A new training program for faith leaders in the state, which just held a second session in Mobile, looks to connect people to substance abuse prevention and treatment resources through their place of worship.

“I’ve seen pastors become advocates in their own community,” Rev. Byron Jackson, an ambassador for the program, said. “The goal is that the fire would burn after we left.”

A little more than a year ago, the Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention created, in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Mental Health, a training program for faith leaders, called the Faith-Based Support Specialist program. The idea is to empower faith leaders to connect with parishioners struggling with substance abuse and get them to the right treatment, Jackson says.

Since the start of the program, ASAP has held trainings in Huntsville, Oxford, Montgomery and Mobile, reaching an average of 30 faith leaders at each. The second Mobile training was held last week.

And since the first training in Mobile, a group of 8-10 faith leaders in the city formed their own group to work on preventing and treating substance abuse issues in the community. Rev. Sandy McQueen, pastor at Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in the Toulminville community, said he and the other faith leaders were inspired to start the group after realizing how widespread substance abuse is in the community, particularly opioid abuse.