Chapter 11 THE WELLNESS PARADIGM OF RECOVERY

Transcription

1 In 1990, Tav Sparks agreed to write two books for the Hazelden Foundation. The first was to be a support for individuals who had reached a crossroads in their recovery, who were looking for something more, or who needed a deeper understanding of the 12 Step process. The second book was to be the unveiling of a radical new treatment strategy based on the wellness model of recovery, a paradigm Tav had pioneered in the middle 1980 s. The first book, The Wide Open Door: the Twelve Steps, Spiritual Tradition, and the New Psychology, was released in Tav wanted to include a final chapter as a preview of the next book on treatment. But this chapter was left out, and for various reasons the book unveiling this revolutionary treatment strategy was never published. Here, then, is the slightly updated version of the unpublished Chapter 11, The Wellness Paradigm of Recovery, which is a summary of the philosophical and practical basis of the Fires Creek experience. This paper was well ahead of its time in 1991, and foreshadowed many treatment strategies which years later have become mainstream. The chapter is itself a summary of a much earlier article written by Tav and published in Revision Journal in Chapter 11 THE WELLNESS PARADIGM OF RECOVERY In 1985, Ernie Larson's pivotal book, entitled Stage II Recovery - Life Beyond Addiction, was released. According to Larson, there were two parts to the recovery process. What he called "Stage I" dealt with issues of abstinence, and "Stage II" was concerned with the emotional sobriety that extends beyond it. Larson did not "invent" Stage II recovery. But he did effectively name and articulate the arrival of a certain important era in the evolution of the recovery movement. The publishing of Stage II Recovery closely parallels the movement's recognition that confronting codependence and "adult child" issues is necessary for successful recovery. If we borrow Larson's metaphor, our current journey (through The Wide Open Door) has been about "life beyond Stage II", or, more simply, Stage III recovery. Stage III concerns itself with the spiritual, or sacred, dimensions of "life beyond addiction". We have thus far focused our energies on developing a workable language and structure for these spiritual aspects. Stage III recovery appears to have two dynamics. The first of these is its linear nature, which is fairly self-explanatory. According to this part of the theory, after dealing effectively with abstinence and emotional sobriety, or Stages I and II, a seeker is then ready for the sacred adventure of Stage III. Thousands of practitioners fall into this category. It is one of the principle themes of this text. And it is not terribly difficult to see the need for a Stage III in the lives of seekers. 1

2 However, justifying this type of spirituality for newcomers is a far more challenging endeavor. If we think of Stage III linearly, then we imply that seekers are not ready for it until they have addressed Stages I and II. Just how long it takes to "be ready" is not etched in stone, although many theorists say that the process involves at least a number of years. There is also a second characteristic of Stage III, which requires closer scrutiny. If we use the principle of complementarity again, we can say that Stage III has a non-linear component as well as a linear one. In this instance, Stage III encompasses all the workings of Stages I-III in one "wholistic" approach, which does not necessarily depend on the passage of any specified amount of time. This second interpretation of Stage III has far-reaching implications for those just beginning recovery, whether they are entering a 12 Step fellowship directly, or are going into treatment first. The important question before us is whether the type of spirituality we have been exploring can be applied to the beginning stages of recovery. Must seekers wait a prescribed number of years before they are ready for the deeper mysteries of spirituality? Or can treatment somehow incorporate the essence of this spiritual perspective and thereby actually become more effective? But the treatment field is facing a crisis. The problems confronting treatment practitioners are not just economic, although the whole issue of insurance coverage and length of treatment stay are definitely some of the most timely. The crisis is much more fundamental than that, and extends all the way to the core of treatment philosophy itself. Do you remember our discussion of paradigms, or world-views, in New Ideas? If we apply the principles of that chapter to our current discussion, the treatment field is presently in a paradigm collision. Whenever a movement is "on the cusp" between two paradigms, there is always a time of uncertainty and turmoil. We can also use another of our frequently discussed metaphors and say that it is in the process of death and rebirth. The movement will be transformed, but it must first undergo the crisis of death and rebirth, in the same way that individuals in recovery must also have a1st Step experience. Just as world philosophy and science are now moving into a new paradigm, the recovery movement is likewise evolving. For the sake of simplicity, we will call this new era the "wellness paradigm". I believe that wellness-focused, or spiritual, recovery can be effective for treatment. Furthermore, I believe that it more effectively fulfills the intentions of recovery pioneers and represents a radical return to the movement's philosophical roots. It would take a whole text devoted specifically to wellness-focused treatment to do justice to these proposals. But since recovery for newcomers is obviously an area of vital concern, not only for themselves, but also for those who work with them, we should at least briefly touch on them here. We will first outline a history of the traditional recovery paradigm and the problems facing the field. Following this will be a discussion of the new wellness 2

