Faith-Based Initiative to Address Opioid Addiction in Southern Appalachia Receives Federal Planning Grant

Andrea Clements, PhD, Spirituality and Health SIG

The opioid crisis is currently one of our nation’s greatest health concerns and clearly falls within the purview of SBM researchers. Many funding entities are actively seeking creative solutions to opioid misuse, which offers the opportunity for some nontraditional collaborations. Historically researchers have shied away from including faith-based components in their funding requests due to concerns about separation of church and state reducing their likelihood of being funded. Perhaps the climate is shifting.  

Andi Clements, PhD, a psychology professor at East Tennessee State University, and former Chair of the SBM Spirituality and health SIG, will serve as project director for a recently awarded $200,000 HRSA federal planning grant aimed at addressing the opioid addiction crisis in Southern Appalachia by mobilizing the faith-community in the region. A group of leaders in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, now officially dubbed the Holy Friendship Collaborative (HFC), will facilitate churches to develop solutions aimed at reducing opioid misuse and addiction.

With the grant funds, the collaborative will replicate the Reimagining Health Collaborative model developed by the Duke University Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative, which facilitates churches to discern and develop initiatives to address health issues in their own communities.

Other primary activities will include:

• Formalizing a consortium among Duke University Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative; Ballad Health; Frontier Health; Highlands Community Services; and the ETSU Psychology Department
• Conducting a detailed analysis of gaps in opioid addiction prevention, treatment and recovery in rural areas of the region and developing strategic and workforce plans to address those needs
• Collaborating with three other non-faith-based, health-related entities that also received planning grants, enabling the faith community to be woven in with planning efforts across the region

In addition to Clements, an organizing committee of about 15 people consisting of local clergy, educators, medical professionals, and other leaders began exploring the issue in depth in 2017. They teamed with representatives from Duke University and Duke Divinity School to hold the Holy Friendship Summit, a two-day educational summit attended by approximately 450 clergy, people of faith, and clinicians in May 2018 that discussed opioid addiction from a Christian perspective. At a follow-up meeting in July, 79 people from 29 churches and 12 organizations in the region attended. This community involvement likely contributed to the group receiving funding.

Although opioid addiction has been rising nationally, the target region has been particularly hard hit. The rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in Northeast Tennessee is 10 times the national rate, and in some local counties, is as high as 10%. An insufficient workforce to provide needed behavioral support, the failure to tackle root causes of addiction, and diversion of medications used to assist in addiction treatment are among the most probable causes of the high rates of opioid use in this region. Overdose deaths and addiction rates are still climbing. In the past, federal funding agencies have been hesitant to fund faith-based projects, but the scope of this problem requires creative solutions, and this region has numerous faith communities to enlist as a workforce. Whether it is the level of desperation, the current political climate, or some other factor (s), the prospects for funding of faith-based projects seem to be brightening. This is a planning grant, but implementation funding will follow for worthy projects, and cooperation among multiple entities will contribute to the current knowledge base about prevention, treatment, and recovery gaps and effectiveness in Southern Appalachia.