Nearly three-quarters of drug rehab centers in the United States have a faith-based component. For those seeking recovery from a substance use disorder, faith-based addiction rehab has numerous unique factors that make it a great option. If you are interested in discovering more about Christian rehab programs, reach out to Pennsylvania Adult & Teen Challenge (PAATC) today.
A Christian recovery center, PAATC offers a fully integrated rehab program that includes evidence-based treatments and faith-based programs. The combination of the two has been shown to have the best outcomes for those in recovery. Let us answer your questions about Christian rehab centers and how they work, what PAATC can offer, and your next steps when ready to begin your recovery. Contact us by using our online form or dial 844.442.8673 to learn more about our inpatient addiction treatment.
A Brief History of Faith-Based Addiction Treatment
Historically, addiction to drugs or alcohol was considered demonic possession or a character flaw. In most cultures throughout human history, no one considered it treatable, let alone a disease. You either used your will to stop abusing a substance, or you did not. Thankfully, those attitudes have changed.
In the early 18th century, some Christian missionaries used faith to turn indigenous people, introduced to liquor by other Europeans, away from drinking. Later in that century, certain medical practitioners included the element of religious faith in their approach to alcohol and other addictions.
By the late-1800s, the newly founded Salvation Army created homes and even communities. The adherence to the Christian faith was the centerpiece of the organization’s fight to save lost souls, otherwise known as recovering addicts. It turned out that faith in God did have a meaningful effect on recovery.
By the early 20th century, when the first medical facilities devoted to addiction treatment were opening up, Christianity was woven seamlessly in with the medically-based treatments. Since then, faith has been an important foundational piece in most rehab facilities.
What Christian Rehab Centers Have to Offer
A Christian recovery center will serve you well if you are ready to give up control to a higher power. For people with a strong spirituality or who are comforted in a faith community, the experience of starting recovery in a faith-based rehab can have a deeply profound and amplified effect.
Some elements that make a Christian drug rehab unique are:
- God’s love helps eliminate shame, guilt, and low self-esteem. Recovery is more difficult when you are facing the complex emotions that people with substance use disorders have about themselves. Exacerbated by societal stigma, these negative feelings get in the way of the belief that recovery is possible. Negative beliefs often lead to negative outcomes. If you love God and allow a faith-based rehab to remind you that God also loves you, hope and self-forgiveness will flourish, and your recovery outcomes will improve.
- You can lean on God and also like-minded peers. Knowing that you cannot do this alone is a vital first step in your recovery journey. When you are in a Christian rehab, you can lean on your higher power as well as the support of peers who understand both your faith and your lived experience – because they share them. You will never need to feel alone in your struggles because you aren’t.
- Total immersion. In a Christian rehab center, you can relax in the knowledge that every aspect and moment of each day will reinforce your faith. Activities, therapies, dinner conversations will take place alongside others who are also on a faith-based path. You will have access to prayer groups, chapel services, Bible discussion groups. You can also work with staff members who can provide evidence-based therapies within a faith-based context.
- Positive outcomes. The evidence is clear – people with substance use disorders who put their faith in God and in a Christian rehab program that offers a full spectrum of faith-based and evidence-based protocols have increased positive long-term recovery outcomes.
Learn More at Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge
With more than 60 years of experience in treating addiction, each treatment is available in our faith-based program. You can receive therapies and treatment for addiction to:
- Alcohol
- Opioids and opiates
- Cocaine
- Methamphetamines
- Prescription drugs
Reach out to PAATC today to learn more about our faith-based treatment options. Use our online form or call 844.442.8673. You don’t have to do this alone.