3 paradigm, including answers to some criticisms of this type of treatment. Finally, we will describe a few elements of the wellness vision and what it will take to make this vision a reality in terms of a new paradigm recovery center. The Traditional Treatment Paradigm There are several important foundations of the treatment movement upon which the whole traditional paradigm is based. Each of these is intimately linked with the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although we have discussed them previously in a slightly different context, we will repeat them here. First and foremost is the spiritual experience of Bill W. and the basic power of one addict helping another. These culminated in the founding of the 12 Step movement. The second pivotal development was the creation of the Hazelden model of treatment in the late 1940's. Hazelden was the first to create a successful treatment perspective based on the philosophy of The Big Book. In principle, treatment was meant to be the "professional helpmate" to the "grass roots" 12 Step movement. Its original purpose was to assist the addict in having a 1st Step experience. In order to accomplish this, it relied on the best of the medical, psychological, and religious disciplines that were available at that time. The next major milestone was the recognition by the American Medical Association (AMA) in the mid 1950's that alcoholism was a disease. This recognition was bolstered by the publication of Jellineck's The Disease Concept of Alcoholism. These events gave the recovery movement tremendous credibility, and also opened the door for vast sums of money to be spent in research. One way to chronicle the history of the treatment movement would be to divide it into four phases. Borrowing from Larson again, the first phase is the focus on Stage I recovery, or on the issue of abstinence. The second is the era of Stage II, or the importance of emotional sobriety and the condition of codependence. This stage was introduced by such pioneers in the codependence field as Sharon Wegsheider-Cruz and her book, Another Chance. Although the third phase is actually a part of Stage II, it has been so timely as to deserve a separate classification on its own. This is the field's opening to issues of sexuality, and in particular sexual abuse and addiction. The final phase is the emergence of Stage III and its focus on spirituality. One of the first major indications of the arrival of Stage III was the inclusion of a special track on addiction and recovery at the Tenth International Conference of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) in The next two ITA conferences, entitled "The Spiritual Quest, Attachment, and Addiction", and "Yearning for Wholeness - Addiction and the Spiritual Quest", effectively established the field of transpersonal, or wellness-focused recovery. 3

4 Growing Pains - Problems Facing the Field Although a number of problems have emerged in addictions treatment over the past few years, there are three unavoidable dilemmas that are inherent in the core of the movement itself. I call the first of these the "Catch-22". The development of spirituality is the fundamental purpose of the 12 Steps and recovery. However, as one of its helpmates, the treatment field has had to rely on a psychological perspective that treats spirituality as a sickness. We have already discussed how the Freudian perspective views a spiritual experience as "sublimation" or "avoidance". Even humanistic psychology, which began to see peak experiences as a sign of health, has not provided a comprehensive language and structure for such experiences. This fundamental catch 22 has been a part of the collective treatment psyche sense the beginning. It has unwittingly, yet effectively, sabotaged virtually all efforts to develop a true spiritual component in treatment. The second core dilemma I call the "Double-edged Sword". This is the AMA's recognition that alcoholism is a disease. One edge of the sword, which has had positive results, is the credibility A.A. and treatment have received. The other edge, and one which has had farreaching negative consequences, has been the gradual overshadowing of the spiritual focus in treatment by the power of the medical and scientific model. The recovery movement has paid dearly for the AMA's pronouncement. Science and medicine have inevitably done what they do best. But this has been at the profound expense of the original and most important foundation of the recovery movement. The third problem is the "X Factor" of spirituality itself. Several years ago, scientists said they had found the cause of alcoholism. They called one of the elements of this newlydiscovered cause the "X Factor". For all intents and purposes, this was their admission that the cause of addiction was in fact unknown to them. I believe that the X Factor is the domain of spirituality itself, which cannot be measured by traditional scientific methods. Spirituality contains the seeds of the death of the ego, or false self, and subsequent rebirth into a more healthy, whole self connected to the world, humanity, and the cosmos at large. To repeat what we said early on, the natural result of systematic self-exploration, using the 12 Steps, spirituality, or psychology, is that the seeker will enter the realms of the sacred dimensions of existence. Treatment must confront the issues of spirituality, or the dimension of the sacred, because the whole recovery movement is based on it. As long as we include any element of the Higher Power in recovery, the inevitable result will be a movement toward wholeness, or the continued spiritual evolution of the individual, as well as of the movement itself. Over the past few years, many treatment centers have been using experiential methods, which have in general been adopted from techniques of humanistic psychology. Among these are guided imagery, family sculpturing and other forms of psycho-drama, inner child work, shame reduction, and rage work. These methods are so powerful that, in many cases, seekers have experienced emergences from deep realms of the psyche, which some growing edge 4

