Called to Respond.™
Strengthening communities for compassionate recovery. Faith Responders equips clergy, lay leaders, faith-based organizations, and faith communities to meet addiction with skill, evidence, and hope.
The question is no longer whether faith communities should respond to addiction. It's how.
Addiction touches nearly every congregation, whether or not anyone speaks of it, and it never affects just one person. Spouses, parents, grandparents, and children carry its weight too. Most people in recovery say they need spiritual support. Families turn to clergy and lay leaders before anyone else. Yet most congregations have never been trained to respond, and good intentions without skills can do unintended harm.
Faith Responders closes that gap.
Adaptable for any congregation: any size, any denomination, in person, hybrid, or online.
Our vision
Every member of a faith community affected by addiction, including the children, knows there are knowledgeable and caring people who:
- Understand what they are experiencing
- Care about them and are available to them
- Help them find emotional and physical safety
- Support their healing and spiritual growth
Children are often the first ones hurt and the last ones helped.
That is why children are part of everything we do, from our vision and our pledge to optional modules on children, resilience, and pregnant and parenting families.
Beyond the crisis
Faith communities often show up beautifully in the crisis moment, with meals, rides, and prayer. But recovery isn't a single event. It unfolds over years, and every other part of the recovery system is built for a season: a school year, a treatment stay, a housing placement.
A congregation is one of the few places with no discharge date.
"Recovery is for every person, every family, every community, every congregation."
Your congregation can be a safe haven, not a source of guilt and shame.
About Faith Responders
Recovery ally training for faith communities, grounded in recovery work already happening every day.
Why we're here
Faith Responders exists where three realities meet.
The need
Addiction affects whole families, including children, who are often the first ones hurt and the last ones helped. Yet most congregations have no training to respond.
The opportunity
Religious involvement is a documented protective factor, and faith communities are present in every neighborhood.
The gap
Stigma still shapes how addiction is discussed in faith settings, and good intentions without skills can cause harm.
Our story
Faith Responders began within the Episcopal Church, with a simple recognition: clergy and congregations were already being asked to respond to addiction, often in their most urgent moments, but few had been given the training, resources, or language to respond well. Compassion alone wasn't enough. They needed practical skills grounded in evidence.
What started as that effort has grown into a full curriculum suite: a Facilitator's Guide, Participant Manual, slide deck, core handouts, a Field Guide, and eleven optional modules addressing specific populations and topics. It is designed for congregations of every denomination and size.
One of those modules, Theology of the 12 Steps, traces the roots of recovery spirituality through the Oxford Group, Sam Shoemaker, and Sister Ignatia, a reminder that faith and recovery have always been intertwined.
Part of a larger recovery community
Faith Responders is a program of SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul, a nonprofit Recovery Community Organization in Virginia with a spiritual heart. SpiritWorks also runs Moms on a Mission 2 Recover (MOMs), supporting mothers in recovery, and a Children's Program offering programming to children and youth affected by parental addiction.
The optional module on Families & MOMs 2 Recover draws directly on that work. This isn't theory. It's recovery support already in practice.
Leadership
The Rev. Jan M. Brown
MSc, RCP, CPRS. Founder and Executive Director, SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the SoulJan is a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, preparing for ordination to the priesthood. She holds an MSc in Addiction Studies from the joint program of King's College London, the University of Adelaide, and VCU, and serves as a consultant to the Opioid Response Network. She has delivered Faith Responders training at venues including VCU's Research to Recovery Conference.
Sessions are frequently co-facilitated with clergy colleagues, including The Rev. Lauren McDonald.
The evidence behind Faith Responders
This isn't just a matter of belief. The medical and research communities increasingly agree: spiritual care is not peripheral to recovery. It's structural.
The medical case
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the leading medical authority on addiction in the U.S., defines addiction as a chronic brain disease affecting four dimensions:
- Biological
- Psychological
- Social
- Spiritual
ASAM describes recovery as an active process addressing all four, not just the clinical ones.
