Q: What role does faith play in recovery?

We believe that faith is an integral part of recovery. Contact with and submission to the Higher Power of an addict's understanding is central to the recovery process. Faith inspires hope in the addict that change can come about. When life is at its darkest, addicts are relieved to turn over control of their lives to a Higher Power. As our patients come to realize that they need not stay forever gripped in the despair and degradation of addiction, hope enters. Faith leads them on a path that offers them choices that never seemed available to them in the past. Our Aftercare Program emphasizes spiritual support and faith in order that our former patients may continue to stay sober and lead positive lives, giving back to the community as a sign of their spiritual health.

With the assistance of counselors, doctors, support staff, and their fellow patients and alumni in the 12-step programs and the spiritual 12-step programs that APRA supports, our graduates take steps toward positive lives. If they fall, faith helps them up again. Wisdom is gained, not easily and generally painfully, but, in the end, appreciatively. The very central role of faith in substance abuse treatment and aftercare attests to the possibility of positive and permanent change.