Spirit On The Margins

Here are some quotes from an interesting study that speak for themselves.

“Policy makers have become increasingly interested in using faith-based programs to intervene with highly at-risk populations.  This idea is generally supported by empirical evidence showing that individuals who score high on measures of religiosity and spirituality are more likely to exhibit prosocial behaviors.”

• Does a client’s faith or spirituality influence the treatment process? If so, how?
• Futhermore, does a client’s faith or spirituality affect program completion and other indicators of success? 

“The current study assessed the success of the Ridge House Residential Program, a faith-based prisoner reentry program in Reno Nevada, in retaining clients and examined the intermediate outcomes achieved by that program, including program satisfaction and self-rated treatment progress.”

Ridge House 

“Faith and spirituality infuse much of the program’s orientation, mostly through client contact with spiritual staff…Almost all house managers and clinical staff or counselors (93%) indicated that encouraging the religious and/or spiritual development of clients is very important to their program, and the majority of these respondents (53%) indicated that demonstrating God’s love to clients is very important.”

“When asked directly in informal interviews whether the adjective ‘religious’ describes Ridge House, program leaders stated that the program is more appopriately described as spiritual rather than religious…Spiritual growth is fostered through the general ethos of the program. In other words, faith and spirituality largely exist implicitly; nonreligious social services characterize their program.”

“Of the 92 clients who entered Ridge House, 30 (32.6%) did not complete the program. Eighteen clients reportedly left because they did not believe Ridge House would assist them in meeting their needs, 8 were discharged by the program because they were not following the established rules of Ridge House, and 4 were terminated either for a positive urine analysis or for using illegal drugs or drinking.  Most dropouts or terminations occurred during the first month of treatment; half of noncompleters left within 39 days of the progam, and 75% left within 52 days.  For clients who completed the program, the average number of days in the program was 86.9.”

“Logistic regression predicting program completion revealed only one significant predictor; homelessness.  Having ever been homeless decreased the likelihood of completion of Ridge House.”

“It should also be highlighted that clients were significantly more likely to remain in the program if they reported taht their prison experience gave them a new sense of a higher power.  Of the 62 clients who completed the program, more than three fourths (77.4%) indicated that prison gave them a new sense of higher power.  Additional analyses found that the majority of these clients (53%) were satisfied with the program, and all of them (100%) also felt that their new sense of higher power strengthened their belief that they could change their lives.”

“…this study did not include an examination of end outcomes such as relapse, rearrest, and reincarceration.” 

It is certainly an interesting study that seems to raise more questions than it resolves about the link between spirituality and changed social behavior. The study acknowledges that there is a lot more research to be done on this subject matter before more conclusions can be drawn.

Outcomes Faith Based Prison Reentry Program

Here is a story that one of our volunteer spiritual companions shared recently:

“I just met with this man who is in recovery.  Awhile back he was having a really bad day and he decided to go to a bar.  On his way, he ran into someone who asked him, ‘Do you have God in your heart?’ He said, ‘That made me stop and think, but I continued on to the bar, one I had been to a million times.’ 

‘But a strange thing happened. Even though I looked for a long time, I couldn’t find it.  I finally gave up and went back to the treatment center. I know this was a spiritual experience, but I’m still trying to figure it out.’”

This conversation is representative of the conversations we have, day after day, at our 25 City House sites of service, where we now serve at the rate of 4200 visits per year. In this case, as in countless others, the volunteer supported the individual in sorting out the meaning of this spiritual experience for himself, articulating it as a source of strength and hope in his life.

We are so honored to be invited to do this work and to be stewards of people’s sacred stories.

A City House volunteer that works with a group of men in a chemical dependency treatment program recalled the following discussion. In that group, the men take turns leading.  Whoever was leading that night noted that he was someone who had a lot of drama in his life. In fact, he said, “I think I am as addicted to drama as I am to drugs.”  If drama in his life was missing, he created some to “get his fix”.

RS Eden 

 He went on to say, “But I have discovered a new way to get high without the drugs and without the drama. Now, giving to someone else gives me the same feeling.” The light bulbs in the rest of the guys in the room went on. They all shook their heads with vigor that this was true for them as well.

Anyone else heard constructive ideas about replacing an addict’s high?

Interesting article Sunday in the Star Tribune www.startribune.com (in the Source) about the welcoming environment in Minnesota for persons in chemical dependency rehab. One quote in that article really got my attention that points to the way that chemical dependency is no respecter of class or any other distinction. “In Minnesota you don’t have to explain why you’ve gone from being an executive or an airline pilot to making cappuccinos and lattes in a coffee house.”