What this means: a treatment plan that ignores spiritual wellbeing is, by medicine's own standard, incomplete. Whole-person healing requires a whole-community response.
The research on flourishing
- Harvard's Human Flourishing Program (Tyler VanderWeele, PhD) links regular religious service attendance to greater life satisfaction, lower rates of depression and substance use, and a dramatically lower risk of suicide.
- Frequent religious service attendance was associated with lower mortality over 16 years of follow-up (Li, Stampfer, Williams & VanderWeele, 2016, JAMA Internal Medicine), and a religious upbringing with lower substance use and depression in young adulthood (Chen & VanderWeele, 2018, American Journal of Epidemiology).
- Gallup and Pew Research both find actively religious people report stronger social networks, greater happiness, and higher wellbeing.
Faith is not a supplement to recovery. It's an asset.
Faith communities supply belonging, meaning, shared norms, spiritual practices, and visible witnesses of recovery across a person's whole life.
A recovery system built in seasons
ASAM describes recovery as an ongoing process of continual growth, measured in years, not days. The rest of the recovery system is purpose-built for particular seasons of life, and that is exactly why each part works.
Recovery high schools
Built for adolescenceCollegiate recovery
Built for the college yearsClinical treatment
Built for an acute episodeRecovery housing
Built for a period of stabilizationEach is essential, and each works because it doesn't try to be everything. A recovery high school isn't meant to serve someone at 40. A residential stay isn't meant to last a lifetime. Time-bound is a feature, not a flaw. But it leaves a question.
What happens when the season ends?
- The recovery high school student graduates.
- The collegiate recovery student leaves campus.
- The residential stay ends and the discharge papers are signed.
Who is there for the next season? Faith communities can be.
A congregation is present before a crisis, during treatment, and long after every program has closed its chapter. The weeks after structure disappears are often when people are most exposed, and that's exactly where a community with no discharge date matters most.
A safe haven for the whole journey
A safe haven isn't only a refuge in a crisis. Because a congregation has no discharge date, it can become a lifespan partner: present before treatment, during it, and long after every program has closed its chapter. That kind of safe haven rests on three things:
Place
A door to walk through on the worst day, without insurance, a referral, or an appointment.
People
Not a caseload, but people who witness, sit with, and follow up long after the crisis has passed.
Purpose
Something bigger than the craving: a role, a meal team, a choir, a reason to be somewhere on Wednesday.
Sustained over years rather than a single season, these three turn a safe haven into a lifespan partner, and outreach into lasting recovery infrastructure.
Speaking both languages
Faith communities aren't adding a foreign vocabulary to recovery work. What flourishing research calls its core domains, the recovery field calls recovery capital. It's the same work, described two ways, and naming it in the field's terms opens doors with treatment providers, recovery housing partners, and funders.
Where the two meet
Both fields point to the same four foundations:
"Many people in recovery describe faith as central to how they got well, and how they stay well."
"What matters most is not the path. It is that the person is moving forward, and that someone is walking with them."
Training pathways
Three tiers, each complete in itself. Together they move a community from awareness to action: equipping leaders to respond well, placing trained Recovery Allies in every congregation, and preparing facilitators to carry the work further.
Three ways to begin
Called to Respond™ Briefings & Presentations
Short sessions for church leaders, conferences, and community gatherings that build shared understanding and open the door to training. Two tracks: Leadership Briefings (TEC) and Community Presentations.
Faith Responders™ Recovery Ally Training
Eight core modules for clergy, lay leaders, and congregation members. Participants sign the Recovery Ally Pledge and become Recovery Allies.
Facilitator Certification
A pathway for clergy, lay leaders, and people in recovery to lead the training in their own communities. Learn about becoming a facilitator.
Tier 1: Briefings & Presentations
Every Tier 1 session, in either track, ends by pointing participants toward the Recovery Ally Training.
