Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center

Kairos Inside for Women is offered at the Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center, at the former site of WTSP.

The Institution

The Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center (Women’s Therapeutic), located near Memphis, is one of two female facilities in the state prison system. Click here to visit the Department of Corrections’ website and learn more about Women’s Therapeutic and where it is located.

History of Women’s Therapeutic Kairos Inside

The women volunteers who serve Kairos Inside at Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center began their service at the Mark Luttrell Correctional Center (MLCC) in 1999. Most of the members of the original Council were women who had worked with their husbands during the Kairos weekends held in the West Tennessee State Prison (WTSP). In 2016, women at the MLCC prison were transferred to a new facility at WTSP; known as the Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center (WTRC). The men are still housed at the adjacent WTSP.

Weekend No. 1

MLCC Kairos Weekend No. 1 was held in the spring of 2000 with assistance from Kairos International. Since that time, there have been weekends held each spring and fall, with hundreds of residents experiencing Kairos. Many of the women Kairos volunteers from MLCC continue serving today at the new facility, Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center, along with many more new volunteers who have joined the Kairos community.

Advisory Council

The current Advisory Council consists of 13 positions, made up of women from all walks of life and Christian denominations. The Advisory Council meets 6-10 times a year. The Council’s areas of focus include coordination with the WTRC facility, helping prepare and evaluate weekends and one-day retreats, identifying and developing future weekend leaders, reviewing reports from the State Council, overseeing financials, recruiting new volunteers, promoting and supporting reunion activities at WTRC, and keeping the Kairos volunteer community updated with Kairos news and events.

WTRC Advisory Council meetings are open to the Kairos community and held via Zoom or in person at 200 Progress Road, Collierville TN. Meetings are scheduled for the second Monday, every month, at 6:30 pm. To receive a link to a Zoom meeting, reach out to WTRCKairosInside@gmail.com

Types of Programs

Kairos Inside offers opportunities to serve the residents of WTRC through spring and fall weekends, monthly reunions on the first Sunday of every month, and One Day Retreats in winter and summer.

For more information, you can contact us at WTRCKairosInside@gmail.com

All Kairos weekends are of no cost to team members or participants. We rely solely on donations to continue the Kairos ministry and serving the residents at WTRC.

To help fund a Weekend, we invite you to send any donations to our treasurer at:

WTRC-Kairos Inside

c/o Nan Kelly

PO Box 265

Ellendale TN 38029

Checks should be made out to Kairos of Tennessee, with WTRC designated in the “for” blank.

Weekend Leader

Theresa Simms

Weekends scheduled for 2026:

KI #16, April 16, 2026

Advisory Council for 2026:

Chair: Cathy Hisky

Vice Chair: Joy Davis

Secretary: Brandy Dominguez

Kairos Donor/Financial Secretary: Cortez Wells

Treasurer: Theresa Simms

Institutional Liaison: Danielle Byars

Outreach/Recruiting Coordinator: Karen Swanson

Fundraising/Sponsorship Coordinator: Sabrina Johnson

Agape Coordinator: Tori Reeves

Spiritual Director: Dell Stokes

Continuing Ministry Coordinator: Carrie Gilmore

Data Coordinator: Ann Marie Agee

Communications Coordinator: Stacy Shillingburg