Kevin M. Cross, 2nd yr. M. Div. student at the Episcopal Divinity School and member of The Beatitudes Society, organized a conference on the growing problem of addiction amongst young people. The conference was held on November 29 at Trinity Church Boston. Addiction was looked at through the lens of a spiritual illness which impacts both the adolescents and their families.
“Addiction amongst adolescents, particularly alcohol and drug dependency is being seen at near epidemic levels amongst our youth. Youth are experimenting with alcohol and drugs at earlier ages and combined with easier availability and affordability adolescents are more at risk than ever before,” said conference coordinator Kevin Cross, 2nd year MDiv student at Episcopal Divinity School.
“The causalities from this trend are damaged lives, family instability and increased mortality. Spiritual Caregivers can play a significant role in offering support to the families and youths affected by this disease. Both the disease and recovery have strong ties with spiritual life. It is my hope that this conference will be a first step in providing our ministers and youth leaders with knowledge, resources and skills to enable them to build healing ministries for our wounded youth and their families.”
The disease was shown to have a major impact on spiritual life through attacking the relationships between self, others and God. Consequently, restoring a healthy spiritual life is critical to the recovery from the disease.
Even when the alcoholic/addict is in recovery the disease continues to progress. Therefore, it is essential in order keep the addiction under control to ensure that one’s spiritual life is deepening and growing at a faster rate than the underlying addiction. Clergy, lay youth leaders, and parish pastoral care ministers learned the unique and critical role spiritual care givers can play in the support and recovery of the adolescents and their family.
Two young men in recovery from this disease made an unscheduled appearance at the conference and presented their heartfelt personal stories of addiction and recovery. It was clear from their experiences that a strong spiritual life, while not necessarily associated with an organized religion, was critical to their ongoing recovery.
Addiction is a stigmatized illness in our society. Those impacted by it often feel ashamed, lost and alone and condemned. It is often put in the framework of a moral issue and is seen as evil and debased behavior rather than a disease. The Church must bring its message of acceptance and reconciliation to the youth and families impacted by this illness. In his experience, most of the youth impacted by this illness are wonderfully talented, compassionate human beings with wisdom beyond their years. When in recovery, these young people bring a level of acceptance and honesty to their relationships that are to be admired. This is a place where church belongs. God is there with them in their suffering and in their victories of recovery.
Conference attendees were encouraged to:
*Help the adolescents and families see that our God is all about love, compassion, understanding and forgiveness. All too frequently the alcoholic/addict and the families have an image of a harsh, judgmental God. They are severely impacted by feelings of shame and being harshly judged by society.
*Make church more "user friendly" to those in recovery by integrating 12 step spirituality into services and prayers - For example by using the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Nyberg.
*Make a place for those in recovery by engaging in activities of radical welcome to bring them and our church communities together.
*Have the courage to speak out in our ministries with rigorous truth and honesty. People in recovery seek and respect authenticity and courage.
*All of us need to have the personal courage to advocate for justice and equality in benefit coverage, availability of treatment and de-stigmatizing of the illness.
The presenters included: Rev. Dr. John MacDougall, Director of Spiritual Guidance at the Hazelden Foundation; Dianne Seger, Manager of the Hazelden Youth and Family Center; Kris Kampf, Clinical Director of Gray Wolf Ranch; Jim Kane, National Outreach Director for the Hazelden Foundation; Kevin Cross; and two young men who are in recovery from this disease.
A grant to fund this program was provided by Evangelical Education Society of the Episcopal Church. EDS, No Ordinary Time, Hazelden and Gray Wolf Ranch were co-sponsors of the conference.
Keeping the addiction under control is a desirable thing to do, unfortunately reality tells us that many people with drug problems refuse to treat their addiction. What are the reasons for that? They think they can't handle the fight, that why you are here for, to tell them that addiction can be successfully treated, all they have to do is to want that.
Strengthening the progressive Christian network for justice, compassion, & peace
LOGIN | PRIVACY | SITE CREDITS | CONTACT
© Copyright 2006. Some Rights reserved.
I think we need a lot more
I think we need a lot more that just a conference to defeat this "epidemic". Youth today is exposed to many dangers and drugs are successfully on the top of the list. This War in Drugs proved itself useless, I think we should focus more on harm reduction, we should protect our teens and provide them proper care in drug rehab, they represent out future...