Spirituality-Enhanced Addiction Treatment Protocol: Conceptual and Operational Development

Abstract

Spirituality has been increasingly seen as an aspect of human functioning that needs to be assessed as part of a holistic social work perspective. Research has demonstrated the role that spirituality has in promoting addiction recovery, yet there is a dearth of spirituality-focused interventions that treatment providers can use. The Spirituality Enhanced Addiction Treatment (SEAT) protocol is a social work–centered framework that can be used to augment and enhance other types of treatment approaches. The conceptual and operational basis for SEAT is discussed. Next steps for pilot testing SEAT are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• substance use disorders
• substance abuse
• spirituality
• alcoholism
• drug dependence
• social work
• treatment
• recovery