, we need to, it's just a new phenomenon, right?
Carli: Yeah. Yeah. It just,
Brad: it just happened post covid. I guess. Everybody started to, to get older at the same time you felt our age. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. It, so I'm the first one. And so, um. We had a, a Commission on Aging and, and Governor Lee and, and his wisdom made the decision to streamline a little bit more effectively and efficiently.
Brad: So we created the Department of Disability and Aging, which married the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability and the previous Department of Intellectual Developmental Disabilities. And we, I. Got DDA. So very excited to have been the last commissioner of DIDD and the first commissioner for DDA.
Brad: So yeah, certainly something that I enjoy and, and I'm very blessed to be in this role
Spencer: and for most of our listeners that probably never knew. Mm-hmm. There was a Department of Disability and Aging. Give us just kind of the. Stats and figures. You've got like 2000 employees that report, people report to you.
Spencer: Yeah, pretty close to that. So yeah, just give us the stats and figures of what it is.
Brad: Yeah. I mean, outside of being the newest State [00:02:00] department, we're, we're actually the fourth or fifth largest state Department. And the reason is there's such a need in the state of Tennessee. A lot of people don't realize that we're actually the fastest growing, uh, state in the southeast when it comes to people who are over 60.
Brad: And East Tennessee is actually the fastest growing region. Uh, all of the Appalachia has a lot of folks that are moving in from different areas. And so there's been a real explosion in folks retiring to Tennessee and then we're doing a much better job of early diagnosis for children with disabilities, specifically autism or around the spectrum.
Brad: So that's created even more of a robust need for services that we've been able to, to try to deliver to people. And it's, it's just the best job. I couldn't ask to do something else that my heart wasn't in it the way it is in this job. And just the ability to be able to serve people has been incredibly beneficial for us as a department.
Brad: Hmm.
Spencer: How might a Tennessean recognize your department in real life? Like, you know, the Department of Transportation? Yeah. Most people would be like, okay, I could recognize them in real life. Right. I know that department, or Department of Health and Human [00:03:00] Services, like there's some ones that are recognizable.
Spencer: Sure. How might people interact with you in the wild?
Brad: Yeah, it's, it's sometimes it's not as organic as you want it to be because people have to know about it because there's such a small and dedicated community that fall into that umbrella. You know, everybody uses roads, everybody uses transportation. On some level.
Brad: Not everybody needs disability services, but what we've started to do is expand into schools. We've started to expand into senior centers when it comes to the aging component. We've got a lot of partners that utilize Meals on Wheels. I think everybody knows at some level what Meals on Wheels does. Yeah.
Brad: So those are just some of the little things that we do that people recognize. Oh, I know someone that participates in a Meals on Wheels program. What we're trying to do is, is. To the core of your question, how do we get people to understand, man, I know who does that and I know somebody that needs that.
Brad: And that's where we've been super active in working with, uh, Tennessee Higher Education Commission to try to create opportunities in higher education for students with disabilities, actually be able to go to [00:04:00] college for the first time. So whether it's community college and we're working closely with TCATs or four year institutions, we're trying to make our mark as much as we can in areas that historically have been, um, areas that have not been able to be penetrated by people with disabilities or people who are aging.
Brad: So you might not see it the way that I'm hoping that you see it next year, but we have certainly made a lot of progress in making sure people understand that's the department discipline aging that is providing those services and supports for Tennesseans.
Hmm Hmm.
Spencer: Well, one of our main objectives with you today mm-hmm.
Spencer: Is we want our listeners to be able to come away more educated about some of the specific programs Sure. That you do. And Carli's gonna lead you through a handful of different, just, Hey, teach us about this. Teach us about this. Yeah. Because there could very well be a number of listeners that are desperate.
Spencer: Looking for something and you have the answer. Yeah. And they just don't know that. Uh, but just prior to going to that, I'd love to get just a little of your story. Sure. I mean, you're the first ever commissioner for this department. That's a huge deal. [00:05:00] Just walk us through a little bit of your background and then we're gonna pick your brain about what you all
Brad: Yeah.
Brad: So I'll start, you know, so I, I came to college up here to play baseball actually at Trek Nazarene University in Nashville. And so I came up here from Florida, grew up in Florida, went to school here about a year later. Met um, a young volleyball player who was a brunette who caught my eye. And her name was Rebecca.