5 psychological systems call the perinatal, or death/rebirth dimension, and transpersonal, or collective realm, described by Carl Jung. Except in very rare cases, addictions therapists are using the traditional biographical map of the human psyche. Thus, when seekers experience something from the perinatal or transpersonal dimensions, professionals often do one of three things. They either treat the emergence as some form of mental pathology; reduce it to a symbol of some biographical issue; or call it an avoidance of addiction or some other biographical situation. In any case, we as therapists are doing seekers an injustice, if not actual harm, by stifling, or misdirecting, the psyche's legitimate urge toward wholeness. By using powerful experiential methods, without an expanded cartography of the human psyche, we are like "sorcerer's apprentices". There seems to be little point in providing such openings, if we do not know how to support seekers unconditionally to fully complete the journey on which their Higher Power is guiding them. Wellness-focused treatment provides both experiential methods and extended maps. This is what we mean by "language and structure" for spirituality. Synergy - The 12 Steps and New Psychology We have already explored the deep psychological and spiritual roots of the recovery movement. The influences of William James, Carl Jung, and the Oxford Group are well documented. Bill W.'s own consciousness research, and his friendship with Aldous Huxley, also inescapably link the 12 Steps to consciousness research, perennial philosophy, and new psychologies such as the transpersonal and wellness movement. Many are discovering a fascinating synergy between transpersonal psychology and the 12 Steps. Transpersonal psychology is a psychology that includes spirituality. Therefore, it represents the ideal professional helpmate to the Steps for addictions and codependence treatment. On the other hand, because it is a spiritual discipline with a significant psychological component, the 12 Step philosophy is already transpersonal. Each of these disciplines has something to offer the other. First, by providing language and structure for the spiritual experience, transpersonal psychology helps to legitimize the 12 Steps in psychological circles and to fulfill the ultimate goals of the Program's promises. Second, because it is already a world-wide society of "spirituality in action", the 12 Step movement demonstrates how the aims of transpersonal psychology are already a practical reality. The Wellness Recovery Paradigm The wellness paradigm, like its forerunner, the disease model, is based on the importance of the spiritual experience. It relies on the principle of complementarity by seeking to unite in one wholistic approach the aims of all three stages of recovery. It utilizes the considerable psychological sophistication of the traditional paradigm, but will expand this expertise to include 5