Leadership Briefings (TEC)
For bishops, diocesan staff, and Standing, Search, and Transition Committees of The Episcopal Church. Offered churchwide with the Presiding Bishop’s Office of Leadership Development, or for a single diocese.- Hidden in Plain SightFor Canons to the Ordinary and diocesan senior staff
- Navigating LeadershipFor bishop search, transition, and standing committees
Community Presentations
For conferences, coalitions, and community gatherings, tailored to each audience.- Healing TogetherUnderstanding addiction, recovery, and the role of faith communities
- Where Faith Meets Recovery CapitalThe critical role of the faith community in recovery
- Healing Happens in CommunityThe church as a partner across every season of life
- Faith to Help Families Affected by Substance UseCatalyzing change in the African American community
- Strengthening Communities for Compassionate RecoveryAn orientation to Faith Responders™
For parishes whose clergy person is unwell
Briefings, a parish gathering and a small-group handbook for congregations whose priest is impaired, in treatment, or on leave. Learn about support for parishes.
Learn more
Download an overview to share with your leadership team, vestry, board, or conference planners.
Tier 2: The Recovery Ally Training
Eight core modules in four hours. Practical, trauma-informed, evidence-based, and built for clergy, lay leaders, and any congregation member who wants to respond well.
- People FirstLanguage and stigma
- Understanding AddictionThe disease model
- A Little Brain ScienceCountering moral judgment
- Recovery 101What recovery actually is
- Multiple PathwaysOne size does not fit all
- Safe HavenThe faith community as refuge
- Practical ScenariosSkills and referrals
- The Ally PledgeCommitment and next steps
A sample: language that heals
From Module 1. The words we choose either invite people in or push them away.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Addict | Person with a substance use disorder |
| Clean | In recovery / not currently using |
| Dirty test | Positive screen |
| Relapsed / fell off | Returned to use / experienced a recurrence |
| Substance abuser | Person who uses substances |
Marks of a safe haven
From Module 6. Four things any congregation can start doing this month.
Speak it
Name addiction openly, from the pulpit, in the prayers, and in the bulletin.
Stock it
Keep naloxone on site, post the 988 line, and display referral cards.
Host it
Offer space to a recovery meeting at no cost.
Partner it
Build a relationship with a treatment or recovery housing provider before you need one.
Optional modules
Eleven self-contained modules, each with facilitator notes and handouts. Communities choose what fits their context.
Formats
A single-day intensive, eight weekly sessions, or modular delivery, in person, hybrid, or online.
Frequently asked questions
Who should attend?
Clergy, lay leaders, ministry teams, and any congregation member who wants to respond to addiction well. No clinical background required.
Do we have to be a particular denomination?
No. The training is built to adapt to any congregation, size, or denomination.
How long does it take?
It's flexible: a single-day intensive, eight weekly sessions, or a modular format spread out however fits your community. In person, hybrid, or online.
Will anyone be asked to share their own recovery story?
No. Faith Responders never requires personal disclosure. Pastoral support is always available for anyone for whom the material feels personal.
What do we walk away with?
A trained team, a Field Guide and handouts your congregation keeps, and a shared commitment, the Faith Responders Pledge, to become a safe haven.
Ready to bring Faith Responders to your community?
When your clergy person is unwell
Support for parishes whose priest is impaired, in treatment, or on leave.
No parish should have to heal alone
When a priest is struggling with addiction, the church’s attention rightly turns to the clergy person and to the bishop’s care. The congregation is too often left in silence: told little, offered nothing, and expected to find its own way.
Called to Respond™ offers a different path. These resources help lay leaders hold the parish steady, give the congregation room to grieve and to understand, and prepare everyone for whatever comes next, whether that is a return or a well-held parting.
Confidential from the first conversation
Every situation is different, so we begin with a confidential conversation. The Rev. Jan M. Brown will reach out to talk about where your parish is and which resources fit. Materials are shared with each parish directly.
What we offer
- Holding the ParishA briefing for wardens and vestry in the first days and weeks: who holds which responsibilities, what can be shared and what stays confidential, caring for the clergy family, and caring for themselves.
