Tennessee Hope Dealers: Building and Sustaining Recovery-Friendly Communities Through Evidence-Based Partnerships and Faith-Based Collaborations

Thursday, April 21, 2022

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM ET

Location: Grand Ballroom ABCD

Presenter(s)

Amy M. Bechtol, MA, MS, CPRS

Faith-Based Community Coordinator, West Tennessee Grand Division
Tennesee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Jackson, Tennessee
Dianne W. Sherrod, CPRS, ROPS

Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Jackson, Tennessee
Sarah A. Mays, MACR, CPRS

Hybrid Lifeline Peer Project Coordinator - West TN South Region
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Jackson, Tennessee

Moderator(s)

Monty Burks, MCJ, PhD, CPRS

Director of Faith Based Initiatives
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Nashville, TN

The Rural West Tennessee Faith-Based Initiative team builds recovery-friendly communities by establishing strategic relationships. Attendees will hear from team members who serve to empower, engage, and equip community and faith leaders to address addiction, mental health, and trauma within their congregations and communities. Education, round-table discussions, recovery group support, faith community-evidence based community events, podcasting, and talk radio are a just a few of the ways the team fights stigma and gains allies in the fight to lead their peers into lives of recovery and restoration. The session will include a brief history of the Faith-Based Initiative and lay the foundation for the strategic approach to engagement and partnerships and outline the 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery in the context of the strategies they use daily to create sustainable recovery communities, and share data and outcomes from their work.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss and understand the 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery in the context of practical community-based advocacy and intervention strategies
Identify the unique role of collaboration and resource-sharing in addressing the opioid pandemic, and other addiction issues in rural communities
Describe the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services’ unique peer-led, grassroots approach to advocacy and systemic change