micah

W A L K I N G I N F A I T H A major component of her own recovery, and a de ning trait of Micah House, says Moses, is a strong foundation of faith. While many treatment programs run on a binary distinction between religion or spirituality, Moses distinguishes “faith” as something more - something that facilitates belonging to a structured community with an established belief system. It’s something less formal than religion and more concrete than spirituality, she says. “It doesn’t matter what that faith is, but that it is an

“I THINK THE SKY’S THE LIMIT, BECAUSE THIS IS A PROGRAM THAT BRINGS SOMETHING THAT OTHER TREATMENT PROGRAMS DON’T.” - Deb Moses

established faith that you can be a part of,” she says. “Not just a thought process, but something you can join into. Faith within a community.” Moses adheres to Judaism, which is where she has found she can have the greatest impact in the greater community. But there are plenty of different faiths working in harmony at Micah House, leaving a client free to choose his or her own system of beliefs. “William [Lockett] is a Christian minister, I’m Jewish, we have Muslim staff and we all work together in the understanding that faith helps toward recovery. You need a belief system,” she says. “We’re not afraid to call it ‘faith.’” K E E P I N G I T P E R S O N A L Moses reserves the details of her personal recovery journey for speci c times when it has the greatest potential to impact another. She knows what methods worked for her, but also recognizes the diversity of her clientele and the narratives of their lives. This goes back to her faith in evidence-based treatment, and the value of an individual nding him or herself. “I use my story at personal times when I believe it’ll be helpful to someone,” she says. “Anyone can be successful and I try not to say, ‘I did it this way,’ because my life’s been so different than a lot of others.” And the therapeutic community she found that saved her life at age 19 is what she seeks to recreate at Micah House, a program she does not see shrinking anytime soon. “I think the sky’s the limit,” she says, “because this is a program that brings something that other treatment programs don’t.” 17