Join us as Dr. Andi Clements shares at our next FaithHealth Grand Rounds. Dr. Clements (Andi) is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at East Tennessee State University and Associate Director of Research Design and Implementation at the ETSU Ballad Health Strong BRAIN Institute. She is also co-founder and President of Uplift Appalachia, a nonprofit focused on equipping local churches to provide intensive connection, and physical, psychological, and spiritual support for people who live with addictions. Her main areas of research are religiosity, health, and trauma responsiveness, particularly focusing on addiction. She has developed, delivered, and studied trainings for varied audiences around trauma-responsiveness, ACEs science, and resilience-building for the past several years. She is currently investigating a theological/neurobiological mechanism of addiction etiology and treatment including church-based applications of that mechanism in the areas of transportation and housing. She regularly mentors and teaches others to mentor people who live with addictions, particularly working with veterans and those who have been or currently are incarcerated.

Andi will be sharing on the topic of “Equipping the Church to Walk with People through Addiction and Related Challenges: Lessons Learned.”  Her talk will cover lessons learned as Uplift Appalachia has tried to equip members of the faith community to serve as a support system for people who struggle with problematic substance use. Dr. Clements will cover results of a needs assessment conducted, describe types of training that her team has found to be beneficial, and outline some pitfalls that can be avoided as churches engage in addiction-related work. She will also describe a recent article published about facilitating collaboration among faith, health, and science communities.

Thanks so much in advance for joining us as Dr. Clements shares her work and wisdom with us on Wed., April 27th at 9 a.m. via Zoom link below.