Ministers, Miracles, and Meth: The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of Mixing Religion and Recovery Terrence D. Walton, M

1. Ministers, Miracles, and Meth: The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of Mixing Religion and Recovery Terrence D. Walton, MSW, ICADC Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia Washington, DC

2. Here’s What’s Coming • About spirituality, religion, addiction and Recovery • The Promise • Pitfalls for Believing Clients • Pitfalls for Believing Helpers • The Twelve Steps • The Road to Recovery

5. Spirituality The way in which an individual finds their freedom, strength and meaning in life; it is largely a matter of values and decision-making.

6. Muhammad KarimFounder of Path of Peace, Inc., Washington, DC “The sacred, spiritual mission must be there to change. You have to have it. It may not mean a reliance on a religion, but faith is a necessary component of change. To make progress on the path of peace, belief in yourself is a crucial first step. Offenders see it work with others. They begin to believe. Spirituality gives hope beyond human needs.”

7. Religion The degree to which finds their freedom, strength and meaning in life through alignment with faith-based institutions and shared beliefs; it is an expression of spirituality, not its opposite.

8. Paths to Recovery

10. Key Questions • How does religion and spirituality shape people’s attitudes about addiction and recovery? • What accounts for the success or failure of faith-based treatment options? • Do secular recovery groups address a need for meaning, as do spiritual or religious groups? Does it matter?

11. Key Questions • What do recovering addicts say about the importance of keeping God in or out of their treatment and recovery? • What are addiction treatment providers experiences using 12-Step versus secular approaches? • If addiction is a brain disorder, a disease, what role does human free will play?

12. The Promise

13. The Promise • A mechanism for finding purpose and meaning • A source of personal strength to resist temptation. • The battle between good and evil as a mental model for understanding the addiction struggle • “Spirit” versus “flesh” as a model for understanding the paradox of addiction

14. The Promise • A source of personal faith and hope • A source of community support • A path for healing and freedom • An outlet for receiving forgiveness and making amends

15. Potential Pitfalls for Believers • Discounting as heresy help or information from secular sources • Excessive guilt & disillusionment caused by repeatedly falling back into addiction-induced “sins” confessed, repented of, and forgiven.

16. Potential Pitfalls for Believers Feeling judged, condemned, or frowned upon by religious people or the “God of my understanding”

17. Potential Pitfalls for Believers • Over-reliance on faith, belief, or God to deliver me from addiction • Assuming that “healing” means that my job is done • Expecting a miracle, instead of a “ day-by-day” process.

18. Potential Pitfalls for Professionals • Religious helper with non-religious client • Non-religious helper with religious client • Evidence-based therapies that conflict with religious values

19. Potential Pitfalls for Professionals When cultural differences are present, questions often arise about the validity of evidence-based practices (EBP) with populations whose values, norms, interpretations, experiences, and assertions may differ from those of the developers of the EBP.

20. Potential Pitfalls for Professionals • Self-determination or self-sacrifice • Putting others first or passivity and codependency • Viewing religious beliefs or experiences as delusional or hallucinatory • Differing views on the essence or origins of addiction and recovery • Inability to work with “non-believers” using exclusively secular approaches • Ignoring or avoiding religious themes

21. A Question of Values & Decision-Making

22. How to Help without Harm • Uphold the validity and fidelity of proven practices while honoring the values of the client • Respect cultural variations, expectations, and communication • Show adaptability and flexibility • Intervene consistent with client’s value system • Work from the client’s perspective • Invite (don’t impose) alternate perspectives • Don’t proselytize

23. About Addiction & God

24. About Addiction & Grace

25. Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions Gerald G. May, M.D.

26. Grace For Christians, grace is a dynamic outpouring of God’s loving nature that flows into and through creation in an endless self-offering of healing, love, illumination, and reconciliation. It is a gift that we are free to ignore, reject, ask for, or simply accept. And it is a gift that is often given in spite of our intentions and errors.

27. Grace • The Torah of Judaism is suffused with cries for God’s loving salvation • Islam finds its very heart in Allah’s mercy • Even for Buddhists and Hindus, with their emphasis on personal practice and effort, there could be no liberation without the grace of the Divine • Tibetan Buddhists pray for “gift waves” from deities and gurus

28. About Addiction & Freedom

30. Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps Richard Rohr

31. 12 Step Recovery: Key Concepts • Higher Power • Powerlessness • Surrender • Working the Steps • Spiritual Awakening • Taking Inventory • Making Amends

32. What About Alcoholics Anonymous? What about coerced AA participation?

33. Using Self Help/Mutual Support Groups in Therapy • “The 12 Step Facilitation Therapy Manual” (Nowinski, Baker, & Carroll, 2003)—focuses on 1st four steps • Offer choice (types, spiritual & secular) • Be selective regarding approved groups • Try to match demographics, lifestyles, and level of substance involvement • www.smartrecovery.org

34. Six Essential Action Steps • Get Ready (preparatory) • Break Free • Explore the Connections • Break the Connections • Choose the Right Path • Deal with Temptation

36. Ministers, Miracles, and Meth: The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of Mixing Religion and Recovery Terrence D. Walton, MSW, ICADC Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia Washington, DC Terrencedwalton@gmail.com