(ThyBlackMan.com) All across the news there are stories of how drug addiction, heroin especially, is skyrocketing within the past decade. In fact, it has become such a severe issue not only in major metropolitan areas but in suburbs as well, that addiction is now being classified as a ‘health issue.’ Unfortunately, this doesn’t even begin to address the real issues and there are those who contend that an addict’s ‘spirit’ needs to be healed if recovery is ever to be successful and ongoing.
Because healing often comes in the form of one’s belief system, Per Wickstrom, CEO and founder of A Forever Recovery drug rehab center in Battle Creek, Michigan says that this approach to rehab needs to be open to those who find healing through their faith in Christ.
Is the Epidemic Related to a Lack of Faith?
With news agencies reporting that teen drug addiction is at epidemic proportions and at the same time reporting that Millennials claiming any kind of Christian faith is declining, it can be argued that there is a direct correlation to a lack of faith and the ever-rising number of addicts in the country. It is possible that there is some amount of validity in this hypothesis and that’s why so many holistic drug rehab programs offer a faith-based recovery tracks to help addicts find their way back to their center.
As a Christian, that center would be Christ. Although not actively 
identifying as a Christian or practicing the faith they were raised in, there is a core foundation that lives on, even if not on a conscious level. It is this ‘core,’ this ‘inner self’ that faith-based drug rehab seeks to treat.
Faith-Based Rehab as an Integral Part of a Holistic Approach
Over and over again you will hear drug counselors and rehab programs talk of a holistic approach to drug rehabilitation. This is a form of treatment that seeks healing for entire person. Since it is held that humans are essentially body, mind and spirit, it is logical to believe that their spiritual nature needs healing as much as their body and mind need rehabilitation. Faith-based rehab is therefore an integral part of the holistic approach and why it should be available to those who can benefit from this type of therapy. Some holistic drug rehab centers even offer counseling from ministers and the availability of accepting Christ through baptism as part of faith-based rehab.
Faith-Based Rehab an Option, Not a Requirement
One of the main controversies that arise when faith-based rehab is discussed is in the fact that it is not completely understood. Unless the rehab center is operated by a church or a group affiliated with a specific religion, it is not a requirement but rather an option. The most direct route to recovery is to find that inner core deep within and often the most direct path is through a core of spiritual beliefs. What programs like A Forever Recovery offer is the option to rekindle a spiritual flame to find something that has been missing in life, a belief in something greater than yourself.
Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim or any other faith, there is something that you believe in, or believed in at one time, that has somehow lost its spark. It is this that faith-based drug rehab hopes to rekindle as a lifeline between addictive behaviors and life free from addiction.
Staff Writer; Ron Williams