There is no shame here.
When addiction enters a home, recovery is necessary for the entire family.
I should know – I’m a mom whose family has been touched by addiction. And along the way, I learned how to combine my faith with recovery.
Above all, I want you to know – you are not alone and there is hope. There are no stigmas here. Let’s journey together.
Why The Twelve Steps + Ignatian Spirituality?
The big picture idea behind 12-step practices and Ignatian Spirituality is to work towards healing dis-ease, dis-order and disruption in our relationships to God, self and others.
STEPS 1-3: RECOVER FAITH
The first three steps require us to admit that “I can’t. God can. I’ll let Him.” Likewise, in Ignatian Spirituality, the First Principle and Foundation focuses on humanity being created to “praise, reverence, and serve God.” Recovering faith means we have to let go and radically trust God, which requires building a relationship with Him.
STEPS 4-7: RECOVER ME
The second set of steps focuses on our relationship with ourselves, which includes acknowledging that we are loved children of God made in His Image and Likeness. We cannot do this alone – walking this journey with a sponsor (AA) or spiritual director (Ignatian) allows us to heal this relationship with ourselves and replace our bad habits for good.
STEPS 8-12: RECOVER FAMILY
Now, we can recover our relationship with others. We start by making amends or reconnecting with family (disruption) by making amends and then learn how to maintain our relationships with God, ourselves, and others (Examen Prayer). We try to keep a healthy prayer life (which the spiritual exercises are all about prayer) and then we give it back to the world. (The Call of Christ the King).
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I got a call from someone lost. I will call the person, Joe. Joe was at his bottom. He’d run out of ideas. He’d tried everything he could to help his loved one deal with their addiction. He’d exhausted every idea within HIS power and he came up short. So he reached out for help. […]
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Chipping away at the stigma of addiction is near and dear to my heart but it wasn’t until I was asked to speak on the topic of engaging families and parishes into recovery where I gave any thought as to how or where to start dealing with such a big job. The stigma surrounding addiction, […]
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Addiction is a Spiritual Problem
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Engaging Families & Parishes into Recovery
When I learned that my family members suffered from an addiction to drugs and alcohol, I knew 2 things for sure: I knew that their addiction was a spiritual problem and I knew that I could not take this problem to my parish for support. This knowledge left me baffled about what to do next. […]
Addiction is a Family/Parish Disease…
It’s been a very busy season. In October I was offered a unique opportunity. I was asked to be the keynote speaker for the Bishop’s Dinner honoring Guest House, a treatment center for Roman Catholic priest and religious. This year’s theme was, “Recovery as a Bridge: Engaging Families and Parishes into Recovery.” The morning of […]
