Uplift Appalachia: Community Liaisons

We at Uplift Appalachia spend a great deal of our time serving as a liaison between the faith community, healthcare community and science/education community because we can speak all of those languages. Part of the equipping of believers to be supportive is to make sure they are ready to interact in the spaces where people struggling with addiction and mental health issues are. It’s also important to help the people in community who may be wary of the faith community to understand where the members of the faith community are coming from. We train faith and non-faith groups with common language to improve communication. We also coach and troubleshoot.

Using Trauma Informed Principles in Health Communication: Improving Faith/Science/Clinical Collabora

Our president, Andi Clements, recently wrote an article about improving communication between the faith community and others.

Read the Article

Caring Workplaces 2.0

We are currently partnering with several organizations (First Tennessee Development District, Recovery Resources, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Elizabethton, ETSU Addiction Science Center) to have faith community volunteers provide transportation for men who have been incarcerated to get job skills training.

ETSU Pediatrics Baby Steps Clinic

We have helped a local church to collaborate with a local clinic that serves children who were drug exposed during pregnancy. The church volunteers have volunteered alongside clinic staff to provide meals and social events for the families. The church has also provided transportation for the parents. Uplift Appalachia helped to navigate challenges with how to train and verify volunteers and how overcome the administrative barriers to having volunteers in a clinical space.

Cross-Sector Training Grant

Uplift Appalachia is also collaborating with the ETSU Ballad Health Strong Brain Institute on a 3-year, $905,000 TN Opioid Abatement Council grant (Educating and Expanding The Paid And Volunteer SUD Workforce ) to cross-train faith, health, and social service communities about addiction and trauma.

Additional Resources

New Book with Study Guide

This book is trauma informed practices through a scriptural lens. It can be purchased through Amazon or contact us at director@upliftappalachia.org for bulk orders at a reduced price.

A Video Call to Action

This video gives reasons for the church to be involved in addressing addiction.

Searchable Recovery Meeting Database

Christianity Today's Quick to Listen Podcast

This is a searchable database that contains recovery meetings all over Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. You can search for days, times, and more.

Christianity Today's Quick to Listen Podcast

Andi Clements, Uplift President, is interviewed about how the church should respond to the fact that over 100,000 people in the US died of overdoses in 2020.

Take Our Survey

Christianity Today's Quick to Listen Podcast

Find Naloxone or Narcan in Your Area

We are surveying people inside and outside the church to learn what you think about addiction and the church's involvement in supporting people living with addiction.

Find Naloxone or Narcan in Your Area

Christianity Today's Quick to Listen Podcast

Find Naloxone or Narcan in Your Area

This website allows you to search your area to find naloxone or Narcan which can be used to reverse and opioid overdose. Uplift Appalachia can train you how to use these. Use our contact form to inquire about training.

Free Trauma-Informed Care Training

Tennessee Faith and Justice Toolkit

This is a 4.5 hour video training by two of our board members teaching about the long-term consequences of childhood adversity and what to do about them.

Tennessee Faith and Justice Toolkit

The Tennessee Faith and Justice Alliiance developed this toolkit to serve as a guide for legal resources in East Tennessee.