The HFC Connection
A Newsletter of The Holy Friendship Collaborative
May 2019

The mission of the Holy Friendship Collaborative is to inspire the Church in our region to follow the Biblical mandate to meet people in distress wherever they are and extend to them Christ’s redeeming love. This can be seen in our efforts to mobilize the Christian community to address addiction.
HFC HAPPENINGS
TN Faith-Based
Recovery Network

Tennessee Faith-Based Initiatives is creating a network of Certified Recovery Congregations in the State of Tennessee. In order to become certified, a representative from your congregation must complete the online application provided by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Upon completion, that congregation will receive a sealed certificate, signed by the Commissioner of Tennessee. In order to qualify for certification, please contact your local Faith Based Community Coordinator at  Skeel@metrodrug.org

Congregations partnering with the Holy Friendship Collaborative will automatically qualify as a Certified Recovery Congregation by the State of Tennessee. 

Duke's Divinity Magazine Highlights HFC

Check out, "Thriving Communities in the Face of Addiction," on pages 6-13.
Opioid Summit

The Office of Minority Health and Disparities Elimination will be convening a statewide summit for faith-based leaders to increase engagement in opioid response in their communities. The theme for this summit is Stronger Together: Building Capacity to Address the Opioid Epidemic in Faith Communities and will take place on June 20, 2019 at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Franklin.

Teronya Holmes, as Regional Project Facilitator for The Holy Friendship Collaborative, will be serving as a panelist at the Summit.
 
Milligan College Offering
Master of Science in Counseling - Addictions Subspecialty
  •  two-year (six semester), 60 credit hour curriculum
  • prepares graduates as an addictions counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
  • courses offered on the Milligan campus, with some hybrid (online and on-campus)

Add-on Subspecialty : Current LPCs can add on the addictions subspecialty in as few as two semesters.

Responding to the Rural Substance Use Crisis

In June, Andrea Clements, Executive Director of the Holy Friendship Collaborative, will be presenting on  Working With Faith-Based Partners  at a 3-day event for HRSA funding recipients titled  Responding to the Rural Substance Use Crisis . Highlights of the meeting will be included in the June newsletter.
The Story of HFC
By: Roger Leonard


The story about how this all came together is pretty simple but extraordinary. I invited TMC co-founder Dr. Ray Barfield to come speak at BRMC and Holston Valley, see  https://www.dropbox.com/s/8lfjfihccgt7fzb/Dr.%20Barfield%20-%20Christianity%20in%20Healthcare.mov?dl=0 .  

Lisa Carter at Niswonger heard he was in the area and asked if I could arrange to have him speak at Niswonger. He gave a pop-up lecture at Niswonger and afterwards we took a tour of our amazing regional children’s hospital. During the tour, Lisa told us that they were going to build a new NICU ward dedicated to NAS babies. Just the day before, I had seen my first NAS baby in the NICU ward at Holston Valley after being told that our NAS rates where among the highest in the world. As I looked at that very small little boy’s birthday posted on the upper right corner of the incubator, my heart sunk when I noticed is was the same day as mine. So the next day when Lisa told us about the NAS NICU, Ray and I just looked at each other gobsmacked and he said, “I’m coming back, we have to do something about this. Can you pull people together on this?” I said, “you betcha I can!”

Within a month I was making amazing new friends like Dr. Andrea Clements, Becky Haas, Gary Metcalf, Teresa Viers, and Linda Austin, along with getting back together with long time friends and acquaintances like Jim Wozniak, Marvin Cameron, and Tim Perry. 

Afterwords, I ran into Farr Curlin in the hallway at Duke Divinity School, and he asked if our group would be willing to work together on a project. I said, “you betcha we will!” Boom. Just like that we had a high functioning team ready to take on this project along with our friends at Duke TMC Brett McCarty, Carl Weisner, Farr Curlin, Warren Kinghorn, Rachel Meyer and Ray Barfield.  


Roger Leonard is a senior advisor to England and Company serving the electrical technology and service industries, and a managing director for The Summit Companies serving regional businesses and not for profit organizations. Roger previously served as president and chief operating officer for Electro-Mechanical Corporation. For the past three and half years leading up to the creation of Ballad Health, Roger was chair of the board of directors for the Wellmont Health System. He is also past chair of the United Way of Bristol, Crossroads Medical Mission, the Bristol Public Library Board of Trustees and Foundation and the Hands On! Regional Children’s Museum.

Roger is currently a member of the Board of Visitors for Duke Divinity School. He holds a BS in Operations Management from the University of Tennessee, a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University, a Master of Theological Studies from Duke University and completed both the Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development and World Cast Angler’s Fly-fishing Guide School.
UPCOMING AREA EVENTS
JUNE

20th
Opioid Summit
9:00 am - 3:30 pm
Drury Plaza Hotel
1874 West McEwen Dr.
Franklin, TN 37067
Hosted by: TN Department of Health
ht
The Office of Minority Health and Disparities Elimination will be convening a statewide summit for faith-based leaders to increase engagement in opioid response in their communities. The theme for this summit is Stronger Together: Building Capacity to Address the Opioid Epidemic in Faith Communities and will take place on June 20, 2019 at the Drury Plaza Hotel in Franklin.
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SEPTEMBER

18th
The Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Dimensions of Addiction
An Academic Symposium
Bristol, TN
Hosted by: Holy Friendship Collaborative
More details coming soon!


28th
Adoration 2019
East Tennessee State University Mini Dome
Free and open to the public, Adoration 2019 is a day in the Fall when different church congregations, pastors, community leaders, outreach organizations, college students, families, and thousands of citizens come together for a common purpose: to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ through prayer and worship and to collaborate on how to restore Appalachia from drug abuse. Be the Official Representative for your church by registering here: https://adorationlife.com/adoration-2019-event-page/


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The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue. According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs. The study shows that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.
If you missed this year's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 27th, it is NEVER TOO LATE to turn in and safely dispose of your unused prescription drugs in order to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths.
Go to this website to find out WHERE you can easily and conveniently dispose of your unused prescription drugs:
The Holy Friendship Collaborative
For inquiries, email   info@holyfriendshipcollaborative.com