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

The substance use issue is an all-hands-on-deck emergency, so we need to harness and empower the powerful resources of everyone who has a stake in health, including the special talents of the faith community. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship are positioned in communities to be both first responders and communities of hope for people struggling with addiction. A healthy, safe community is essential to healing and long-term results and this is already part of the local churches’ DNA. As the nation begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Faith leaders need information and resources now more than ever to help rural leaders build strong, healthy, drug-free communities. The Rural Faith Leaders Workshop Series: Empowering Faith Leaders to Help Persons with Substance Use Disorder is a series of four workshops for rural Faith Leaders. Each of the workshops will contain valuable information for Faith Leaders and provide updated information and resources. The workshops will be recorded and made available on the Rural Community Toolbox site (ruralcommunitytoolbox.org).

The series has 3 objectives:
1. Increase the Faith Leaders understanding of substance use disorder and how to connect faith to prevention, treatment, and recovery.
2. Build the capacity of Faith leaders to take action by providing information to help get leaders and their congregants ready to provide the support needed to assist individuals with substance use disorder.
3. Help 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.

• Workshop 1: Substance Use Disorder and the Pandemic in Rural Communities
• Tuesday, December 8 at 1PM-2:30PM EST
  • Objectives:
  • Understanding the intersecting epidemics of opioid misuse/abuse and COVID 19 in rural areas.
    · Economic impact of substance use disorder on small communities before and during the pandemic
    · Using data to understand the problem in your community.
    · Helping Faith-based and Community Leaders Bring Hope and Healing to Our Communities.
    · Congregation Readiness: Getting the Faith Community Ready to help.
• If you would like to attend the event, please RSVP to Betty-Ann Bryce at this email ONDCP.RuralAffairs@ondcp.eop.gov. Please include your name, title, organization and contact information. Registered participants will receive the details to join the event closer to the event date.