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Each person’s recovery is a unique journey. Since no two people have the exact same recovery needs, it’s crucial for there to be a variety of rehabilitative resources available, ensuring that each client has an individualized treatment plan. At Coalition Recovery, we recognize that many patients have spiritual or religious beliefs. Moreover, many of these religious and spiritual patients hope to reconnect with their beliefs during their recoveries. For this reason, we offer 12 step therapy as an optional treatment program for substance abuse and addiction as part of our evidence-based therapy programs
No client is required to participate in a 12 step program. We offer a non-12 step track for clients who would like to follow a different path on their journey to recovery.
The 12 Step Therapy Program of Alcoholics Anonymous
There’s been one organization that’s almost synonymous with recovery, and that’s Alcoholics Anonymous. Founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, Alcoholics Anonymous is a support group for individuals with substance abuse problems. Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous welcomed individuals of all denominations who could follow the program’s principles and incorporate their own spiritual or religious beliefs. To an extent, Wilson’s spiritual emphasis in Alcoholics Anonymous allows the program to be a template for individuals from all walks of life.
The most famous component to come out of Alcoholics Anonymous is the 12 step program. In essence, Wilson devised the 12 step program to be a roadmap or blueprint for recovery. Of course, we associate recovery today with counseling and psychotherapy. However, Wilson conceived of recovery as being as much about achieving a spiritual awakening as it was about becoming sober and abstinent.
How Does 12 Step Therapy Work?
With the 12 step program, the idea was for individuals to begin with the first and work their way through each successive step in numerical order. By completing, or “working,” the steps, individuals progress from a state of being chemically dependent to being chemically independent, all while utilizing their belief systems as motivation and fuel for their recovery goals. For instance, the first step of the program involves admitting and accepting one’s powerlessness to alcohol or substances and, thereafter, submitting oneself to the higher power of one’s understanding.
By the time people complete 12 step therapy, they have become acutely aware of the character defects at the root of their addiction. Furthermore, the individuals have done whatever was possible to make up for the wrongs committed against others and achieved a spiritual awakening. Finally, the steps guide the individual to become an advocate for the 12 step program by mentoring newcomers to Alcoholics Anonymous; in effect, being a recovery resource to others reinforces one’s own recovery.
Benefits of 12 Step Therapy for Addiction Treatment
There are several reasons why 12 step-based therapy has become so popular. Some of the benefits of 12 step therapy include:
- The spiritual components of recovery — often overlooked by proponents of the clinical side of addiction rehabilitation — are essential to many people. Many individuals lose touch with their faith and beliefs throughout their addiction, causing them to retreat even deeper into the recesses of active addiction. As a result, many individuals have realized that 12 step therapy gives them a way to regain a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in life as they overcome their substance abuse problems.
- Optional 12 step treatment gives individuals the choice to incorporate this method into the recovery process. Any individuals for whom their spirituality or religious beliefs are previously valuable to them have a lot to gain from the inclusion of the 12 step method into a clinical addiction treatment program. On the other hand, people in treatment who are not necessarily religious or spiritual have the choice not to add 12 step therapy into their recovery process.
- Further, 12 step therapy gives structure to the journey of recovery. By following the 12 step program, patients have a system of milestones that give concrete benchmarks during the progress one makes in recovery. Patients feel gratification and build self-confidence as they “work” the 12 step program.`
Contact Coalition Recovery Today
No matter if you’re religious or merely spiritual, our optional 12 step program is available to offer comfort, reassurance, and an additional level of motivation as our patients proceed in the journey of recovery. If you’d like to learn more about 12 step therapy or receive more information about the other resources we offer, call Coalition Recovery today at 888.707.2873 or simply complete our convenient online form. By reaching out to Coalition Recovery, you or your loved ones can take the first steps toward a life of health, happiness, and fulfillment.