Unshackled: Seton Hall’s Global Impact on Spiritual Recovery

For the past six years, Seton Hall University’s Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) has helped lead a global effort bringing spiritual support, recovery resources and hope to individuals and families affected by addiction.

Now, this work is reaching an even broader audience through a new 12-episode television series titled “Unshackled,” produced in partnership with Shalom World TV. Filmed in New Jersey, the series explores the relationship between Catholic spirituality and addiction recovery in all its forms, including substance use disorders, gambling, compulsive behaviors, and the impact addiction has on families.

Each episode features conversations with clergy, clinicians, recovery professionals and individuals with lived experience. The series addresses difficult but essential questions many families ask every day: Why can’t my loved one simply stop? What role does brain chemistry play in addiction? How do faith, healing and hope fit into recovery?

“Unshackled” also emphasizes that recovery is not merely clinical, but deeply human and spiritual. While treatment addresses important medical and psychological needs, the series highlights how the Church can uniquely offer accompaniment, meaning, forgiveness and hope.

Importantly, the series will also reach incarcerated individuals through partnerships that distribute secure tablets in more than 615 correctional facilities throughout the United States. In this way, “Unshackled” seeks to bring education, encouragement and spiritual support directly to those living on the margins.

Seton Hall University receives a production credit at the end of every episode — a recognition that without the University’s partnership, this project would not have been possible.

Through a partnership with the iTHIRST Initiative that began in 2020, CEPS has certified men and women from around the world as iTHIRST Spiritual Companions — trained individuals who accompany those suffering from addiction and their families with compassion, spiritual consolation and practical recovery resource information.

Founded by Keaton Douglas, an alumna of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, the iTHIRST curriculum was developed following years of work in addiction recovery ministry and graduate theological study. After the curriculum underwent peer review, Seton Hall became a vital academic partner in helping transform the vision into an international formation program.

Today, iTHIRST Spiritual Companions serve in 47 states and 13 countries. They minister in Catholic parishes, congregational settings, treatment centers, correctional facilities, reentry programs and Native American communities. Their work addresses a dimension of recovery that is often overlooked but deeply needed: the spiritual dimension of wellness.

In recent years, the partnership has expanded dramatically. With Seton Hall’s support, iTHIRST was able to train individuals in eight African nations, helping local Church leaders respond to addiction in regions where clinical treatment and governmental support resources are limited or nonexistent. In these communities, spiritual companionship often becomes one of the only accessible forms of support and recovery outreach available.

Seton Hall students have also played an important role in the initiative’s growth. Since 2018, service-learning collaborations with Professor Melinda Papaccio and undergraduate core programs have introduced students to the realities of addiction, recovery and pastoral outreach, helping cultivate a generation of leaders more aware of the intersection between faith, mental health and human dignity.

From New Jersey classrooms to African mission territories, from parish ministries to prison cells, Seton Hall is helping shape a global conversation about addiction, spirituality and recovery — one rooted not only in education, but in compassion, accompaniment, and hope.

“Unshackled” will be available on Shalom World TV Video on Demand as of July 11th – viewable on their website (shalomworld.org) and can be live streamed on smart TVs and devices through their app.

Categories: Arts and Culture, Faith and Service