Art Mellor is the Director of SPSARV, the United Methodist Church’s Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence. Art is a licensed social worker and was credentialed for 19 years as an addiction counselor. Art has started a family treatment program and a state-licensed outpatient substance abuse program. He has ten years of experience working in inpatient detox and treatment facilities. He has also developed training programs for a variety of audiences, including the criminal justice, social service personnel, and the faith community.
As the Director of SPSARV, Art has worked to expand prevention and treatment services throughout the world, paying particular attention to areas in Africa that lack these services. The United Methodist Church has been a leading force in creating substance abuse treatment and prevention programs in areas like Europe, Russia and parts of Eastern Asia, and through SPSARV, has been taking steps to create or increase treatment and prevention programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This has proven to be quite challenging and has prompted SPSARV to build relationships with other organizations with similar aims, like Recovery Africa and the International Federation of Blue Cross (IFBC). This has led to SPSARV bringing to Ghana, South Africa and Lesotho a group of people, with experience with recovery and prevention ministries, to learn more about the programs that Recovery Africa, IFBC, and the Methodist Church have been doing in these areas.