6 exploration of the further dimensions of the psyche. Its primary aim will be to provide for the deepest possible 1st Step experience, as well as for the opportunity to undergo a radical spiritual awakening. We explained in "New Ideas" how a paradigm is self-sustaining. As a body of knowledge accumulates over the years, practitioners begin to assume that it represents the truth, instead of being theories about the truth. Also, when Larson introduced Stage II, this immediately presupposed that there is a Stage I that seekers must go through before they are ready for Stage II. And the same would hold true for Stage III. We might call this the "party line". We tacitly agree that this is "how it works". This entire line of reason is paradigm-bound. Each succeeding "truth" is based on the preceding pronouncement, which is in fact only a theory. What if we were to challenge the party line altogether? It is quite possible that the reason we have described recovery in terms of three different stages is not because this is the natural, or the only, trajectory healing can take. It just might be because we did not have sufficient knowledge or expertise to begin with to accomplish anything more than Stage I at that time. Once the codependence metaphor was accepted, it became an integral part of primary treatment. When we began to understand the power of sexual abuse and addiction, therapists addressed these issues with as much attention as other addiction problems. We did not withhold the benefits of these new insights, just because the preceding "truth" did not allow for them. The paradigm adjusted to each new understanding. The same thing must happen as we move into the wellness paradigm. But what makes this transition more difficult is that these new observations are confronting the absolute core of our thinking altogether. If we are to truly free ourselves from the restrictions of a paradigm, we must be willing to say, It does not have to be the way it has always been". We must be willing to challenge the theories that have somehow been mistaken for absolute truths. What theories, then, are we challenging here? Obviously, the first, and most basic, is the traditional belief that the human psyche is biographical in nature. Beyond this, in terms of addictions treatment, we are questioning the accepted time frame for when seekers are ready to undergo certain elements of recovery. The wellness recovery paradigm makes it possible from the outset to address the needs of the whole person. By "whole person", we mean the body, the emotions, and the spirit. But, we also mean stages I-III, or physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery. Treatment can be an opportunity to at least address those issues which are traditionally considered to belong to a later stage of recovery. We should always keep in mind that any comprehensive paradigm does not "throw the baby out with the bath water". What is valuable from the old should always be incorporated into the new. In this case, there is definitely much good to be salvaged from the old. The traditional recovery paradigm offers a legacy of hard-won knowledge and experience. The truth of 6

7 spirituality, the 12 Steps, the importance of the disease component, and the wealth of psychological expertise that has conceptualized the codependence metaphor are all examples of this inheritance. But we must also realistically accept where a paradigm falls short. The very fact that we utilize the Higher Power ensures that our understanding of humanness and reality itself will change. We do not want to diminish the value of what has already been accomplished. We only want the spiritual dimensions of recovery to be treated with the same expertise that the psychological and medical components have. Therefore, what we envision is an "integral treatment philosophy". This integral philosophy would incorporate the best of the medical and psychological disciplines within an expanded framework of the human psyche. And it would do this in conjunction with the use of experiential, 11th Step methods that can provide access to all dimensions of the psyche. The Beauty of the Lotus - Treatment's New Perspective How would wellness-focused treatment differ from the traditional models? The fundamental perspective of new paradigm treatment can be summed up most effectively by the poetic words of the famous Indian philosopher/mystic Sri Aurobindo, "The significance of the lotus is not to be found by analyzing the secrets of the mud from which it grows here; its secret is to be found in the heavenly archetype that blooms forever in the light above." The first thing that usually happens in traditional addictions therapy, or in any therapy for that matter, is that the seeker is asked to go back, or down, to the personal past. This is in keeping with the Freudian perspective. We are looking for the roots of sickness in the personal biography. In the case of addictions, we are searching for the roots of denial, as well as family trauma. We do this so that we can help facilitate the destruction of the ego, or false self, through a 1st Step experience. This is what Aurobindo meant by examining the roots in the mud. On the other hand, wellness-focused addictions therapy takes quite a different approach. It provides a way for the seeker to "look up" first, to come into contact with the whole person, which is connected with the Higher Power. This is what Aurobindo called the "heavenly archetype of the lotus". The purpose of first reaching up to make contact with the whole is not to stay there and avoid egoic denial. The purpose is to use the power of that initial spiritual contact as a searchlight for the arduous journey of inner exploration that follows. In treatment, we as therapists ask seekers to let go of their egos, or their false selves. But if the false self is all they think they are, then they will be much less likely to surrender it without a terrible struggle. It is easier to walk the plank if we know there is some water in the pool. Because wellness treatment can provide for a glimpse of the whole self beyond the false self, it is more gentle than traditional approaches. This is true, even though it uses some very powerful experiential methods. 7

