How the Core Competencies Were Developed
The Core Competencies for Clergy and Other Pastoral Ministers in Addressing Alcohol and Drug Dependence and the Impact on Family Members were developed out of a shared concern. The certainty that clergy as part of faith communities could help persons and families involved in substance abuse and addiction was held by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA), and the Johnson Institute. The mutual concern was that while clergy are often in a position to help families with this problem, and genuinely want to, they also have often not been given the training needed to address this life issue.
In November 2001, SAMHSA began a discovery process about what clergy need to provide this help by enlisting experts on seminary education to consider the preparation and training that could support the competence of clergy in assisting individuals, children and families caught up in the damaging impacts of addiction. The exploration moved forward with a recommendation that clergy training and curriculum development about addiction and families was needed, along with an outlined set of essential core competencies for clergy in assisting those affected by addiction.
The development process continued and in February 2003 a panel of representatives from diverse religious viewpoints, the NACoA and the Johnson Institute met in Washington, D.C. Their in-depth discussion resulted in an affirmation of the role of clergy in addressing addiction, and a list of twelve basic competencies that clergy and other pastoral ministers need in giving care, as members of faith communities, to individuals and family members involved in this disease. In 2004 the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, SAMHSA, published a detailed report of the February expert consensus panel meeting which included the core competencies. The subtitle of this report is: "Substance Abuse and the Family: Defining the Role of The Faith Community." This report is available from SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (1-800-729-6686) as publication PHD 1060.