How is Soul Recovery like the 12 steps?

The Steps and Soul Recovery are similar in that they are both designed to help you surrender to something greater than your stories, fears and childhood wounds. They are both designed to support you in releasing blame and being accountable for your actions. Both are designed to reconnect you to a way of living that you are worthy of.

Who does this help?

Absolutely everyone.

Addictive-behavior and dependence are concepts that we typically view through the lens of substance abuse. Yet the underlying life patterns that bring substance abuse into form are the very same as those that keep people frozen in bad relationships, bad jobs and other fear-based forms of dependence.

There are millions of people on this planet who have never been addicted to anything, yet are so emotionally overwrought and overwhelmed that they can barely function.

Who can’t relate to worrying themselves to the point of distraction? Who can’t relate to feeling so unworthy that they want to throw up before a job interview or audition? How many people suffer from rage and anger to the point of losing relationships and employment? Who hasn't been abandoned and rejected by someone they love, or who procrastinate day after day, month after month, and find themselves in the same place they were in the year before? So, even if you never touched a drink or drug in your life – if you can relate to these emotions, this process is for you.

What is a Soul Recovery Coach? Do I need one?

A Soul Recovery Coach may be a person who is trained and licensed as a therapist, minister or practitioner. Or they may be a mentor, family member or someone who has significant life wisdom without any special license. The most important qualification for a Soul Recovery Coach is their ability to see the totality of your life as an expression of Spirit - no matter what your past history or background might suggest. A Soul Recovery Coach sees the wholeness of you when you may not be able to see and experience that wholeness. They have a deep understanding of the metaphysical principles of Soul Recovery and can guide their clients on their journey of self-realization.

While much of the work of Soul Recovery can be done by yourself, there are several critical Keys that require the participation of a Soul Recovery Coach. AA meetings, churches and spiritual centers of all kinds can be great sources to find a Soul Recovery Coach.

SoulRecovery.org offers a Soul Recovery Coach Certification Program for counselors, sponsors and practitioners interested in becoming a part of our SR Network.

I'm already in a 12 step program, does this work with it?

Absolutely.

Prior to the development of the Soul Recovery process, the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous was the only program widely available to heal addiction and dependence. The 12 Keys of Soul Recovery are completely consistent with the 12 Step process and can be incorporated into your recovery program. It is also not required to complete the 12 Step process in order to process through the life patterns that contributed to your addiction in the first place. It is how you and your therapist or sponsor takes you through the process that’s most important.

I am not sober yet - do I need to stop using before you can help me?

We do not recommend that people currently using substances engage in the Soul Recovery process - without additional support to address the critical issue of substance abuse. The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are one very good option.

The important thing is to begin your healing process by whatever means. Where ever you decide to begin, the Universe doesn’t know if you’re loaded or sober. It only knows your wholeness - whether you are aware of that or not.

What does a Soul Recovery Coach do?

A Spiritual Therapist's main activity is to support you in coming face to face with deep resentments, fears, childhood trauma and negative habitual patterns, and - through various processes - connecting with and healing your inner child, transforming old painful stories that have been running your life, and cleaning up wreckage of your past by guiding you through the amends process.

The Soul Recovery Coach guides the development of their client through the challenges of re-orienting their internal identification with the world around them. For example, if we have grown up believing that we are insignificant and stupid, this is a problem of "identification." As long as we retain that negative view of ourselves, we should not be surprised to experience that reflection in the conditions of our lives - including relationships, employment, physical and financial health.

The job of the Soul Recovery Coach is to see us in our wholeness as full fledged expressions of God (Love, Divine Spirit or whatever you want to call it) - fully worthy of the good that is possible in life. In particular, their job is to hold that clarity when we are unable to visualize that wholeness ourselves.

As you probably know, in early human history, family elders would assist the young through the life challenges that were a part of growing up - shepherding those in their care through adolescence, marriage, creating family and contributing to the tribe or community. A good Soul Recovery Coach can play a roll in this way as well - giving guidance and training in specific practices - including prayer and meditation - that can assist you through your own transitions in life.

How is a Soul Recovery Coach different than my Sponsor?

Sponsorship was designed to support someone getting clean and sober, taking them through the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and supporting them in facing the challenges of life that are presented without the crutch of drugs/alcohol or their old negative habits.

A Soul Recovery Coach works in the realm of your spiritual development and unfoldment. The Soul Recovery Coach assists you to a point where real healing can occur in the various life patterns that underlie your addiction in the first place.

It is sometimes possible to find a person who can serve both functions, but it is rare. These are two, very different and important functions for the healing of dependence.

Do I have to go to 12 step meetings?

While there are no requirements to attend 12 Step meetings, it is left up to your honest discretion and that of your Soul Recovery Coach if attending meetings is something that should be incorporated into your Soul Recovery process.