8 In "Back to the Source", we proposed that Bill W.'s history was the blueprint for our current adventure. His experience is even more applicable to the specific issue of transpersonal treatment. Bill W. had a shattering spiritual experience before the Steps were even written. It was at the heart of his recovery foundation. This radical awakening did not mean that he was enlightened. However, it did provide the blueprint for the rest of his recovery. After the establishment of the blueprint by the initial experience, he spent the rest of his life "filling in" the missing pieces through the gradual awakening provided by the 12 Steps. Bill W. experienced the lotus of his whole self first, and then went about the journey of examining the roots of the lotus below. This reversal of traditional doctrine represents the core theme of wellness-focused addictions treatment. We do not avoid the essential work of dealing with the ego and denial. But we work with the false self while also providing an opportunity for seekers to have at least a glimpse of their wholeness. What the Wellness Paradigm Is Not One good way to define the wellness recovery paradigm is to say what it is not. Over the past few decades, a movement has developed, which has become known as the "New Age". Originally, this term applied to a certain pinnacle of spiritual evolution that many teachers have said was imminent for our planet. However, through the years, it has come to have a derogatory connotation. This is in part due to its practitioners' frequent discarding of sound psychological principles and their avoidance of necessary biographical and interpersonal work. There has been a tendency in New Age circles to believe that "going to the light" is all that is required. This approach has been labeled as some form of "pop" psychology that is easily discounted by any serious thinker. In the 1980's, many addictions therapists began to feel the gap that had developed between the field's psychological expertise and what they understood, or failed to understand, about the spiritual dimension. In response to this situation, New Age practitioners rushed in to fill the vacuum. Distressingly, many of them threw out the 12 Step perspective altogether. Their methods were often so psychologically ungrounded that they bore little resemblance to existing modalities. This development led to a justifiable backlash among treatment professionals, and reinforced a basic skepticism about the possibility of trying anything new. As a result, there has been a tendency to group all non-traditional methods under the heading of New Age practices, and, therefore, to reject them outright. The wellness paradigm is not New Age. Wellnessfocused treatment does not "go to the light" and avoid the personal and interpersonal dimensions. A wellness-focused therapist deals with what is. New paradigm treatment does not try to make a seeker have a spiritual experience. But it does provide a maximum opportunity for such an experience to happen, if this is what the inner healer allows to emerge. The purpose of wellness-focused treatment is not to educate seekers in new psychological perspectives, as it has been outlined in this text. Seekers may never need to know about Buddha, 8

9 mystery schools, or archetypes. However, what is important is that therapists will have at their disposal this information concerning the deeper dimensions of the psyche and spirituality. Then, when seekers do have experiences from these further realms, they will not be treated as though they are mentally ill, or are avoiding their addictions. The therapist will be able to validate and support seekers in the knowledge that what they are going through is a legitimate form of transformation. Criticisms There are basically two main criticisms that treatment professionals level at new paradigm wellness-focused recovery. The first is that some deep experiential methods are "too powerful". They say that addicts and codependents are not ready to do work in enhanced states of consciousness. The truth is, while I was actively addicted, I lived in an enhanced state. If we believe Carl Jung's assertion that addiction is a thirst for wholeness, then we must also believe that "non-ordinary or enhanced" is not bad, but is in fact part of the journey toward wholeness. Addicts and codependents, probably more than anybody else, are naturally prepared to experience enhanced states of consciousness. They have already tried to answer the call of their being, even though addiction finally proved to be a false start. Instead of stifling their urge toward wholeness, this urge should be nurtured and redirected into recovery channels. This does not mean that all seekers are ready for this type of work. Therapists should still do rigorous psychological testing to ascertain who is appropriate. But, just because it may be too powerful for some is no reason to deprive the rest, who are more than ready to undertake the spiritual adventure. This leads us to the second criticism most often heard about wellness-based treatment. Some say that experiential methods are dangerous and can irreparably damage the psyche. This belief has origins within the collective psyche of Western society. Many people remember the "horror" stories of the 60's, such as the time Art Linkletter's daughter jumped out of a window while under the influence of psychedelics. Or, more personally, either we, or someone we know, have experienced the negative consequences of doing some work in untherapeutic conditions. In many of these cases, we have not been given adequate integration instructions by the particular teacher who is supposed to be our guide, or else we have tried them without any guidance at all. However, that these situations have occurred does not negate the value of deep experiential work done in a safe setting, with a competent guide, who rigorously addresses the issue of integration. In fact, they should only serve to underscore the responsibility that therapists must take when they begin to offer these types of methods to seekers. Even though this resistance is part of the modern psyche, there is another element, even deeper in the collective dimension, that is at the heart of our fear of doing experiential work. This fear is rooted in the basic Freudian framework, which has also, to a large extent, conditioned our Western way of thinking. The Freudian perspective is essentially a disease model of the human psyche. We are guided to look inside for the roots of pathology. We have believed that the 9

