|
|
Recruiting and Engaging the Faith Community in Substance Misuse Prevention
|
|
In this Issue:
- Engaging and Working with the Faith Community
- Additional Resources
- What's Happening Around the Region?
- Upcoming Events
- Data Collection During the Pandemic, January 26
-
Epi Corner: Enhancing Community Prevention Capacity: Faith-Based Organizations
|
|
Engaging and Working with the Faith Community
by
Tracy Johnson
As a prevention professional, you recognize the value of building relationships within your community because prevention work cannot be done with your program staff alone. Building capacity to further the reach and impact of substance misuse prevention in your community requires providing an opportunity for the right partners to become involved in making a positive impact on substance misuse. While we recognize that a variety of partners are needed to engage in that effort, working with the faith community has specific advantages.
Faith groups exist in nearly every community throughout the country, touching people of all ages, economic levels, and ethnicities. It is well known that during times of crisis, community members often turn to their faith community for assistance. For this reason, faith-based groups may already be tapped into the needs of community members and how to mobilize them to action. This leads us to another benefit to working with the faith community. Group constituencies and congregations can be quickly mobilized, sometimes even doubling or tripling prevention volunteer staff’s efforts. Larger involvement often provides a sense of community and responsibility that makes others want to be involved as well. In some communities the involvement of religious or fraternal organizations will be essential because of the central role they already have in addressing substance misuse. Partnering with these organizations will also lend credibility to your prevention work due to the trust built between your entity and the faith-based group.
How can prevention workers get faith communities involved? There are several steps to developing these connections and relationships for lasting success. First, clearly identify and articulate intentions for involvement from the faith community and how partnering with this sector will work. What role will they play? How will they benefit from the partnership? What skills and resources exist in the group and how will they be used in this effort? Be proactive about outreach and follow-up, personally contacting the most respected leaders of the group. Most importantly, be strategic in planning your connections with them. What do you need to know about the culture of the group? How will you learn this information? Once you are ready to contact them, use a one-to-one relationship approach rather than an all-inclusive invite to set up meetings. Holding one-on-one meetings reinforces their importance to you and helps them feel valued. As with any relationship, continued trust building and immediate recognition will strengthen the enthusiasm for prevention work. Show you value their participation by recognizing their involvement and providing opportunities for short term “wins”.
The potential value of faith-based groups in prevention work cannot be understated. The measures outlined here will hopefully encourage ongoing openness, interest in learning, a willingness to consider creative approaches, and the ability to understand constraints and limitations to partnering with faith-based organizations. Remember the faith community as an important partner of your prevention work and get them involved to help address prevention strategies and provide access to specific populations in your community.
|
|
Tracy Johnson
In addition to being the managing partner with SheRay's & Associates, LLC, Mr. Johnson also works with various federal, state and local agencies and corporations to develop comprehensive integrated prevention services to economically disadvantaged and African American children and families. He trains urban and inner city communities on the strategic prevention framework and works with them to customize it for their communities. https://sherays.com/
|
|
The Association of Religion Data Archives
Organized by topic or denomination, the Association of Religion Data Archives can also be searched for community church maps and religious beliefs and traditions in your neighborhood. Knowing beliefs and cultural differences may help you better partner with the faith community.
Great Lakes Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC)
The Great Lakes PTTC provides the prevention professional with a fact sheet outlining the benefits of including faith-based communities in your substance misuse prevention efforts, as well as additional resources and guidance sheets.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Faith Matters reports the importance of religion and spirituality to black and Hispanic Americans and the potential of religion, spirituality, and faith-based organizations to help prevent and treat substance misuse. Promising practices, programs, and policies are recommended along with core competencies for clergy participating in substance misuse efforts.
An independent nonprofit committed to the work of initiating, nurturing and sustaining the faith community’s efforts to address alcohol, drug, and addiction issues, Faith Partners’ work demonstrates how to partner with others to address prevention, advocacy and other areas. Find more information on their success as you browse their website.
|
|
Virtual Bytes:
Implementing Prevention Services in a Virtual Setting
|
|
In response to your requests from the Changes in Prevention Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic survey conducted by the South Southwest PTTC May through June of this year, we will continue to share training, information, and resources related to conducting prevention services in a virtual setting.
Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA)
This month's resource is a compilation from CADCA coalitions across the United States. Members are sharing some of the new ways they are adapting to preventive public health measures like social distancing. We hope that by sharing these strategies you'll be inspired to evolve as you meet those challenges and continue to strive for positive outcomes in your community. Coalitions share innovative examples of activities on each of these topics:
- Data Collection
- Community Resource Guides
- Media Campaigns, Videos, and PSAs
- Medication Disposal
- Outreach Support to Parents
- Webinar Topics
- Coalition Meeting Tools
- Funding
- Community Support Activities Beyond Prevention
|
|
The South Southwest PTTC is currently suspending in-person training and meetings until further notice. Take advantage of our many virtual products and services available for free from our website.
|
|
What's Happening Around the Region? |
|
Data Collection During the Pandemic
The pandemic makes in-person data collection difficult. Over two sessions, this webinar will provide researchers and preventionists real-life examples of ways to adapt quantitative and qualitative data collection methods during COVID-19. Webinar participants will have the opportunity to discuss barriers, solutions, and lessons learned related to data collection during this critical time.