Brad: Uh, and we started dating about two weeks after she had been a freshman at Trek, and we've been together ever since the love of our life is our 18-year-old daughter Kinsley, who has intellectual developmental disability. She has cerebral palsy, she's nonverbal.
Brad: Uh, she utilizes a wheelchair that, that we can help her navigate to get around. She actually had, a massive stroke before she was born that we were not aware of. And so that's what kind of started us on that journey to be parents in the disability community and, and then in God's providence, he saw fit, you know, years later for, for this opportunity to present itself.
Brad: So I was a county commissioner in Ruthford County for nine years, have always been involved at some level in public service. And the moment the, the governor's team called and asked me if I'd [00:06:00] be interested in it, I said, yes. I, I didn't even know anything about the job. It didn't matter to me, right? It was, it was something that I knew could help Kinsley and could help her friends.
Brad: And I said yes right away. In fact, the, the day before I started, I had to call them and confirm that I was actually getting a paycheck for this job and a salary. 'cause I didn't ask any of those questions, um, because it didn't matter. And so that was, that's a very 32nd condensed version of, of how I got into the position.
Brad: And it's just a huge story about God's faithfulness in my life, about how he appointed the steps for me at the right time to get me to, in this position where, because of the person I love the most in the world, one person, uh, had something challenging happen to them. God opened the door now for me to help 1.6 million people.
Brad: And it's all part of Genesis 50 20. What, what the devil meant for evil. The, the Lord used for good. And so we sit here doing good work for people in Tennessee. So that's kind of how I got here. And that's, that's a little bit of my testimony and background.
Carli: Hmm. Wow.
Spencer: Amen.
Carli: God is so faithful and he never wastes.
Carli: Right. An opportunity, I would [00:07:00] love to talk through the programs Sure. That you cover.
Yeah.
Carli: Because I just. I don't think people know that there are resources available. Mm-hmm. And B, if they do, gosh, they're just so tired at night that they don't have time to do all the research and figure out do I qualify and how do I get this? Yeah.
Carli: The first one I know about. Is maps.
Mm-hmm.
Carli: That helps kids that are transitioning into adulthood. That's right. With disabilities. Figure out how to do that.
Carli: Yeah. So can you talk about maps?
Brad: Yeah. Maps is actually one of our newest programs, but it's been one of our most successful programs. And so the idea behind that is all of us utilized technology on some level, but students and children know way more about technology than we do. I mean, you can watch kids on their phones and their iPads and, and even my daughter uses that, you know, and can just zip around on that as, as if she's known it since she was born.
Brad: But MAPS is a very dedicated program for students that are exiting high school to move into adulthood, and it utilizes technology to allow them to be [00:08:00] independent. And so one of the things historically that we've done is we've had this concept in our mind that people with disabilities can't do it on their own.
Brad: And nothing could be further from the truth because we wouldn't want to associate someone's gender with saying they can't do that or someone's race or someone's age, but we were okay with doing it for people with disabilities to say they can't do that. Maps is actually proving that that's not true. It's allowing us to create programs of support for people to live independently with disabilities utilizing technology.
Brad: So whether you're talking about how do I navigate a transportation route to get to the movies, to hang out with my friends or go to the store or use it to understand how to interview in a job on a virtual setting. Maps has done that for over, for several hundred students in the state of Tennessee. And so it's been around about three years.
Brad: It's continued to expand. We have it in all three grand regions, and our department was part of that because the seed money was. Funded through our department's request for that. And so now you've got several hundred students that are able to utilize technology to create an [00:09:00] independent pathway for themselves forward once they leave high school.
Carli: Oh, that makes me really excited. So yeah, if you're a parent or a caregiver listening. Do you Google Maps? Yeah. Tennessee. How do they even get their teen into this
Brad: tech? Yeah, it's, it's on our website, so our tn.gov/dda website lists all of the programs that we have, and probably many that we're gonna talk about today.
Brad: But MAPS is on there and it shows you how to begin the conversation to get enrolled into the MAPS program.
Carli: Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. I love the program so much easier than it sounds
Brad: it. It is and and that's one of the challenges, you just said it earlier, is we want to make it so easy for people that they have no excuse not to try it.
