Substance Abuse Support

Support for those with Substance Abuse concerns is vital for our families and communities. Christlife Ministries has an in-office Peer Recovery Navigator who works one-on-one to assist those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction to locate resources in the community. These resources may include treatment programs/options, detox, sober-living housing, and other stability items.

Meet Susanna!

Susanna Velie works as a Colorado Peer and Family Specialist at Christlife Ministries in Pueblo, CO. As someone in long-term recovery, she started with Christlife as a Criminal Justice Peer Recovery Navigator under the State Opioid Response (SOR) Grant provided by SAMHSA in 2019.

For the past 2 years, Susanna has worked to establish many community resources, partnerships, and training opportunities to offer to her clients. In her position as a Peer Recover Navigator, she works with those exiting the criminal justice system who suffer from substance use to locate resources that can help lead them to recovery.

These resources include but are not limited to sober living, inpatient/outpatient treatment, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), shelter, food, clothing, and identification. In addition to locating resources in the community, Susanna facilitates Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). MRT and CRAFT provide an additional tool for people with a substance use disorder and their loved ones to overcome obstacles related to addiction.

Shah Rakh Kahn says, “Walk with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone.” Susanna’s mission in life is to instill hope and walk with those with whom she comes in contact.

CRAFT (Community Reinforcement Approach to Family Training)

The CRAFT approach is a system for helping friends and family members change the way that they are interacting with someone they love who is drinking or using drugs. Families learn the following through each group:

Identifying their loved one’s triggers for and results of their use.
Breaking the patterns that lead to or increase a loved one’s drinking or using.
Developing and improving communication skills to more effectively express their needs and requests.
Helping their loved ones access effective addiction treatment resources when they express interest in treatment.
Learning or re-learning how to take care of themselves and reconnect with their values so that, regardless of their loved one’s use, they can still lead a life that is centered on their values and not their loved one’s drug/alcohol use.
If violence or the potential for violence exists, help family members identify triggers for violence and develop plans to keep themselves (and their children) safe.

This group is free!

Men's Group: Tuesdays at 5:30p

State Opioid Response (SOR) Grant

Christlife Ministries has been a recipient of the SOR Grant since 2019. "The program aims to address the opioid crisis by increasing access to medication-assisted treatment using the three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, reducing unmet treatment needs, and reducing opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities for opioid use disorder (OUD) (including illicit use of prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl and fentanyl analogs). This program also supports evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery support services to address stimulant misuse and use disorders, including for cocaine and methamphetamine" (SAMSHA, 2020).

This program is free to participants and is available to anyone. Participants are not required to be enrolled in any other Christlife Programs in order to be in this program but can be co-enrolled depending on service needs.

Freedom from Addictive Behaviors (FFAB) Group

Freedom from Addictive Behaviors is a weekly group led by Pastor Jerome Perkins that discusses the problem and price of addiction and discusses steps to getting and staying free from addiction.

This group is available on Sundays at 5:00 pm. It is available to the community but is a required piece of Metanoia House. This group is free for housing clients and community parties.

Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) Group

Moral Reconation Therapy is a weekly cognitive behavior group. The term "moral" refers to moral reasoning based on Kohlberg's levels of cognitive reasoning. The word "reconation" comes from the psychological terms "conative" and "conation," both of which refer to the process of making conscious decisions. MRT is a cognitive-behavioral treatment system that leads to enhanced moral reasoning, better decision-making, and more appropriate behavior.

MRT completion is a required piece of Metanoia House and occurs on Mondays at 6:00pm. This program is free for housing clients.