QUANTITATIVE Data Collection During the Pandemic
Session 1
Previously Recorded
In this webinar, participants explore ways to adapt quantitative data collection methods during the pandemic. Specifically, participants identify effective methods for adapting quantitative data collection during a pandemic and describe ways to address confidentiality concerns with participants during online quantitative data collection.
QUALITATIVE Data Collection During a Pandemic
Session 2
Tuesday, January 26, 1:30-3:00 p.m. CT / 12:30-2:00 p.m. MT
In Webinar 2, participants will explore ways to specifically adapt qualitative data collection methods during the pandemic. Specifically, participants will learn to identify effective methods for adapting qualitative data collection and describe ways to address online confidentiality concerns.
|
|
People of Color Learning Community Webinar Series
The People of Color Learning Community recently completed the final webinar of the series with a highly engaging presentation by Dr. Flojaune Griffin Cofer, Senior Director of Policy, Public Health Advocates. Albert Gay, CEO, Albert Gay, LLC also provided an overview of the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis report developed by training participants throughout the series.
|
|
Did you miss any of the People of Color Learning Community training? Check out this site to listen to the recordings and access the amazing materials. We invite you to utilize the SWOT document and other training materials to think about, and plan for, working with communities of color in your coalitions. |
|
Prevention Online Courses
Free online courses are available through the Prevention Technology Transfer Center.
If you are new to prevention, be sure to take the course, "Introduction to Substance Abuse Prevention: Understanding the Basics (Pre-SAPST)".
|
|
|
Epi Corner
Iris Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H.
South Southwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center
|
|
Enhancing Community Prevention Capacity: Faith-Based Organizations
Partnering with faith-based organizations (FBOs) can be an effective strategy for building community capacity and readiness for substance misuse prevention, particularly in marginalized or under-resourced communities. Religious institutions are often a source of social support, community engagement, and material assistance (financial support, food pantries, childcare services etc.) for individuals who would otherwise have limited access to other community-based services.
There is no question that FBOs can greatly enhance prevention efforts by facilitating access to otherwise difficult-to-reach populations, sharing resources such as physical space, and serving as cultural brokers between the community and prevention providers. Although we often view the “faith community” as a monolith, faith-based organizations represent a diversity of cultural traditions and beliefs, including attitudes toward substance misuse and other behavioral health issues.
At the individual level, spirituality and religion constitute protective factors in substance abuse prevention and contribute to positive treatment outcomes for addicted individuals. Spirituality is a central construct underlying 12-step programs which views sobriety as a “gift from God”1. Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous participants have found positive associations between various measures of spirituality and positive clinical outcomes including sustained sobriety1.
It may be important to take some time during the needs assessment process to assess the availability of potential faith-based partner organizations, their engagement in the secular community, as well as past success in working with the populations of interest. In some cases, cultural adaptations to proposed interventions may need to be made2. Finding common ground based on shared community concerns, an agreed upon framework for planning and implementation, as well as measurable benchmarks that can be used to track progress toward partnership goals are essential to a productive partnership.
Resources
Online library of data collection protocols and instruments, data dictionaries, worksheets, and other resources across multiple research domains. The research domains include substance abuse and addiction, tobacco regulatory research, mental health, blood sciences, social determinants of health, and Covid 19.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
This guide highlights and chronicles some of the unique experiences of the SAMHSA 2010 Summit Community Partnership Teams.
Kwon SC, Patel S, Choy C, Zanowiak J, Rideout MA, Wyatt L, Taher MD, Garcia-Dia MJ, Kim SS, Denholm TK, Kavahe R, Islam NS (2017). Implementing Health Promotion Activities Using Community-Engaged Approaches in Asian American Faith-Based Organizations in New York City and New Jersey. Translation in Behavioral Medicine 7, pg. 444-466. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28547738/
De La Rosa M, Huang H, Brook JS, Sanchez M, Rojas P, Kanamori M, Cano MA, Martinez M. (2018). Sociocultural Determinants of Substance Misuse Among Adult Latinas of Caribbean and South and Central American Descent: A Longitudinal Study of a Community-Based Sample. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse 17 (3); pg. 303-323. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27436513/
References
2Kwon SC, Patel S, Choy C, Zanowiak J, Rideout MA, Wyatt L, Taher MD, Garcia-Dia MJ, Kim SS, Denholm TK, Kavahe R, Islam NS (2017). Implementing Health Promotion Activities Using Community-Engaged Approaches in Asian American Faith-Based Organizations in New York City and New Jersey. Translation in Behavioral Medicine 7,pg. 444-466. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28547738/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