Brad: So we have started to eliminate a lot of those barriers by saying, just get to us and we will walk you through the entire length of the program. Mm-hmm.
Brad: Yeah.
Spencer: And speaking of, of getting to us, what are the various avenues that people could get help? Mm-hmm. Like is there someone that you could pick up the phone and call? Mm-hmm. But is it require an in-person visit? How does that onboarding that top [00:10:00] of the funnel process work? Yeah. Because I think that's always the scariest part of it is I don't even know.
Spencer: How to start to
Brad: know, right? Yeah. Nobody knows where to start, right? It's, it's, it's no different than when we're coming outta college for a career search. You're trying to figure out what do I do in my first job? You just don't know where to start. So what we want to do is try to help be that first step so you can actually, you can reach out to us on social media platforms and we can route you to the right person.
Brad: We have three different regional offices. We've got one in West Tennessee, one in middle Tennessee, one in east Tennessee.
Brad: We've got one page documents, we can email to advocacy groups or we can email directly to parents. So there's a lot of different routes that we try to take to make sure that people are able to access it depending on where they are. Not a lot of folks might have LinkedIn. So we've got, but they've got social media, so how do they access us on social media?
Brad: So it's really be, uh, about us creating that entire spectrum of can somebody push a button and get to someone that can help inside our department? The answer is yes. And that's why we utilize phones, we utilize email, anything for [00:11:00] folks that. Might wanna figure out how to get to us. We wanna make sure that, again, we eliminate every barrier to that.
Spencer: that sounds remarkably non-governmental perhaps. I mean, that's amazing. You know, it's funny, uh,
Brad: uh, we are infamous, notorious, whatever you want to use for that in government of making it harder for people.
Brad: And, and you know, Cardi, you had said something that's, that's very important. You're talking to people that are tired.
Yeah.
Brad: And they're the tired that you can't feel better after a nap.
Mm-hmm. It's
Brad: life has beat you down. So how do we create avenues of support for people who are incredibly tired, incredibly lonely, and incredibly scared of what the future might look like.
Carli: Yeah. And one word you said is isolating.
Brad: Yeah.
Carli: It can feel very lonely. Mm-hmm. It can feel very isolating to do life.
Carli: With somebody with a severe disability. Mm-hmm. And that, I think it's almost feels taboo to say that out loud. Yeah. 'cause like somebody's gonna look at them and say, well, maybe if you loved them more, or maybe if you picked yourself up a little bit more.
Carli: And that's just not the case. These are the most loving, [00:12:00] hardworking people imaginable. Right.
Yeah.
Carli: But life has kicked them down over and over again, and they feel like they're hitting their head against the wall. So one thing I think you are trying to do to fight maybe that isolation mm-hmm. Is the inclusive playgrounds.
Brad: Yeah.
Carli: So that everyone can play together. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that?
Brad: so our last round of grant funding that we did, had over 80 plus organizations, nonprofits, communities, reach out to us to try to have a conversation about can we get some grant money, because we think this is incredibly important.
Brad: So we were just in Grundy County, um, last week. I went down for a groundbreaking for a project that was called Miracle on the Mountaintop, and it was phenomenal to watch the community come together because when, when you, there's two levels to this, for me. Number one, it's biblically accurate. Like, as a Christian man of faith, I've got a moral obligation to make sure that I see the least of these.
Brad: And, and that has created some confusion and anger in our community. 'cause when people hear the term least of these, they automatically think, well you're talking down, they're secondary, they're, [00:13:00] they're, you know, subhuman, whatever that might be. And that's not it. As believers, what I know that to be is, are you getting to the unseen and the unheard?
Brad: The answer's yes. And inclusive playgrounds do that. So what we have noticed, and if you go around and you look, children don't always see disability. And when they do, it's very innocent in the fact of, well, can I help? Why are they not walking? Can I help them walk? Can I do this? We need to take a child's heart.
Brad: If you think about what scripture talks about that we're to approach the throne as children. That's how I look at what my job is. Do I see people the way children do? They just, they just need some help sometimes. So how do we help? You know, every angel has wings. Some of them are just a little bit clipped, and so every child that we work with, we believe is an angel that might just have a little bit of a clipped wing.
Brad: So how do we help them fly the best they can? Inclusive playgrounds have done that.