10 psyche is a Pandora's box, which, if opened, would unleash all sorts of destructive instincts. We unconsciously accept that underneath all our defenses is the "bogey man". Through new perspectives in psychology, we have come to believe differently. True, the psyche does contain powerful forces. However, if these can be made conscious in a safe setting, a seeker is much less likely to ever act them out. Also, integrating these forces can be tremendously transformative. Finally, we discover that beneath these forces are other healing dimensions that ultimately take us into the spiritual realms of our Higher Power. The New Wellness-Focused Therapist The wellness paradigm also requires that we reevaluate our role as therapists. Traditionally, we have maintained that the therapist is the guide of the process, not the director. The seeker must do the work. However, the concept of the Inner Healer, which can be contacted through the use of deep experiential methods, represents the fulfillment of this philosophy. In this case, the therapist must surrender even more directorship than ever to the natural unfolding of the inner healing process. Not only will the therapists' role be different, but the entire focus of group therapy will also change. The purpose of group has been to help seekers experience the 1st Step, get in touch with emotions, and gain insight into their behavior and motivations. As such, it has essentially functioned as the means to "open" the psyche. If deep experiential 11th Step methods are used, such as mindfulness and music therapy, then the methods themselves will be the opener. The purpose of group therapy at this point will be to process the uncovered material. The basic level of therapeutic expertise that has been perfected over the past few decades will still be necessary. These skills will provide a practical and grounded structure to understand and integrate what has emerged from the unconscious. In addition, therapists must still act as guides in the all-important function of interpersonal work. Potential Problems for the New Field The traditional recovery paradigm has the benefit of a huge base of written information, both theoretical and practical. On the other hand, there is little or no such specific base of recovery-oriented theory to validate and support the wellness recovery paradigm. This theoretical foundation will have to be laid by the new practitioners of the paradigm, in the same way that traditional recovery science developed since the 1930's. Because of this, therapists and practitioners of the wellness paradigm are, in a sense, pioneers. They will be forced to rely on intuition and sound recovery instincts, until that time when the new philosophy has been articulated. For example, one of the primary situations they must be prepared for is the power of addictive denial to persist in the face of deep spiritual experiences. They will be required to determine if denial is still present, and if so, to direct the seeker to more rigorous traditional therapeutic approaches. 10

11 Our absolutely essential task as wellness-focused therapists will be the translation of new paradigm concepts into 12 Step terminology and the every-day language of recovery seekers. If we do not do this, we will be forever irrelevant. But, what is worse, we will do seekers a serious disservice, and possibly even harm. If we "frame" recovery in an exotic way, they may not be able to relate to the fellowships they must be involved with on a daily basis. It seems to be a fact that if we cannot translate the language, then we probably do not understand what we are talking about anyway. The Wellness Concept The "disease concept" has dominated treatment and recovery philosophy since the mid- 1950's. But beneath the medical model also lies its psychological equivalent, the Freudian perspective of psychopathology. These two have worked together to define what we can actually call the "disease paradigm" of recovery. Our traditional understanding tells us that alcoholism is a disease. However, our new perspective reveals that addiction is a spiritual condition with a medical and a psychological component. There is a vast difference between these two outlooks. Since 1950, we have highlighted the medical and psychological components of recovery. We have done such a thorough job of it that, to a large extent, we have lost sight of the spiritual origin of the condition altogether. It is time now, not to throw out the disease concept, but to place it in a larger framework. This new spiritual framework opens the door on a much more hopeful appraisal of human potential. The disease model is evolving into the wellness model of recovery. If we function in our life unaware of psychological symptoms, this does not mean that we are necessarily healthy. It is possible that our problems are still so unconscious that we do not realize the effect they are having in our everyday lives. On the other hand, if we are experiencing symptoms, it is a positive sign coming from our inner healer that the pattern is "on the way out". The more profoundly we experience the pattern, the closer we are to completing it. As the saying goes, the darkest hour is always just before the dawn. And the darkest hour is also, in a sense, the closest we come to transformation before it actually occurs. According to the wellness model, addiction is the most acute and articulate form that the egoic problem of extreme self-centeredness can take. Becoming involved in addiction is "ego's last gasp" before its death and rebirth. It the darkest hour before the dawn of healing. It is a great opportunity to burst through the boundaries of separate, egoic existence and to discover our true self as part of the Higher Power. Addiction is evidence that our inner healer is doing a good job of moving us toward wholeness. In this way, it is a sign of wholeness, not just of disease. This is what we mean by the wellness concept. Remember, the wellness model does not throw out the disease concept. Addiction does have a disease component. But it places the disease concept in a larger framework of health. This 11

