Recovery is more than abstinence from mind- and mood-altering drugs and alcohol or the addictive behavior being addressed. It is about looking at the world with a new attitude and a new way of seeing the events of our lives in order to claim responsibility and subsequent recovery from behaviors, actions, and attitudes that have destroyed our lives. While addictive practices, such as drinking, drugging, and gambling can be destructive forces, the driving powers of these addictions can be as simple as our thoughts about them. Addicts tend to see the world as an adversarial environment that they must conquer daily just to survive. Because there are many forms of trauma that may help shape these ideas, it is very important to overcome them.

Survival is not necessary when addicts can begin to believe and hope that life is good. Their viewfinder of their life must be pointed in a different direction to help them see more optimistically, which is really more realistically than they believe. Many see that life is hard and give up any notion of ever overcoming the incredible odds stacked against them. They also see that circumstances and relationships with others have become damaged to such a degree that there is no way to right the vast wrongs that have been committed and to turn the tide of negative events in another direction. When faced with the tremendous amount of wreckage they see in their lives, they feel overwhelmed and inadequate to face the task or even begin it.

This is when the sponsor or counselor can come to the rescue with the adage begun in Alcoholics Anonymous of “one day at a time.” This phrase instructs the addict in recovery to do what is possible in a 24-hour period to begin the process of cleaning up the wreckage in their lives. It is a daunting task, but can be done, one bit at a time, one (12) Step at a time. As they begin the process of cleaning up their past and working through the steps, addicts will find that they begin to see the world around them differently. What once felt like a hostile environment, set out to ruin their dreams, begins to feel like a world full of hope and possibility. They begin to take responsibility for their actions and behaviors, both while under the influence of their addiction, and while in the recovery process. They will begin to see that their cognitions and beliefs about their lives were at fault. Life is not a dangerous place to go, but joy and sanity get restored and they can see how their choices can be different.

The first choice that changes is the way they view the universe around them. Instead of being victimized by the life they had been living, they can overcome and enjoy their life by having a say in what happens next. While life will sometimes, (or even often) throw a curveball that was unexpected, new tools and insight are given to each addict to help them see the beauty and plan that is possible for them to learn and grow through the circumstances and build a wonderful life from the ashes of their previous wreckage.

Kelly McClanahan has an MSW in clinical social work, with a specialization in substance abuse treatment. Having worked in this field for over 20 years, she is currently working on her certification as an addictions’ counselor.

Recovery from addiction can seem like a never-ending process, and so it is, from a standpoint of healing. Life is a never-ending learning and growing process, so it is with healing. Because recovery embraces all of the addicts’ life, both before and after they enter recovery, it will be never ending. That does not need to be as daunting as it may sound. Healing is a circular and spiral process at the same time, not a linear one. As recovery deepens over time, the recovering person will come to the same issues and hit the same brick walls they came into the recovery process with.

While these issues will certainly heal, the process will bring them back into focus again and again, for deeper and more significant healing. As recovery goes on, the same person will address their important emotional growth on deeper and more significant levels each time they work through the same troubles that were present for them in their addiction.

As an example, if Henry has had trouble with intimacy before his recovery, he will become more and more involved in intimate relationships with others as his recovery progresses. If he is stable in maintaining his growth and development in recovery, he will address the need to develop deeper intimacy in these same relationships, as well as any others that may come along. Long term relationships develop deeper intimacy as they go along, so will Henry’s need to learn to go deeper into the intimacy of relationships. This is something that he could not come to terms with in his addiction. The longer he remains in recovery, the greater his ability to go deeper into intimacy with others will become. Therefore, the never-ending process has rewards that are a part of, but separate from, his recovery. Due to his recovery, Henry will be able to address his issues with intimacy in ways that he would never have dreamed possible. This is true for all who are in recovery, no matter what their issues may be.