Carli: We have the privilege of taking our kids to a playground that has, I wouldn't say the whole thing would be Yeah. Accessible, but they have accessible components. Mm-hmm. And it's been really fun to see the kids, even the kids without disabilities, to kind [00:14:00] of map out that playground and be like, am I allowed to play on this?
Carli: That's it. But then the minute they see somebody that needs that equipment Yeah. Hop off and offer it and just, it just creates a dialogue and an opportunity. And I think it also creates opportunity for parents.
Brad: That's right. Because, gosh,
Carli: sometimes you go to the playground to get their wiggles out, but sometimes I need to talk to someone that isn't four feet tall.
Carli: For
Brad: sure. Yeah. And it,
Carli: it really gives the opportunity to have normal day in, day out conversations that when you're living isolated 24 7 care perhaps you're not getting
Brad: to have. Right, right. And, and one of the things that, that my wife, Rebecca, has brought up that we have tried to encourage is we want children asking questions.
Brad: About so we can walk them through exactly the story behind our daughter or we don't want them looking and being like, I can't ask questions. I don't know what's going on. Be. So I withdraw myself from that situation 'cause I don't know why they're in a wheelchair. And we have encouraged children like you, you can come talk to us, you can ask questions, and her name is Kinsley and she will give you a hug.
Brad: And, and once you do that. [00:15:00] Kids completely latch on and then they feel like, okay, well this is, this is my friend and this is someone that I want to get to know. And, and I, there, there is a lot to be said for that, that we lose, I think, as adults, where we start to segregate ourselves to say, they don't look like me.
Brad: They don't talk like me. I'm gonna go over here to my tribe. And I think we have lost the ability to ask questions and have hard conversations with people because we don't want to engage in people that don't look like us, think like us, believe like us, whatever it might be, vote like Us, which, uh, you know, has been really, you know, a big conversation the last few years.
Brad: But children with disabilities just see that and they want to ask questions and they're curious. So answer to their questions, you know, and, and you can do it in a way that maybe will empower them to be a better friend and to understand why they see children that might be in a wheelchair in, in their classrooms, what that looks like at school.
Brad: So maybe they become a better engaged student and a better engaged friend in the classroom as well as they do at the playground.
Spencer: Hmm.
Hmm.
Spencer: Brad, do you have any context for families that don't have someone with a disability what [00:16:00] the percentage is? Like I, I wouldn't really know if you said out of a hundred families.
Spencer: Yeah, just from a high level perspective, can you help?
Brad: Yeah, it's, it's a little bit easier when you talk about like, specific diagnosis. Yeah.
Brad: there's not always a way to know that some, some disabilities are, are undefined or undiagnosed rather, and not disclosed. And, and that is one of the things that we have tried to do. You know, Carli, you had asked earlier about how do, how do you talk about this and, and how do we get people to know about what's going on?
Brad: And, and it's, we need advocates. We need people to be able to tell their story and do it without fear of judgment or fear of, you know, perception changing about them.
Brad: If, if you think about the history of disability, it was not talked about. Children were put away in institutions. Adults were put in institutions. That's a true story. Tennessee's one of only 14 states that does not have institutions. So you're talking 36 other states still have an avenue for parents or or adult caregivers to put their loved ones.
Brad: So they're away from the community. And so we still are working [00:17:00] on how do we get a better definition of what an accurate disability number is, and then how do we build services and supports around that once we think the data is accurate. But that's something I'd love to talk about a little bit later is just the history of disability and people understanding that we are not that far removed from people with disabilities being severely discriminated against.
Brad: And we're still running into that specifically when it comes to employment and housing.
Spencer: Brad, one of the great fears that Carli and I have several friends that have this fear Is that they, as caregivers are aging.
Spencer: And the individual that they're caring for with a disability is. Partially self-sufficient, but partially not. And one of their great concerns is, you know, what happens when I die?
Spencer: As the caregiver or when some chapter moves to where I can't do this In the same way. And I imagine that's a question that you all deal with all the time. And I don't know how you [00:18:00] counsel somebody through that or what resources that are there, but Carli and I have a couple friends that are wrestling with that right now.
Spencer: Yeah. And, and one specifically wanted me to, to ask Yeah. Just to say, how can I learn more? I don't need the state to fix it necessarily. But where can I understand what my options are?
