Addiction Recovery In The Broadest Sense

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been both adopted and adapted for a broader spectrum of people in the Addiction Recovery Program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys offers no less than four different weekly groups in the field of addiction recovery, one group focusing on supporting families touched by addiction and even a grief support group. All of these programs are open to any member of the community who is struggling with addiction, regardless of religious affiliation.

The Progress sat down with the small group of Moapa Valley volunteers who have been charged with overseeing and facilitating this community Addiction Recovery Program for the Logandale Stake. None of these people are paid for their efforts in the program. But it is not hard to see that this program has changed each of their lives in meaningful ways.

The Church’s Addiction Recovery Program has had great success at helping people caught in the commonly-recognized addictive behaviors like drug and alcohol abuse. One of the local facilitators, Camille Robison, stands as a witness of this.

Camille was once a drug addict in another community. She eventually realized that she was on a destructive path and sought help through a rehab program there. But she found that program less effective for her.
“It kind of dried me out, you know,” Camille said of her previous efforts. “It felt sort of isolated.”

Eventually she moved to the Moapa Valley, recognizing this community as a “soft place to land and just a safe space here.” That is when she got involved in the Church’s addiction recovery program.
“This was where the real work and the change started to happen,” she said.

Camille explained the difference in the Church’s program as offering a much deeper spiritual source of strength. That difference includes a sharp focus on the “atonement” of Jesus Christ and His ability to heal.

“This program is unabashedly Christ-centered,” she said. “In other programs I attended, they sort of allude to a higher power, and there is not that deep spiritual connection. But there is no way that you can overcome these things without Christ. Where other people, your sponsors and support people in the process, are always going to eventually let you down; God will never let you down. This program makes God your sponsor which provides much more strength and stability.”

But even though this program is there for people with these commonly-recognized “addictions,” it is actually meant to address much more than that. The Addiction Recovery Program is also designed to bring healing for virtually all of life’s heartbreaks, bad habits and foibles. That includes pretty much everyone, said Logandale Stake Addiction Recovery missionaries Brian and Judy Seely who oversee a mixed men’s and women’s group session each week.

“We all have something broken in our lives,” said Brian. “So you don’t have to come in as a heroin addict to get something out of this program. It is using spiritual means, and the atonement of Jesus Christ, to repair broken parts of your life. That could be your relationship with a sibling, your relationship with your spouse, your relationship to food. It can really be anything.”

“To me it is a program of hope,” said Judy Seely. “It just gives people so much hope where many of them just have lost that hope in their lives.”

Logandale Stake High Councilman Gene Houston, who oversees the Moapa Valley program, explained that each session of the 13-week course, is formatted in a similar way. The group begins by reading together directly out of an Addiction Recovery manual for the course. Each week the groups focus on one of the 12 steps. Similar programs throughout every Stake in the Church are synchronized each week to cover the same step, Houston said.

“So if you are late off work in Vegas and can’t make it back home in time, you could attend a meeting in Las Vegas and get the exact same step,” he said.

After reading the material at the beginning of each group session, the floor is open for members of the group to share their experiences and feelings about that step and about their journey towards recovery.

“For me, the best part is the sharing,” Houston said. “When everybody shares personal experiences that they have had to deal with and how they have overcome some of those things, it’s just amazing. You can feel it in the room. That is where, I think, people benefit the most. There is just a lot of power there.”

Addiction Recovery missionary Phillip Sortomme oversees a group for men only. He emphasized that there is no judgement in the room during these sessions. And all that is said in the room is kept strictly confidential among those present. Thus, the groups form strong bonds of support, friendship, love and acceptance, he said.

“The beautiful thing about it is that everyone can come at their own pace,” said Sortomme. “Just because you come doesn’t mean that you have to speak or participate. There is no pressure. We have people who just want to sit quietly and listen. That is fine. What we usually see, over time, is that most people do start to share as they become more comfortable with it. It is amazing to see people change and heal.”
Sortomme added that the program is even useful to those few people who feel they live healthy, addiction-free lives.

“What is nice about this program is that it can help people identify bad habits that are in the very early stage of forming,” Sortomme said. “By knowing these steps and how to identify those forces at play in your life you can catch something and nip it in the bud before it even becomes a big problem. So I always say that everybody should go through this program at least once just to have those tools at the ready.”

Camille Robison testified that the Church’s Addiction Recovery Program had turned her around and made her into a “changed person.” She recalled that in her previous addiction recovery groups, each person would stand, state their name, and announce that they are an addict. This program, however, is different than that, she said.

“I am not an addict anymore because of the atonement,” she said. “I exercise that gift that was given to me by the Savior and I am changed. I am not my mistakes. I am not that person who I was. This can be fixed. You don’t have to identify as that person anymore. You don’t have to be a victim of it all of the time. You can be healed of that.”

The Logandale Stake Addiction Recovery Program has three 12-step programs.

Women’s only groups meet on Tuesdays at 6 pm or on Thursdays at 9:15 am.

A men’s only group is held on Thursdays at 7 pm.

A mixed men and women group is held on Tuesdays at 7 pm.

In addition a Family Support Group, to help family members touched by addiction in loved ones, meets on Tuesdays at 7 pm.

Finally, a grief support group is offered on the first and third Thursday of each month at 6 pm.
All of these groups are held in the Logandale Stake Center at 2555 N. St. Joseph Street. Enter using the south end of the building.

There is also a program available in the Mesquite Stake of the Church. That group is held on Thursday nights beginning at 7 pm in the Mesquite Stake Center High Council Room located at 100 N. Arrowhead.

All programs are free. No pre-registration is required. All are welcome.