Healing in a circular pattern means that we will come back to the point of the issue with certain things in our lives over and over, not necessarily on a predictable basis or pattern, but repeatedly as we deepen our strengths in other areas as well. The spiral pattern means that we will come closer and closer to the core of who we dream of being and closer and nearer to our heart centers as we grow. The energetic patterns of all matter are circular and spiral, such as the movement of the Earth around the Sun and other orbits, such as the helix of an atom. If energy is circular and spiral, then it is fitting and appropriate to visualize healing as such. As we grow closer and closer to our heart centers, over time, we will become freer and freer of the old patterns of behavior and belief that were part and parcel of addictions.

Recovery will then become a journey, not the destination some believe it to be. The journey takes us into the realm of our heart centers, which is the center of the circular pattern as well. As we grow deeper and deeper into our hearts, we become more and more healed from the ideas and behaviors that we practiced in our addiction and more and more available to participate, not only in healing and recovery, but in a beautiful life.

Kelly McClanahan has an MSW in clinical social work, with a specialization in substance abuse treatment. Having worked in this field for over 20 years, she is currently working on her certification as an addictions’ counselor.

For some of those in early recovery, money is the biggest problem they perceive. Because they may have behaved irresponsibly with money, whether it was in large sums or small, they have created fear in the area of finance. Motivation is high to make it right and to go out from the treatment experience and work around the clock to recoup their former financial well-being.

This is a warning sign to all who work with this population. They will need to be taught the practice of balance and restraint when attempting to overcome years of bad behavior. The clock they hear ticking will go on ticking whether they race against it or not. Patience is not a strong feature in this population, but they will need to train for patience in every area of their lives.

Money is one commodity they believe they know how to control beneficially. This is no truer than in any other aspect within their control. Addictive personality traits run to excess in every area…this is yet another example of where it can and will manifest if not carefully monitored by those who advise the newly recovering addict.

It is important that they understand the time and process that brought them to the brink of disaster and be willing to spend the same amount of time and energy recovering from it that they exhibited in creating it. This is difficult to get across when they believe that money will mend many of the broken relationships, dreams, and family situations that were created. It must be pointed out to them again and again that there is not enough money created anywhere to do this job right now. It is a healing process that will take time and consistent, steady effort to achieve.

Most community agencies, such as legal entities, debtors, and those to whom money is owed will be more than willing to accept small regular payments toward the amounts outstanding. Even illegal entities such as drug dealers and gambling debtors have been known to be quite reasonable when being repaid for past misdeeds. Their thinking usually follows the logic that they can collect from someone who is not spending their money on the addiction any longer and is willing to repay them. If not, wise counsel will always prevail. These and other stories of recompense are heard frequently in recovery meetings. Stories of reinstated families, jobs, and other issues of financial disaster happen every day. They take time, creative and cooperative work, and willingness to do what seems impossible in the beginning. Seldom is it possible, practical or ethical to advise someone new to their recovery to work themselves to death to recoup their financial greatness.

Nor does sudden financial freedom help the recovering person feel the sense of accomplishment that determined step-by-step, month-by-month payments achieve. There is something to the process that keeps the ego at bay and allows the member to achieve the flow of process, not an overnight arrival. The world of recovery is just that, a process, not a sudden arrival. Success in any realm will demand that process itself be honored, not just the outcome of the process.

Kelly McClanahan has an MSW in clinical social work, with a specialization in substance abuse treatment. Having worked in this field for over 20 years, she is currently working on her certification as an addictions’ counselor.

I know that being abused as a child is part of why I struggle with addiction.  I’ve lived it.  But it’s all behind me, why talk about it?  Why look at it?  What would a luxury drug rehab do for me?

If I really tell the truth, the emotional abandonment I have felt as a child has left me with a sense of emptiness, a constant state of internal deprivation.  I know that I used because I was looking for something I lacked in my life.  Love?  Security?  How is a luxury drug rehab going to give that back to me?  And without some distraction, I can’t bear the pain within.  Drugs, alcohol…they work but never last. I need more, always more.  How is a luxury drug rehab program going to fill this void?