Brad: And, and so first and foremost, that is the number one thing that I get from parents. Our biggest fear is what happens to our children.
Brad: Because nobody knows him like we do. Nobody knows how to take care of 'em. They're gonna get abused. I mean, you go to the worst case scenario, right? Yeah. And I had said for the longest time, and I was probably lying to myself that my biggest hope was to bury my daughter. Because that means nobody got a chance to take care of her because they can't do it like I do.
Brad: I, I probably lied to myself because I don't know if I would be emotionally ready for that. But the point still stands that those parents are asking that same question is what do I do now that I can't take care of of my children anymore? So we have a number of incredibly strong providers that we work [00:19:00] with across the state that allow.
Brad: You the privilege of being able to select them to make sure that your child is a good fit inside their, um, private practice and their organization as a provider agency in delivering those services.
Brad: So for those, your friend and for people that are listening, reach out to us because we can provide you all the options for you to make the right decision for your loved one.
Spencer: What a great resource. Yeah. That's awesome. And it's, it's
Brad: heavy. I mean, part of that is, you know, we are counselors as much as we are friends and partners in the endeavor.
Spencer: Yeah.
Brad: Um, when you tell a mom and dad that it's time to let your child go live on their own or be independent or put them into a, into a private provider. There are no playbooks for how do you deal with decisions that nobody ever thought they'd have to make as a parent? Mm-hmm. And that weighs on me the most when I meet with parents is one day we're gonna have to tell ourselves, and my wife and I have to have a conversation that she's gotta go somewhere else.
Brad: 'cause I love her enough to give her up to make sure she's taking care of.
Carli: When you love [00:20:00] the least of these and you did a good job explaining what that actually means, yeah.
Carli: You are living out the heart of Christ.
Mm-hmm.
Carli: And. I don't, I don't care if somebody listening to this has a completely different theology than I do. Like, that is great. Thank you for listening and I respect your right to do so. I just feel like it's so important that we live out what we believe and show people from our heart that it's not a rule book that I'm throwing at people.
Carli: Yeah. It's a, it's a way of life.
Right.
Carli: And I think that. People would come together in a lot more unity, even with diverse faith backgrounds. Right. If we actually lived what we believed instead of telling people what we believe, but living a different way. That's right. And so you don't often see that in the government if we're just being completely honest.
Carli: You don't often see those principles lived out in an inclusive way.
Brad: Right.
Carli: For all people. Right. And so I really appreciate your testimony.
Carli: Well, there's a couple more programs Yeah. That I would love to highlight. Sure. 'cause I do think people need to know this information. [00:21:00] So I actually have some questions about the Katie Beckett
Yeah.
Carli: Fund. Yes. And who qualifies? How do they get that?
Brad: Yeah,
Carli: let's start there.
Brad: That's been a huge program for us and, and probably at some level I underestimated the impact. Mm-hmm. So, just to give you a real 32nd background on that, that program's been around for almost 40 years. So President Reagan actually signed it into law in 1986, and Tennessee was one of the later states to actually incorporate that.
Brad: But what's been really unique about our program is it's the one that has the most flexibility compared to any program in the state. So you can actually apply for the Katie Beckett waiver. We have created it to try to have maximum flexibility for families where you have. Uh, what's called an HSA card, which I think all of us know about, debit cards, credit cards, HSA cards that you can use in the Part B portion of the Katie Beckett waiver to pay for HIPAA therapy to pay for, uh, home modifications, to pay for, uh, unique.
Brad: Therapies that your child might need that is unique to [00:22:00] their diagnosis, pay for prescriptions. We created that to have flexibility because government gets so rigid sometimes with so much red tape that it doesn't help people. So that program, we work very closely with the division of Tencare, who is the state Medicaid agency and our partner in this, to create a program that is incredibly flexible, and now we have the most robust and most flexible program in the country.
Brad: That falls under the Katie Beckett waiver to allow parents to be able to utilize that to try to better serve their children. So super excited about how that has turned out.
Carli: this might be too nuanced of a question. Mm-hmm. But I know. Believe it or not, I know several people trying to figure this out right now. Okay.
Brad: Yeah.
