Marlana Smartt-Byrge

Operational Director I Irongate Recovery

Advocacy Committee Co-Chair I TNARR

Marlana Smartt-Byrge is the Founder and Program Director of Irongate Recovery, a TN-ARR certified recovery residence in Knoxville, Tennessee, founded in 2019. Irongate primarily serves justice-involved individuals, with a focus on those referred through Recovery Court and other diversion programs. Marlana currently serves as Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the Tennessee Alliance of Recovery Residences (TN-ARR), where she works at the intersection of housing, policy, and recovery systems reform.

A lived experience professional with nearly a decade in the field and over four years of clinical supervision, Marlana bridges the peer-driven Social Model of recovery with the expectations of modern healthcare systems. She is on track to earn her LADAC credential and brings a uniquely grounded voice to rooms often dominated by theory. Her work has included building coalitions, shaping legislation, and leading statewide education efforts to protect the integrity of certified recovery housing in Tennessee.

Through TNARR’s partnership with Behave Health, she is helping launch the REC-CAP outcome measurement system, bringing real data to a field often dismissed as anecdotal. Marlana is passionate about ensuring recovery housing is seen—and funded—as a vital, standards-based recovery support service, not an afterthought.