Rural Faith Leaders Workshop Series: Empowering Faith Leaders to Help Persons with Substance Use Disorder

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has organized a series of four workshops for rural faith leaders to come together to discuss, learn, and share information and resources to help individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). Each workshop will have a specific focus to assist all houses of worship to position themselves to be both first responders and communities of hope and support for people and families struggling with addiction.

The main objectives of the workshop series include:

Increasing faith leaders’ understanding of substance use disorder (SUD) and how to connect faith to prevention, treatment, and recovery.
Building capacity of faith leaders to take action by providing information to prepare and ready leaders and their congregants to provide the support needed to assist individuals with substance use disorder.
Helping faith leaders to find their lane and empower faith communities to put initiatives in place to help in the area(s) where they can make the most difference.

Future Workshops in This Series

Workshop 3: Understanding Treatment and Connecting Faith to Treatment
Date: TBD
Workshop 4: Supporting Recovery and Connecting Faith to Recovery
Date: TBD

Past Workshops

Workshop 1: Substance Use Disorder and the Pandemic in Rural Communities
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Offers a video recording, transcript, and slides of a workshop discussion describing the intersecting opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic in rural areas. Includes discussion on finding and using data to describe substance use issues in your community and highlights the economic impacts of substance use in rural communities during the pandemic. Provides details and resources to help rural congregations and faith leaders prepare and provide support to individuals with SUD and families affected by substance use.
Workshop 2: Connecting Faith to Prevention
Date: Thursday, May 13, 2021
Shares a video, recording, transcript, and slides of a workshop discussion on identifying and connecting faith to prevention activities and partnering with faith communities to support prevention efforts. Covers evidence-based strategies for rural communities to combat substance use. Provides information for faith communities to understand and identify their role to support prevention, and ways to connect and partner with local efforts to develop faith-based strategies.

Rural Community Toolbox Rural Faith Leaders Starting Points

The Rural Community Toolbox provides details on federal funding opportunities and other resources rural communities of faith and faith leaders can use to support prevention, treatment, and recovery services for individuals with SUD. The opportunities and resources below are specific to faith-based organizations but there are more expert help and training resources and information resources searchable by type and topic to help address SUD.

Last updated: 5/14/2021