Extension magazine - Spring 2023

36
IGNITE
Partnerships
Extension | Spring 2023 37
Addiction ministry
training program
promotes pathways
of healing
Rose Black was truly in
a dark place.
After her Vicodin
prescription ran out,
Black turned to opioids
bought on the
streets. When she could no longer
afford opioids, she started using
methamphetamines. From there,
her whole life fell apart. She lost
her relationships with her four
children, her home and found herself
living on those same streets
where she bought the opioids. She
even lost the tip of her nose, a consequence
of using substances.
According to 2020 data, the
National Center for Drug Abuse
Statistics estimates that 37.3 million
Americans currently have an
active drug addiction. Drug overdose
deaths continue to skyrocket,
reaching an all-time high of nearly
92,000 deaths in 2020—five times
the number only 20 years ago.
Addiction touches all communities
like Black’s hometown of Gillette,
Wyoming. Many rural communities,
Native American reservations
or economically distressed areas
of the country lack the proper
resources to help those battling
addiction.
That is why, in partnership with
Trinity Missions and Seton Hall
University, Catholic Extension supports
iTHIRST, a certification-based
addiction and recovery ministry
training designed for clergy, religious
and laity interested in providing
outreach and healing minis-
A story of redemption
tries to addicted persons and their
suffering families. Program participants
learn about the shame
and strain of addiction, studying
both its devastating physiological
and psychological effects and
learning appropriate pastoral care
strategies.
“Our training is to really understand
how to provide spiritual consolation,
how to provide recovery
resource information and how
to walk with [those struggling
from addiction] and journey with
them,” said Keaton Douglas, MA,
executive director of iTHIRST.
The program’s name is an acronym
for “The Healing Initiative—Recovery,
Spirituality, and
Twelve Steps.” As a former addiction
counselor, Douglas is passionate
about bringing the program to
scale across the country in partnership
with Catholic Extension.
To date, 43 participants from seven
dioceses have completed the program,
with more cohorts planned
to launch in 2023.
Douglas pointed out that many
program participants know someone
who is struggling with addiction
or are even in long-term recovery
themselves, like Rose Black.
Becoming part of the solution
Black was eventually arrested
for not paying child support in
order to fund her addiction. While
in jail, she went to confession
for the first time in several years.
Although she continued using
drugs following her release, she
felt a change in her mindset
after receiving the sacrament of
reconciliation.
At 3 a.m. on December 13, 2019,
Black was stabbing herself with a
needle. Unable to locate a vein, she
looked up and pleaded, “Jesus, save
me from my insanity.” Three hours
later, she was arrested in front of a
Catholic church.
LEFT Rose Black
has worked
to repair her
relationships with
her sons.
ABOVE Keaton
Douglas,
executive director
of iTHIRST,
speaks at Seton
Hall University.
“And just like that, all desire for
drugs was gone,” Black recalled.
“I can’t even explain it. It was a
deliverance. I also had found out
that the celebration of Our Lady of
Guadalupe was December 12. Not
only did I cry out for Jesus to save
me from my insanity, but Mary
called me to be part of her army.”
After “getting clean” Black was
motivated to apply for the iTHIRST
certification program as part of
National drug-involved overdose deaths
Over the last 20
years drug overdose
deaths
have skyrocketed,
reaching
an all-time high
of nearly 92,000
deaths in 2020.
Sources CDC WON-
DER online database
| National Institute on
Drug Abuse
100
80
60
40
20
0
PHOTO SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
Catholic Extension’s 2021 pilot cohort
with Seton Hall. The iTHIRST
courses were beneficial to both
giving Black knowledge to help
those afflicted by addiction and
aiding in her own long-term recovery.
Black explained, “I learned the
proper skills. I didn’t even know
what the 12 steps were until I did
iTHIRST.”
Her personal growth in longterm
recovery and as a role
model for others battling addiction
was an inspiration to fellow
participants.
“The reason I do this work is
because of people like Rose,”
Douglas said. “As she undertook
this coursework you could see
how she could really understand
the connection between our Catholic
spirituality and addiction and
recovery. This is something I hear
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from a lot of my folks from Catholic
Extension and beyond: the joy
that they feel when now they are
on the other side and they are able
to become part of the solution.”
Black added, “I have actual
training and skills to sit with the
afflicted. One of the biggest skills
iTHIRST gave me is to give them
that love they’re so longing to feel
and kind of be a conduit between
God and the afflicted. They need
people to love them, and they need
so much support.”
Black, with her iTHIRST training,
now walks with the afflicted
through their own long-term
recovery journeys. Today, she
offers Bible study with the incarcerated
at the local jail in Gillette,
Wyoming, where she was once
incarcerated herself. So far, three
women she has walked with after
their release from jail have gone
through rehab and stayed sober.
Black herself has now been
sober for more than three years.
She has worked to repair her relationships
with her children and
her father. And now, Black is an
inspiring testament to the dynamic
leaders Catholic Extension is sending
to the iTHIRST certification
program at Seton Hall to acquire
the advanced knowledge and
skills needed to address the crippling
effects of drug addiction that
impact millions across the country.
“It’s a story of redemption,”
Douglas concluded. “And that’s
what we’re looking for. We’re
looking for these stories. We
believe that as long as there is life,
there is the opportunity to have
recovery and redemption. And we
want to walk with people and their
families.”