The Creed of Recovery

Our creed is that recovery is a process of personal growth with the understanding that the process is difficult for those in early recovery to trust - what does that mean?

Webster defines creed as a set of beliefs or aims that guide someone's actions. Our set of beliefs are easier for an addict to understand than someone who has never been caught up in the cycle of addiction, such as:

• Every addict is a person and all people are different; thus, each person's recovery is going to be different.
• Many think addicts are dumb or stupid because of the drug seeking behaviors when nothing could be further from the truth.
• Addicts are very intelligent.
• Recovery is not about restoring someone to a former self, that former self became an addict.
• Recovery is about being more than you have ever been and setting out on a journey of growing in all aspects of life.
• Recovery is a process not an event, it requires sustained effort.
• 12 step meetings are very important in early recovery, but not enough. 
• Addicts need to work on many areas of their lives.
• Fear, anger, guilt, shame, and remorse make it hard for addicts to trust themselves; when one cannot trust their self, it is nearly impossible to trust others in the change process. 
• Things are happening in early recovery and the fear of the unknown continues to emerge, this is when addicts in recovery are most vulnerable to relapse because they struggle with trusting the process.
• Addiction is a lifestyle not just a set of drug/alcohol using behaviors. 
• An addict's entire lifestyle has been built around getting money to buy drugs, finding the drugs, using the drugs. and not getting caught while doing all this; really good addicts can do all this without sharing, we read about them daily in the obituaries.
• No one can stop an addict from using until they are ready; when they are ready, move quick, the willingness may fade fast.
• Do not throw up an addict's past, they know what they did and are probably more hurt than family and friends, they just do not show it well. 
• When an addict is ready to make amends, they will.
• Sometimes getting totally out of their comfort zone is best; structured recovery housing has huge benefits in developing self-esteem and self-reliance. 
• Recovery housing also affords the family an opportunity to heal.
• Addiction/alcoholism impacts the entire family, perhaps some more than others, but it has a far reaching impact; the family needs to heal and recover as well as the addict.
• Addicts trust other addicts more than someone who has never used. Sounds crazy right, but true.
• Addicts want to get "better" but have a hard time describing what "better" looks like.
• If we can provide the right structure and guidance, addicts will eventually heal themselves, start trusting the process, and become self-reliant as they continue to grow.
• Never try and own an addicts recovery, they do it themselves.