TN-ARR at the National Table: What Is Happening and Why It Matters

A meaningful shift is taking place in the national recovery housing landscape, and the Tennessee Alliance of Recovery Residences’ (TN-ARR) leadership has a role in that conversation. Over the past several months, federal attention to recovery housing, funding, quality standards, and long-term sustainability has continued to grow. Through its affiliation with the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR), TN-ARR is connected to the national framework helping shape how recovery housing is understood, supported, and strengthened across the country.

This article connects those threads and explains what they mean for recovery residence operators, residents, policymakers, advocates, and community partners here in Tennessee. These developments reflect years of advocacy, relationship building, and alignment between state-level work and national priorities. They also represent an important moment for the recovery housing field as a whole.

The NARR Faith-Based Community of Practice 

It began with a vision to provide a forum of support for faith-based recovery housing operators throughout the United States.  During the past year, Kyle Duvall, (TN-ARR’s Advocacy Co-Chair) worked with NARR leadership to cultivate individuals across the vast NARR network throughout the United States, and other national and global leaders associated with the faith community to participate in a NARR Faith-Based Community of Practice Work Group, which officially launched in February 2026. 

“There was immense interest in participation!”  In fact, Kyle recounted that in forming the work group, “my inbox blew up” with interest from every time zone across the United States for participating in this momentous opportunity provided by NARR.  Kyle said, “even the United Kingdom is represented. During our weekly Zoom meetings, it is morning on the West Coast, afternoon throughout mid America, the south, and the north east; and it is evening in the United Kingdom, which shows how dedicated and enthusiastic our team is as we gather to focus on national faith-based recovery initiatives in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Faith and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA’s Office of Recovery), as well as notable research institutions relative to addiction/recovery!” 

The work group has matured into a committee of 20 members, bringing together faith-based recovery housing operators, state affiliate leaders, researchers, and policy advocates to address the specific challenges, strengths, and contributions of faith communities operating recovery residences.

It is significant to note that two of the members that serve on the committee are nationally and internationally recognized for their scientific research work in the addiction/recovery field as part of the Harvard School of Medicine, Brown University, and the Recovery Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.  

The formation of the NARR Faith Based Community of Practice reflects a proactive recognition that faith communities have long been part of the recovery housing landscape and need a supportive forum within NARR’s national framework to share knowledge, strengthen standards, and support ethical, recovery-centered practices: 

Mission Statement:

To encourage, support and promote faith-based recovery residences within the ethos and  framework of The NARR Standard, ethics, and four levels/types of recovery residences.

Vision Statement:

To provide faith-based recovery residence programs a community of support to learn and share evidence-based best practices to promote recovery for persons negatively affected by substance use. 

Goals:

·    Serve as a resource for faith-based providers to share information relevant to the unique challenges these organizations face in developing and operating recovery residences.

·    Identify challenges, opportunities and goals in operating, improving and expanding faith-based recovery housing.

·    Assist faith communities and faith-based providers that may be considering opening recovery residences, or that may be new to the field, in adopting NARR’s best practice standards and ethics.

·    Through a monthly online event and other activities, serve as a convening point for faith-based providers with challenges and questions unique to their faith-based status. The monthly webinars will also showcase innovations and promising practices of particular interest to this community.

·    Serve as a sounding board and source of advice for NARR and its affiliates in addressing issues brought to its attention that involved faith-based providers.

·    Inform NARR’s advocacy and development agendas by introducing considerations unique to faith-based providers and faith communities.

NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice recognizes that there are many pathways to recovery of which faith-communities are a vital part, and provides opportunities for education, collaboration, connection and community, supported by the NARR leadership as part of its broader mission to strengthen quality recovery housing across the country.

For Tennessee, this matters because TN-ARR already certifies faith-based recovery residences. The launch of NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice reinforces what TN-ARR’s certification work has consistently shown: High-quality standards and ethics in faith-based recovery residences are not mutually exclusive, rather they should be synonymous and inclusive to meet the standard of the “high-calling” in serving individuals  suffering from substance used disorder and/or co-occurring mental health conditions. When applied with integrity, faith and the practice of best-practices and high-quality standards and ethics strengthen one another.

A Seat at the Federal Table: HHS, SAMHSA, and the Great American Recovery Initiative

In January 2026, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the White House Great American Recovery Initiative. The initiative is co-chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Senior Advisor for Addiction Recovery, and it calls for stronger coordination across federal agencies, healthcare systems, faith communities, and other partners to address addiction as a chronic disease requiring sustained, community-based support.

Following the executive order, NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice began engaging with federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Faith and SAMHSA’s Office of Recovery, about how NARR’s standards, affiliate network, and faith-based recovery housing expertise could contribute to the broader goals of the Great American Recovery Initiative.

