My Approach

My Approach

My approach is a 3 pronged path to recovery:

1st: Develop a spiritual practice

2nd: Integrate meaningful ritual practices

3rd: Connect to the 12 Steps

These three components each work to combat the addiction and allow a holistic and well rounded approach. When it comes to sobriety, there is no one size fits all. That is why one can have a devout African American Southern Baptist minister working with a caucasian bi-sexual man without any sense of judgement or moral quandary.

Our guides lead towards a path of sobriety. Each component needs to be worked on. The experiences I have had working with addicts have shown me numerous times that spirituality, the 12 Steps, and religious practice all play a significant role in helping guide people on their path to sobriety. From my experience, I have seen the lives of those I’ve worked with transformed through the 12 Steps, Jewish,Christian, Muslim or other religious practice, and spiritual practices, sometimes integrating all three. For those in recovery, the ability to believe in a higher power, have spiritual routines, and grasp some semblance of spirituality appears to play a significant role.

A note on the spiritual practice:

The Big Book of AA includes the second and third steps, which promote spirituality and the belief in a higher power, even if one does not understand this higher power. Articles written from all faiths discuss the connection between their holy scriptures and sobriety. Some studies have focused specifically on spirituality and sobriety including Oliver Morgan’s Addiction and Spirituality in Context, Rabbi Paul Steinberg’s Addiction in Body, Mind, and Jewish Spirituality, and Steve Sussman et al.’s Spirituality in Addictions Treatment: Wisdom to Know...What It Is