Carli: Is they believe their child would qualify, and then over here they're wondering, they're hitting their head against the wall with schools,
right?
Yeah, yeah.
Carli: True. Trying to figure out, trying to fight, trying to advocate, mm-hmm. For their IEPs, for the accommodations that their kids are legally entitled to. And oh, by the way. Centers are opening at a rapid rate that actually specialize in [00:23:00] helping kids with a vary of spectrum Yeah. Of disabilities.
Mm-hmm.
Carli: But a lot of the families that are fighting their tail off for education can't afford the private care. Yeah. So do, does Katie Beckett funds help fill that gap? Mm-hmm. Is there another program that can help fill that gap for kids that are literally just getting kicked outta school and their parents being told, well, you're gonna have to homeschool 'cause they can't come back tomorrow.
Carli: I mean, the economic cost, the emotional cost, not knowing where to go.
Brad: Mm-hmm. Yeah, the Katie Beckett program does support dollars for, for those initiatives. And, and that has been one of the things, Carli, that we have worked with Department of Education and a lot of local school districts over the last two years.
Brad: Uh, that was something that was near and dear to my heart because I know that, here's the reality of it. A lot of parents in our community use school as respite. Mm-hmm. Because they can't do it. And, and they need the schools to be there to be supportive and figure out ways to help support their child in the classroom.
Brad: And hopefully some of those, those, um. [00:24:00] Behavioral modifications and implementations and IEPs and things that are built around supporting the student in the classroom, they can bring home with them because there's a structure behind it. Right? So we were intentional in reaching out to about 115 school superintendents around the state.
Spencer: You know, as a business guy mm-hmm. I. Look at challenges from all kinds of guests that Yeah. We've interviewed, and I imagine the competition for resources within any organization is intense.
Spencer: Mm-hmm. I mean, Tennessee, you know, has a $60 billion budget. Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of really worthwhile places for every dollar Yeah. Of that budget to go. And so what I hear in part is that there's a meaningful gap between the awareness that you want the state to have on a lot of different levels, uh, versus where it's at.
Spencer: And you're doing some amazing things to help close that gap. Mm-hmm. Is there a budget or an [00:25:00] appetite for some degree of marketing to what you do?
Spencer: I don't even know what that would look like. Yeah. It would be, you know, commercials on television. Yeah. Or like, I, I don't know what exactly that'd look
Brad: like. Yeah, no, you're, you're on it. I mean, that's, we, that's exactly what we do. We have a marketing budget that we utilize with a lot of partners in different.
Brad: Um, different segments of the community in different parts of the, of the state, but we're very intentional with how we do that.
Brad: You're a small business owner. You guys talked about being entrepreneurs, you know, the challenge and the environment and the competition. Yeah. We run into the same thing as, as, uh, you know, a state employer is we need people to come work for us and we may not pay what the private sector does.
Brad: So we try to express to them, here's what you're doing to help people. And there's a lot of people that, that are tapping into that, especially the younger generation. They are very much driven by. Social causes and, and God bless 'em for it because we have to have a passion to chase something. What we try to get them to do is to tap into to that passion for people with disabilities and people who are aging.
Brad: [00:26:00] So a lot of our marketing campaigns are targeted around how do we make sure people know not only what programs are available, what, what job opportunities are available so they can then help people and become advocates in their community for what we're doing. So I don't know if that answers what you're asking.
Brad: Mm-hmm. But we absolutely are being intentional and have coordinated efforts to make sure that we market our department and market the positions to serve people.
Spencer: We've spent a lot of our time so far focusing on the disability side mm-hmm.
Spencer: Of what you do. But there's an aging side. Yeah. Uh, and that has a different set of needs. And one of your really successful programs has actually come through a partnership with the Department of Agriculture. Yeah. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that. Yeah.
Brad: That's a relatively new program that just kind of came out of the idea that we worked with the department, that they realized, hey, what else can we do and how can we better serve people?
Brad: And so when the transition from the Commission on Aging and Disability happened and became formalized on July one, one of the things that we noticed really quickly was there was a lot of folks in the aging space, number one who worked really hard, but number two, who were just looking for someone to say, Hey, [00:27:00] see what we're doing, and how can we figure out how to expand for that?