That engagement places recovery housing, and specifically certified recovery housing, inside national conversations about recovery infrastructure, faith-based community support, and long-term sustainability. Topics under discussion include recovery congregation models, religious liberty considerations for faith-based recovery housing operators, possible improvements to recovery-oriented funding pathways, and dedicated funding mechanisms that could strengthen certified recovery housing capacity.

TN-ARR’s connection to this work reflects the value of state-level advocacy tied to national standards. Through NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice, Tennessee’s recovery housing experience is part of a broader national conversation about quality, access, and sustainability. Certified recovery housing requires real infrastructure. Public investment in quality recovery housing can reduce far more costly cycles of treatment, incarceration, and homelessness.

This is the same principle TN-ARR has raised in conversations with state agencies, regional planning councils, local officials, and community partners across Tennessee: Recovery housing that meets nationally recognized standards deserve a reliable place in recovery funding and policy. When funding follows quality, residents are better protected, operators are better supported, and public resources are used more responsibly.

Called to Care: The July 2026 Gathering in Washington, D.C.

In July 2026, an invitation-only gathering titled Called to Care: Strengthening Faith and Behavioral Health as Social Infrastructure for Recovery will take place at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. The event is co-hosted by SAMHSA, the HHS Center for Faith, and the Administration for Children and Families. It is designed to convene faith and community partners who connect spirituality, service, behavioral health, and recovery support.

NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice Co-Chair will have a Tennessee Connection and voice in the person of Kyle Duvall who will participate as a speaker and panelist. The topic:  Home, Healing, and Hope: Faith Responses to Homelessness and Recovery. Although the panel seat is held through NARR, Kyle serves as part of TN-ARR’s advocacy leadership, bringing Tennessee’s certified recovery housing experience close to the conversation. The invitation reflects growing national recognition that certified recovery housing belongs inside broader discussions about faith, behavioral health, homelessness, and long-term recovery support.

The gathering is expected to produce a white paper summarizing shared knowledge, practical models, and emerging best practices. For Tennessee, this creates an opportunity for the experience of certified recovery housing providers to be reflected in a national discussion about faith, behavioral health, homelessness, and recovery infrastructure. That is exactly where this conversation belongs.

The Monthly Webinar Series: Cultivating Community

On Friday, July 17, 2026, NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice will launch a national monthly webinar series titled, Cultivating Community: Best Practices in Faith-Based Recovery – 2 PM EDT.  Thereafter, the series will take place on the third Friday of each month at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, and will focus on practical topics relevant to faith-based recovery residence operators across the country.

The inaugural session is expected to feature Dr. Monty Burks, Director of the HHS Center for Faith, and Mr. Ben O’Dell, Senior Advisor, as guest presenters. Their participation reflects growing federal interest in the role faith communities play in recovery support, including the work of faith-based recovery housing providers operating within nationally recognized standards.

Tennessee operators, advocates, referral partners, policymakers, and community stakeholders are encouraged to participate. The webinar series will be open to a national audience and will provide ongoing education, connection, and practical resources that apply directly to the work happening in Tennessee. Recovery court professionals, treatment providers, criminal justice partners, and others working with individuals in recovery may also find the content relevant to their own roles.

NARR's First Annual Faith-Based Conference: Nashville, Tennessee 

At the writing of this article, a subcommittee of NARR’s Faith-Based Community of Practice is finalizing an inaugural Annual Faith-Based Conference, expected to take place in 2027. Hosting the first conference in Middle Tennessee reflects the strength of Tennessee’s recovery housing ecosystem, faith community and the role TN-ARR plays as NARR’s state affiliate in Tennessee.

TN-ARR will serve as the host NARR affiliate and a sponsor for the event. The conference will bring together faith-based recovery housing operators, NARR affiliates, state and federal policymakers, researchers, and peer leaders from across the United States for education, collaboration, advocacy, and support.

Dr. Monty Burks, Director of the HHS Center for Faith is expected to participate as a Plenary speaker. NARR is expected to formally announce the conference at the NARR Best Practices Summit in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, scheduled for September 28-30, 2026. That announcement will give the Nashville event national visibility well in advance. Strategic partner invitations and promotional materials are being prepared for distribution through  the NARR Faith-Based Community of Practice website (coming soon), NARR affiliates, state networks, and national recovery organizations.

For Tennessee operators, this creates an opportunity to participate in a nationally significant recovery housing event taking place in our own state. TN-ARR will share more information about participation, sponsorship, and programming opportunities as details become available.

Marlana Smartt Byrge | TN-ARR Advocacy Co-Chair