12 new perspective has tremendous implications for addictions treatment. By relating to seekers as beings of infinite potential who are currently operating from an addiction pattern, we extend the boundaries of recovery exponentially. A long time ago we used to say to an addict, "You are bad." For the last few decades we have said, "You are sick." Essentially, there is not much difference between these two pronouncements. They are both strong indictments of human potential. Hopefully, we will one day be able to look at a seeker and say, "Great! Glad you are here. You are almost well." The Center We have all made a yoga out of the phrase, "Keep it simple." The current state of addictions treatment is anything but that. This condition of complexity has evolved over two fronts. On the one hand, the unwitting complicity between insurance companies, JCAH, and treatment as big business has created a crisis situation. Treatment has become, in a sense, "top heavy", where more energy goes to "run the business" than is channeled into actual recovery. On the other, treatment itself has become sophisticated to the point of being over specialized. Practitioners have become "experts" at different addictions. As a result, many seem to know "more and more about less and less". This is a situation common toward the end of one paradigm and the beginning of another. Every so-called "breakthrough" still occurs within the boundaries of the current paradigm. In this case, professionals have taken exploration up to the walls of psycho-spiritual birth and death. Not knowing there is any place else to go, they have examined and reexamined each nuance of addiction under a microscope. The blackboard of the classroom we have been in for half a century is completely filled with recovery equations. Without erasing what we have learned, the only thing left to do is to move to a new classroom with a clean board. Wellness focused treatment of addictions and codependence is not a complicated extension of current practices. Nor is it an ungrounded departure from recovery's time-honored principles. It is, in fact, a radical return to the movement's philosophical roots. Moreover, by once again focusing on the power of spirituality, it more completely fulfills the original intentions of recovery pioneers. The wellness perspective also keeps it simple. To be implemented, it does not require a radical change in existing treatment formats. We are primarily advocating the addition of deep experiential methods within an expanded framework of the human psyche. However, it will require that every member of the staff, from the cook to the comptroller, be "on the same page" philosophically. This means that everyone must be involved in some form of recovery yoga and be open to the infinite possibilities of the creative recovery spirit. It would not be too revolutionary to also envision a return to the early idea of the "recovery farm". Ideally, this would be in a setting which could take advantage of the healing and aesthetic potential of nature. Within this environment, and without the often bewildering and 12

13 unsettling atmosphere of big business and the medical model, seekers will be able to experience the power of simplicity that is at the heart of true recovery. This is not a cry of "return to nature", or "back to the good ole days". A radical return to roots would bring with it the wealth of skills we have acquired through the decades. Yet it does represent a "cleaning of the treatment house" and a rededication to the core spirit of the 12 Step movement. Wellness-focused recovery is a new name for an old and familiar theme. It appears that psychology has finally "caught up" with us in the form of its latest perspectives. We can welcome this helpmate in the same spirit of gratitude that we have accepted so many other recovery gifts. Admittedly, we have barely had time to introduce the exciting possibility of the wellness treatment paradigm. However, we can conclude by affirming that spirituality, in the way we have presented it in this text, is a birthright of all seekers, including those just beginning the recovery adventure. After all, we have the perfect guide. Our Higher Power, in the form of the inner healer, will bring us to that level of consciousness, truth, and knowledge for which we are each uniquely prepared. Our task, as always, is to say, "Thy will be done." If we do this from the very beginning, we cannot go wrong. Tav Sparks 13