Brad: So one of the things we talked about is Tennessee has a rich history of agriculture and of farming. And we met with the Department of Agriculture to say, how can we better partner to serve older Tennesseans and senior centers and in their communities that you live as farmers and you know 'em, and they're your neighbors.
Brad: To give them fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh produce and, and things that can help not only nutritionally, but build those relationships. And so we've created a partnership with them where we're working very closely with Tennessee Farmers to bring in fresh produce and product to local senior centers and working very closely with them and hoping to move into the meals on wheel space to try to get fresh fruits and vegetables to older Tennesseans, which is.
Brad: An incredibly strong partnership. I'm very proud of Commissioner Charlie Hatcher and his team. They've been wonderful advocates for what we're trying to do, and so I'm really excited to see where that's gonna go.
Spencer: Commissioner, you have an interesting spot in that we've already talked about. You're the first commissioner for the department, and I imagine it's hard enough [00:28:00] coming in as.
Spencer: A brand new commissioner, but also within a structure in Tennessee that could leave people questioning like, what's the future of Yeah. Your department and what's the future of, of the objectives of the governor. Mm-hmm. So can you talk for just a little bit about what you would want people to know about your department and some of your vision?
Spencer: Yeah. Because we can hear early, you're an amazing leader and your ability to cast a vision and to create a culture is clear. Yeah. So what would you tell people whether there are other elected officials, stakeholders, or just taxpayers from Tennessee to expect from your department going forward?
Brad: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's the, it's the one thing I wrestle with as the leader is what are we gonna do tomorrow?
Brad: And, and how do we make sure that, that we're continuing to move forward? And so, you know, when you, when you look for me, when you look in the New Testament, when Jesus talks about the 99, there's the one that, that the shepherd leaves to go get because [00:29:00] he's stuck in the thicket, right? So what we talk about is, are we going to go get the one, like we've got a lot of folks that we're serving and supporting right now, and we love the privilege and, and the blessing to be able to do that.
Brad: But the ones out there somewhere where the shepherd needs to go get the sheep. And that's what I want to try to do. And that's been my whole. Goal in our department is how do we go get those folks who don't know we exist, have no idea what tomorrow looks like, and don't know what the future looks like for their loved one.
Brad: Whether it's a 3-year-old inside our early intervention program, or whether it's an 83-year-old whose child has to continue to take care of them because they have dementia, we've got to go get the one. So we have tried to create programs, we've tried to create infrastructure. We've tried to create that enterprise wide momentum and leadership strategy to say we have got to do better tomorrow.
Brad: And it doesn't mean that we don't discount the good that we've done, but how do we make sure we go get that one tomorrow? And like I said, it's all from, for me, from the New Testament is there is someone out there stuck in the thicket who wonders is the [00:30:00] shepherd gonna come get me and help? Hmm. The answer in our department is unequivocally, yes, we are gonna go get you and we're gonna go find them.
Brad: And so that's what gets me up every day is glorify God by loving his children. Go get 'em. You know? And, Governor Lee talked about this in his campaign. He said he was, um, one of the folks that, that he was leaning on for counsel and, and him we're talking, they were flying back somewhere, and they looked down and said, there's a lot of mailboxes down there.
Brad: And the governor said that became something that he would think about a lot is what matters to that mailbox? What matters to this mailbox? So I think about that in those terms with that mailbox. As someone who is 85 years old, what matters to them that. Mailbox has a 16-year-old who has Down syndrome, what matters to them, and trying to figure out how do we create strategies that best support everybody that we come in contact with.
Spencer: One of the things that we do to wrap up each of our podcasts Yeah. Is we do a brief fill in the blank.
Spencer: Sure. Test for you. Okay. Love. So you haven't seen these ahead of time? I, no, no, that's perfect. Um, so Perfect. I'm gonna read a short phrase with a blank at the end. Yeah. Um, and the [00:31:00] instructions is, if you'll just repeat that phrase back to me, and then you can fill it in with a word or a phrase Okay. That you feel like catches the thought.
Spencer: Sure. Okay. All right. Here's the first one. The best way to support caregivers in our communities is blank.
Brad: So the best way to support caregivers in your community is to see them and walk with them. Mm-hmm.
Spencer: That is an unbelievably isolating feeling. Like we all talk about work life balance. Yeah. And trying to have that, I mean, the stuff that they see Yeah.
