Exploring Spirituality with people in recovery services
- deansimpson7
- Nov 18
- 5 min read
BY LAUREN MARTIN
An ‘Exploring Spirituality’ resource designed by The Salvation Army’s Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Services is strengthening connections between corps and recovery services.
While Salvation Army residential and non-residential AOD services no longer teach the ‘12-Step Model’, participants have always been invited to explore faith through chapel services and other small group offerings.
Now, a new resource called ‘Exploring Spirituality’ allows participants to engage in discussions and practices to deepen their understanding of their own spirituality.
The 12-week course is being run in partnership with local corps that have AOD Day Programs on-site, such as Canberra City Salvos and Eastern Beaches Salvos in Sydney.
National AOD Mission and Ministry Support Coordinator Major Tim Gittins said the resource isn’t new; it was created in 2019 after the merger of the two Australian territories by pulling together a range of resources used throughout the territory.
However, in 2021, he and Major Laura Gittins undertook a review and refresh of the materials, which was trialled in early 2024 and re-launched in July of that year.
“Most of the time it’s been delivered within residential services, usually by chaplains or ministry support coordinators,” he said. “We recognised we needed to wrestle with [the question], “How can we use this as a tool in non-residential recovery services to build those relationships into the local corps?”
NSW/ACT AOD Mission and Ministry Support Coordinator Captain Mitchell Stevens and the AOD Chaplain in Adelaide, Duan Kereru, became passionate about bridging the gap between corps and recovery services and worked with their local corps to introduce ‘Exploring Spirituality’ in partnership with corps leaders at the local corps settings, where day-program AOD services were already occurring.
“Exploring Spirituality is a faith pathway in trying to encourage people to explore that,” Mitchell said, stressing that the course is not about exploring Christianity, but being open and respectful of each participant’s spiritual journey.
“Every time we run the group, I say, ‘I am a Christian pastor, I don’t expect you to have the same beliefs as me, but if you want to explore that further, you are welcome to join our Recovery Church …’ More often than not, the people take us up on it.”
READ MORE: Jesus is still in our rehabs
Exploring Spirituality at local corps
Canberra City Salvos Corps Officer Captain Sally Stevens runs the ‘Exploring Spirituality’ group at her corps with participants of the AOD Day Program, which runs on-site.
She said it is a beautiful way to develop a relationship with the participants, and often they will naturally attend community days (where food and other assistance are available), become volunteers, and connect with Recovery Church.
“I emphasise that it’s not a Bible study or church – we talk about the difference between religion and spirituality. We also say, ‘We are all spiritual beings, so it’s important that we talk about spirituality because it benefits us in recovery.’ [We talk about] looking inwards to connect to something bigger than ourselves.”
Lieutenant Keven Williams at Eastern Beaches Salvos has nearly finished facilitating his first ‘Exploring Spirituality’ program. He said he jumped at the chance to introduce the course when asked by members of the AOD team who work on-site.
“It’s corps and social working together,” he said. “I see God opening opportunities for people … it’s a beautiful space for the staff in our social streams and the corps to align. It is a holistic alignment. Our Doorways worker has also come in as well. She sits in on the course, and she finds it refreshing and values that space.”
Keven hasn’t limited participation in the group to people within the AOD service space; he said he invited members of the different corps’ communities to attend, and some people who regularly attend corps’ meal services and food assistance days came along.
“I think it’s a gentle easing into spirituality, and it’s not prescriptive. We are not here to force spirituality on them; we’re here for them to experience what God has created, which is an experience in itself. It’s an organic situation – an invitation for them to go where they want to go in it.”
Faith Pathways
At Canberra City Salvos, Sally said one of the things that has worked really well with the ‘Exploring Spirituality’ groups is introducing social outings.
“There has been this perception that because they are in a day program – coming for a day and going home – that they don’t need activities and things for connection [like they do with participants in residential recovery.] But a lot of these people have been through a lot and are just ‘surviving’. So, the invitation to do something playful and fun and invest in them has opened heaps of conversation and relationships.”
The corps used some of its Red Shield Appeal Initiative money to fund the activities and has taken participants in the Exploring Spirituality group bowling, to a local hedge-maze and bushwalking.
Canberra City Salvos has introduced social outings as part of their delivery of The Salvation Army Exploring Spirituality course.
Thomas Richmond, a graduate of Canberra Recovery Services, participated in the Exploring Spirituality course twice, once whilst in a residential program and once as a day participant at Canberra City Salvos. He said he was wary at first, but relaxed once he realised it was a participant-guided discovery.
“They absolutely weren’t pushing anything on anybody,” he said, which was different from other times when people had spoken to him about religion, God or faith.
“Personally, I have tried [to do spiritual stuff], but I didn’t know how to go about it. It’s very confusing, and it’s a very personal thing. It was good to have that kind of guidance into exploring it yourself.”
Midway through the course, Thomas had a revelation that he was a ‘child of God’ and began asking more questions about Christianity at the Canberra City Salvos Recovery Church that he chose to attend during his time at Canberra Recovery Services.
“The way I see it now is the more ‘God conscious’ I am, or ‘spiritually conscious’ I am, the less ‘self-conscious’ I am. If I’m finding that I have days where I’m self-absorbed – which is easy to do in today’s world – I find that it’s usually the spiritual aspect of myself that is missing, and I have to become more God-conscious.”
Thomas has joined the worship band at Canberra City Salvos and recently attended The Salvation Army’s Arise Men’s Camp. He says he is stepping into his new role as a mentor and encourager to men just starting their recovery journey.
“Personally, I got out [of Men’s Camp] that I’ve got to lean into this opportunity that I have, to be a good role model … It feels different having people look up to you, it’s kind of nice.”
Going beyond AOD services
Major Tim Gittins said there has been increased interest from different corps interested in working alongside AOD services to offer ‘Exploring Spirituality’ in their corps-based settings.
There is even a Salvation Army mission expression signed up to provide facilitator training for the course to introduce it outside an AOD setting to people in the community who are warm to spirituality but not open to attending Sunday worship.
“We would encourage corps, especially if they have a co-located AOD service, to explore it,” he said.
People interested in attending Exploring Spirituality facilitator-training should get in touch with him at tim.gittins@salvationarmy.org.au
