You may not realize how much your faith can affect your recovery. For many people, spirituality and addiction treatment go hand in hand. Through evidence-based treatments and methods, you gain skills and insights you need for day-to-day wellness. However, your spirituality helps you strengthen yourself emotionally, focus on goals, and bring meaning to your journey.
Why Spirituality and Addiction Treatment Go Together
Some treatment centers couple programs for spirituality and addiction therapies. This approach brings “whole person wellness” to the next level. Instead of only physical and mental wellness, you gain physical, mental, social and spiritual wellness.
Of course, spirituality is an individualized pursuit. Some people lean on their spirituality for support and protection. Others seek guidance through a spiritual connection. The meaning of life, gratitude, and service to others in spirituality also helps people gain strength in addiction treatment.
Hurdles to Pairing Spirituality with Addiction
One of the biggest obstacles for pairing spirituality with recovery is the highly individualized outlook on faith and spirituality. No single definition of spirituality exists. Faith is more of a solitary human experience, rather than something one person defines for another.
This means your spiritual connection is what you make of it. Your connection does not even need to be one with a higher power. Instead, you might be more comfortable describing your spiritual link as being one with something outside of yourself. It shapes your outlook and character, as well as your lifestyle.
Even though you cannot see or touch your spiritual connection, you still believe it exists. You feel an intense connection and power from this unseen source. No one else changes your belief system, as you decide for yourself what you believe and how you connect to it.
Because of this highly individualized yet intangible connection, addiction treatment centers cannot easily develop a one-size-fits-all approach to spirituality. In many ways, you shape your spiritual journey in rehab and the role that faith then plays in your recovery. But your connection provides strength, power, and an increased chance of maintaining recovery for the long term.
The 12 Steps and Spiritual Addiction Recovery
12 step programs provide a good fit with spirituality in recovery. A particular religion doesn’t inform the 12 steps. In fact, you do not need to be religious at all. Instead, the 12 steps focus on individual spirituality guiding you through the steps and helping you gain strength in sobriety.
Spirituality in rehab works well alongside other therapies and treatment methods. Some other important aspects of treatment include:
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Family therapy
- Behavioral therapies
- Exercise therapies
- Outdoor activities
At Soledad House in San Diego, California, spirituality takes its place in women’s addiction treatment programs. Women seeking recovery at Soledad House often look to a higher power or their own spiritual connection for healing. If you or someone you love suffer addiction, finding your faith and belief in yourself again can empower your recovery. Call Soledad House now at 866.314.3222 for more information about available programs.