Spencer: On a daily basis. I don't know how you go home and just like, you don't shut that off.
Brad: You, you don't. And, and what what makes it more challenging is there's no, there's no line for them to cut. They have no light to turn off, to end the workday and start the home life. Yeah. It's, it's, I tell people that all the time.
Brad: I go home from this job and work harder at home because there's no cutoff. So see them and walk with them and be with them. Number two,
Spencer: in the [00:32:00] next 10 years, aging in Tennessee will blank.
Brad: Oh. In the next 10 years, aging in Tennessee will skyrocket. I mean a a, as I shared earlier, we're the fastest growing region or fastest growing area in the entire Southeast of folks who are over 60 moving to this area.
Brad: It will skyrocket, and so we have a great opportunity to try to make sure that we're ready for that demand and create programs that will meet that need.
Spencer: Number three. Third one. The most important thing we can do for Tennesseans with disabilities is blank.
Brad: Well, that's a big one.
Brad: I think the most important thing that we can do for Tennesseans with disabilities is advocate with them and not necessarily speak for them. They have a voice. They don't need you to be the microphone. They need you to be the megaphone to amplify it. That would be my answer.
Spencer: Commissioner Turner, it's amazing to have you here today to see to [00:33:00] the opportunity that the Lord has given you.
Spencer: Is not something that has emerged over the last couple of years. Right. It is clear in hindsight. That's oftentimes where I can see the Lord's hand at work and the best is looking in the past.
Mm-hmm.
Spencer: And to see his hand on your family and the experience that you've had to through and the highs and lows has made it so very personal mm-hmm.
Spencer: For you. And that authenticity is so evident in your leadership and it's an important department and department that is overlooked by a lot of people that don't carry a personal connection Yeah. To the things that you fight for every day. And it's a real privilege for Carli and I to get to be a little bit of a megaphone Yeah.
Spencer: Uh, for the work that you're trying to do across the state of Tennessee. we really do appreciate what you do.
Spencer: Thank you. Uh, [00:34:00] and how much of a leader you are for our state. So thank you, thank you for spending time and giving voice to the least of these here with us today. Yeah. I,
Brad: I appre it is, I, I have seen the evidence of his goodness all over my life as the song goes. And everything that he has prepared for me has led to this.
Brad: I, I have told people before when Kinsley was born in 2006, before I took this job in 2019, those 12 years were my wilderness, like the Israelites in the desert, that he had to prepare me for what was to come so I could walk into it. That's what I did, because he opened that door for me. So I'm just a center saved by grace, who was put in a position to try to love people.
Brad: That he sees that we need to do a better job of seeing ourselves. So thank you for having me, and I appreciate your encouragement and support.
Hmm.
Spencer: Commissioner Brad Turner with the Department of Disability and Aging in Tennessee. Really powerful communicator, [00:35:00] a leader and really in a place that the Lord has raised him up.
Mm-hmm.
Spencer: To be in the spot that he's in. One of the things that I talked about on the podcast is I best am able to see the Lord's Hand at work looking in reverse.
Spencer: I can see doors that were closed and opened and, and kind of trace his hand that way. And wow. The Lord used a really thick pen in his life. Mm-hmm. To be able to trace through the things that he has experienced and has given. Commissioner Turner, a level of authenticity that is really special to see given the amount of influence that he has on the state.
Carli: I think I knew how complicated on some level that it was a complicated issue, that there was lots of facets to it and multidimensional. But after sitting and talking to him, it is [00:36:00] so much more complex than you could even imagine. Oh, yeah. And what people are going through, there's no two stories that are the same.
Carli: They may have similar experiences in how it manifests, but no two families are the same. No two diagnoses are the same. And trying to shepherd millions of Tennesseans through aging, through being caregivers to children or youth or young adults with disabilities. And, um, what a heavy job. That is, and he does it with such poise and such grace and you know, leaving this podcast, you could have left feeling slimed, right?
Carli: Like, oh my gosh, the world we live in is so hard. What are we gonna do about it? And instead, I leave feeling hopeful if a man like that is in charge of our state's response to these issues. I can put my head on the pillow tonight with joy. Yeah. Knowing that somebody genuinely cares and wants to advocate and get done for these families.
Carli: What needs to get done?
