A Faith-based Approach to Providing Peer-led Addiction Recovery Support Services

1. A Faith-based Approach to Providing Peer-led Addiction Recovery Support Services

2. Presented by A SAMHSA/CSAT Funded Faith-Based Peer-led Addiction Recovery and HIV Prevention Program Recovery Consultants of Atlanta, Inc. Whitehouse Conference on Faith-based Initiatives

3. Humble Beginnings • Our organization was founded in 1999 by 3 members of Atlanta’s 12 step Recovery Community • We each had earned our graduate degrees as a result of our personal recovery • Our initial goal was to develop a program that would assist others in long-term recovery pursue formal degrees

4. EVIDENCE OF THINGS UNSEEN Ourmustard seed faith has led to the creation of a coalition of Atlanta-based churches that offer services and programs that help reduce substance use and their related ailments (i.e. HIV, hepatitis C, homelessness, and incarceration) among members of inner-city Atlanta’s addiction recovery and substance using communities

5. What are Peer-led Addiction Recovery Support Services • Essentially they include “non-professional” or “peer-based services” provided by “members of 12-step and faith-based recovery communities” for “people in recovery” (For Us and By Us - FUBU) • They are not intended to supplant services such as addictive or mental disorder treatment programs, but instead are designed to augment and support these services

6. Abstinence from Drugs/Alcohol Street Outreach Program Celebrate Recovery - Christ-centered 12 step support group Employment/Education Addiction Counseling Training Program for people in recovery Recovery at Work (RAW) Social Entrepreneurial Program for people in recovery Partnership with AMEN, Inc. – Entrepreneurial opportunities for people in recovery Social Support Faith-based Rapid HIV testing Program Christians In Recovery – Annual Faith-based Conference Capacity Building Recovery Month Mural Technical Assistance Family/Housing Enhancement Better Parents = Better Kids – Mentoring Program Transitional Housing Program Peer-led Support Services Provided through our Faith-based Coalition

7. Recovery @ Work (RAW) Street Outreach Faith-basedRecovery Conference Transitional Housing Prevention Education

8. Our Social Entrepreneurial Program

9. September 15, 2007 – Recovery Month Rally. Churches from our faith-based coalition transported close to 300 homeless substance users to this event!

10. Our Recovery Month Speaker - Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin - seated with RCA, Inc.’s Associate Director Cassandra Collins. Mayor Franklin shared a wonderful story about her Dad who found recovery from his alcoholism at age 40 and died with 38 years of sobriety.

11. Integrating homelessness and recovery!

12. LessonsLearned • The African American church is the leading provider of social, educational, and spiritual support services in the African American community • There is value in collaborating with African American churches • There are enormous amounts of untapped resources within the African American church, particularly among those that value their members who are also in 12 step recovery • Value of peer-led services (less costly than treatment and maybe more effective) • There is a need for research focusing on individuals seeking and finding recovery through faith conversions

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