The funerals that come after overdoses and suicide are the ones that stick out.
Lewis Burton has seen the destruction that addiction can cause. As pastor at Who So Ever Will Community Church in Edinburgh, he has spent time in jails and prisons, ministering to people struggling with substance abuse issues.
He’s seen up-close the damage addiction can cause: disintegrating families, lost jobs, failing health, death. Too often, he is called to comfort the families of those in the Edinburgh community who have had people they love die from opioids.
“I’ve probably done 20 funerals from (overdoses). ODs and suicide,” Burton said. “I did two brothers, three weeks apart. One was 21, the other was 18. They both OD’d.”
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Who So Ever Will Community Church, which Burton co-founded, has a weekly faith-based support meeting for those struggling with addiction. More and more, other churches throughout the county are stepping up to address the problem in similar ways.
As opioid addiction has torn through Johnson County communities, churches have formed their own counseling ministries, put together weekly addictions-based support groups and served as a bridge between those suffering from substance-use disorders and more clinical treatment options.
Rather than treating addiction as a moral failing, they want to provide the support and counseling necessary to manage what is a chronic disease.
Just as churches have been a traditional source of spiritual and life guidance, many faith-focused groups are adapting that role to meet the challenge that opioid addiction presents — not just for individuals, but for everyone who is sucked into the disease’s maw.
“I don’t know anyone in my life who hasn’t been touched by addiction. It’s a family disease, and it’s extremely painful not only for the addict, but for the loved ones watching them struggle,” said Julie LaCreta, a licensed addictions counselor for New Life Counseling in Whiteland. “God put it on my heart to help them.”
Churches have traditionally been a refuge for those looking for guidance and help in their lives. Many Johnson County congregations host support meetings for addictions to pornography, alcohol and other substance use disorders.
But the rising number of people struggling with opioid addiction has emphasized the need for that support and counseling more than ever.
“This is the major problem that we have in our country right now, and Edinburgh is the same way. There are some unique things that the faith-based community can bring to the situation,” said Dennis Chasteen, pastor at Edinburgh Life Center.
Chasteen has worked in faith-based addiction recovery for decades. He helped re-establish Edinburgh Life Center, and in resurrecting that church, made recovery a foundation of its services.
In Chasteen’s eyes, the foremost role that faith groups can play is in offering outpatient recovery services.
“People can stay clean when they’re away from everything, but the real question is if people can live in a community, work a job and stay clean,” he said. “The key to that is having an outpatient support system, however that works.”
Every Monday, members gather to participate in the Celebrate Recovery program. The approach was founded in 1991, using the traditional 12-step process used by Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, then emphasizing the biblical aspects behind each one. Additional teachings of Jesus Christ are woven in as well.
One of the foundational values of the program is removing the shame that builds up with people who struggle with addictions, and that feeds a loop of continuing use.
“Around addiction, there’s a big black cloud. It’s not guilt; that’s feeling bad about what you did. Shame is feeling bad about who you are,” Chasteen said. “Once the cloud of addiction comes over, the big thing we have to work with is helping that person change their identity.”
Dennis Berger struggled with heroin addiction until entering recovery in 2016. He has been sober for more than two years. He has been active with Celebrate Recovery at Edinburgh Life Center, and has found the support system it provides to be invaluable.
“When life starts happening, and stress comes, if you don’t have proper people in place to help you deal with the smallest things that could send you over the edge, to have people like we have here that care enough, this is a crucial thing,” Berger said.
At nearby Who So Ever Will Church, the Free Indeed program offers similar support. When church members who were in recovery from addiction came to Burton wanting to start a support ministry, he enthusiastically agreed. Free Indeed, a weekly faith-based meeting of those working through addiction, was started in 2014.
“There’s really not very many faith-based organizations doing this. There are a lot of clinical-type places they can go, and be treated, but that’s not what we are. We’re just a place they can go to get out of the chaos that they’re in,” said Karen Hudson, a founder of Free Indeed.
Grace Assembly of God in New Whiteland offers a Celebrate Recovery program every Friday. Russ Cockrum, who has been in recovery himself for 41 years, leads the group with his wife, Judy. He is a certified recovery specialist with the Veterans Administration, where he works with people on the mental health aspects of addiction.
Celebrate Recovery allows him to appeal to the faith-based side of recovery while also addressing other aspects of the disease.
“There is a spiritual component to everything. There’s a physical component, a mental health component. To emphasize any one over the other two is usually not productive and not real healthy,” Cockrum said. “We try to address all three of those.”
One local church decided to devote a regular ministry to helping those with addictions. New Life Counseling was founded in 2017 as a ministry of Lifehouse Church in Whiteland.
Pastor Mark Goins owns his own counseling and spiritual direction business, in addition to being a pastor at Lifehouse. The more that he interacted with others in the local community, he saw a lack of not only treatment options for individuals, but places where families could get assistance for their loved ones.
Churches provide that sense of community and framework that has proven beneficial in alleviating that shame, he said.
“That camaraderie that people find, being part of something bigger than themselves, goes a long way to helping them stay sober or clean,” he said.
Occupying a small office, converted from an existing home on church property, trained counselors offer group, family and individual therapy as part of encompassing treatment for addictions.
The organization focuses entirely on counseling-based solutions.
Starting with an assessment to determine each individual’s addiction, LaCreta formulates a treatment plan. She asks her clients to tell her their story, and works to find the roots of trauma in their lives that have led to their addiction.
She helps people understand the biological, behavioral and genetic components that lead to addiction. That helps reduce some of the negativity that surrounds substance use problems.
“It is very touchy and personal and painful for people to talk about, because there is so much shame that comes with addiction,” LaCreta said. “If I make them understand that it’s not their fault their brain is that way — yes, they made a bad decision with their use, but the actual becoming an addict is not entirely their fault. It’s not a moral failing.”
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A sample of faith-based options for addiction support and treatment:
Celebrate Recovery: 6:30 Mondays, Edinburgh Life Center, 904 S. Holland St.; information 812-526-6035
Free Indeed: 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, The Crossing, 8728 S. Nineveh Road, Nineveh. Information: thecrossingind.com or 317-933-3400
Free Indeed: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, Who So Ever Will Community Church, 623 Eisenhower Drive, Edinburgh. Information: 812-526-5436
Celebrate Recovery: 6 p.m. Fridays, Grace Assembly of God, 6822 N. US 31, New Whiteland. Information: 765-342-1582
New Life Counseling: 1552 Tracy Road, New Whiteland; individual, family and group addictions counseling. Information: 317-530-2004 or newlifecounseling.help.
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