- Walking TogetherA gathering for the whole parish that makes room for grief and questions and helps the congregation decide how to care for one another.
- Understanding Addiction and Supporting RecoveryA presentation on what addiction is, why recovery takes time, and how a community helps recovery last. It includes the short film Nuggets.
- Walking Together: A Parish HandbookNine small-group sessions, with scripture, reflection, prayer and space to write, for a congregation to work through while its priest is away.
Adapted from the Invitation to Change Approach, developed by CMC: Foundation for Change, a compassionate, evidence-based way of helping people affected by someone else’s substance use. Written for Episcopal parishes and adaptable for other traditions.
Your parish does not have to find its way alone.
Become a facilitator
Faith Responders™ grows through people who carry it into their own communities. Certified facilitators lead the Recovery Ally Training with fidelity, warmth, and skill.
Why certification
The training works because its core is consistent everywhere: the science, the language, the scenarios, and the care for families and children. Certification keeps that core intact while each facilitator brings the voice and wisdom of their own community.
Facilitators are clergy, lay leaders, recovery professionals, and people in recovery who have completed the Recovery Ally Training and feel called to teach it.
First cohort forming
We are gathering interest now for the first Facilitator Intensive. Share your interest below and we’ll be in touch with dates, details, and next steps as they are finalized.
Founding Master Trainers: The Rev. Jan M. Brown and The Rev. Lauren McDonald.
Three facilitator levels
Associate Facilitator
Co-leads trainings alongside a Certified Facilitator or Master Trainer while completing certification.
Certified Facilitator
Leads the Recovery Ally Training independently, under a facilitator license.
Master Trainer
Prepares and observes new facilitators and helps steward the curriculum.
The pathway
- Attend the trainingComplete the four-hour Recovery Ally Training.
- ApplyShare your background and your reasons for wanting to teach.
- Facilitator IntensiveAbout 12 hours of preparation in content, facilitation, and care.
- Co-facilitate twiceLead alongside an experienced facilitator.
- Observed trainingLead a training while a Master Trainer observes.
- CertificationSign the Facilitator Agreement and begin leading trainings.
Certified facilitators renew each year by leading trainings, sharing evaluation results, and continuing their own learning.
Express your interest
Sharing your interest doesn’t commit you to anything. It simply puts you on the list for the first cohort, and lets us know where the need for facilitators is greatest.
Questions? Write to jan@spiritworksfoundation.org.
Participant resources
If you've completed a Faith Responders training, this is your home base.
Your materials
Participant Manual, Field Guide, and core handouts H-1 through H-10.
Optional module handouts
Handouts from the optional modules you’ve completed, for continued study and sharing with your team.
The Faith Responders Pledge
The opening covenant, Ten Commitments, and closing benediction, to view, sign, or download.
Announcements
Upcoming sessions, refreshers, and community updates.
Participants receive a private link to download materials after completing a training. Lost yours? Contact us and we'll send it again.
All participant materials are © SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul. Trained participants are welcome to use them within their own congregation or organization and to print copies for their team. Please don't post them online, share the folder link publicly, adapt or rebrand them, sell them, or use them to lead Faith Responders™ trainings without facilitator certification.
The Ten Commitments
As Faith Responders, we commit ourselves to:
- We Will Learn
- We Will Listen
- We Will Use Words That Heal
- We Will Walk Alongside
- We Will Make Safe Havens
- We Will Advocate
- We Will Tend to Families
- We Will Protect the Children
- We Will Care for Ourselves
- We Will Hold Onto Hope
"We take this pledge not as a performance but as a covenant."
Haven't been trained yet?
Let's talk
Whether you're exploring a training for your congregation, a briefing for your diocese, a presentation for your conference, or you're a past participant with a question, we'd love to hear from you.
Direct contact
The Rev. Jan M. Brown
Founder and Executive Director
SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul
jan@spiritworksfoundation.org
Visit spiritworksfoundation.org
Need help right now?
Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time. Find treatment near you at findtreatment.gov or samhsa.gov/find-help.