What you have to overcome each day is stunning.  You deserve an environment where you can receive nurturing, support, and healing that fits you and your lifestyle, not an institutional setting or 12-step approach. The finest luxury drug rehab will:

• be a place where you can feel safe and accepted enough to take chances, to find out that you can confront your childhood trauma and pain.
• provide counseling that reveals your strengths and capacity to live without abusing substances.
• provide the most upscale accommodations and comforts.
• serve the freshest organic food.
• replenish and strengthen you with natural healthcare, activity, massage, walks in the countryside with highly trained holistic therapists.
• provide you with the tools to see that you can be your own real and best self everywhere.
• replace struggling with drugs with your own focused goals and mission to take back out into the world.

Luxury drug rehab is a whole new perspective.  It means truly healing the very reasons for the drug abuse at the core.  Isn’t it time to feel deeply whole and well in your own skin?

This article was contributed by Deb Roberts, program administrator at The Exclusive Addiction Treatment Center.

Does advice feed our self-knowledge and ignite our inner fires to heal ourselves?  Well, let’s see. Advice comes from the outside. And while we often get advice from our parents and well-meaning friends–people who often have our best interests at heart–it is based on the assumption that someone else knows us better than we know ourselves. A non 12-step rehab program is different because it’s not about advice.

The truth is it doesn’t matter who the advice comes from as it mostly just pisses us off.  We want control over our own decisions and to follow our own beliefs and values. We crave living our own lives. We think that if someone has to tell us what to do, we must need to be fixed. If we need to be fixed, then we must be no good. Non 12-step rehab doesn’t waste time going down this road because shame feeds addiction.

It’s too painful, too much. I can’t take it.  I’ve got to do something to release the stress. Drugs, alcohol, cutting, eating, not eating, buying?  Whatever gets us through another day and away from all that advice. Why would we want to pursue recovery that is scripted with all the “answers” ready and waiting?  Isn’t that just more of the same?

Non 12-step rehab is customized and focuses on your natural brilliance, even if you can’t yet see it for yourself.  It supports you while you find your answers. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach to overcoming destructive addictive behaviors and does not assume to know what’s right for you.

So what is non 12-step rehab?

• It’s based on the premise that you are innately brilliant.
• It assumes that you did the best you could with the beliefs and coping skills you had in the past and that now you’re ready to live the life you really want.
• It’s all about supporting that life—the dream of feeling deeply good, balanced and whole.
• It’s based on self-inquiry.  Non 12-step rehab respects you as a unique person with unique struggles and strengths.  Who knows you better than you do when you are ready to know yourself? When you enter non 12-step rehab, you enter a customized program that is focused on processes for recovery and self-discovery that vary from person to person.

Aaron and Elizabeth have been admitted to a program with non 12-step rehab a few days apart.  Each has entered non 12-step rehab with a similar mix of substance abuse, an eating disorder, and excessive buying. They are surprised to discover that non 12-step rehab isn’t a cookie cutter approach. In their non 12-step rehab sessions, Aaron and Elizabeth find themselves being honored and respected in the most meaningful ways they’ve ever experienced.  Their individual non 12-step programs are surprisingly different.  When they compare notes about their treatment team goals they find a breadth of differences because they are different people!  And this empowering non 12-step rehab environment feeds their self respect and enthusiasm for their lives and teaches them to listen to their own individual core values. Non 12-step rehab supports each of them in expressing their joys, pain, fears, triumphs, and goals but it doesn’t do that by following a scripted list of steps.

Non 12-step rehab is about living lives of congruency, integrity and authentic joy. The journey is one of self discovery that goes way beyond sobriety. It’s about living a life of passion and clarity for the rest of our lives.

This article was contributed by The Exclusive Hawaii Addiction Treatment Center, a treatment facility that specializes in non 12-step rehab.