If you’ve been through addiction recovery in the United States, there’s a large chance you’ve had some experience with the 12-Step model. It’s one of the most common addiction treatment models in the country and is used by over 74% of treatment centers nationwide.
But does its popularity mean that it’s the best treatment option?
12-Step programs have certainly helped many in their addiction recovery journey: lots of people point to the positive influence it has had on their social circle. The act of sharing stories and supporting others made them feel like they were a part of something bigger than themselves. And that steered them in a positive direction.
Perhaps you’ve felt it too. The 12-Step program was helping, and for a while, things got better.
Still, it stopped short of the life change you desire. You don’t feel completely yourself yet.
If this is where you’re at, there’s nothing wrong with you – this is a prevailing experience and there are others who echo these thoughts.
Many people who initially went through a 12-Step program thought it was the only type of addiction treatment available. With the sheer number of 12-Step-based rehabs, it’s easy to understand why.
However, these programs aren’t the only resource to turn to.
So if you didn’t reach the change you yearned for, there are still other ways. The Sanctuary’s holistic, non-12-Step rehab program offers an alternative addiction treatment option that may better suit your needs.
How Our Holistic, Non-12-Step Program is Different
As a non-12-Step program, we don’t follow the conventional 12-Step addiction treatment model, but it doesn’t stop there. Here are a number of other things we do differently:
- We take you on a complete healing journey.
- Our program is holistic and integrated.
- We foster an atmosphere of acceptance and love.
- You are empowered to make changes.
A Complete Healing Journey From Addiction
At The Sanctuary, getting clean isn’t the only end goal. We want to help you go beyond that and build a life of purpose and joy. These are the feelings that get you out of bed in the morning, excited about each new day.
We guide you there through four stages of healing:
- Identify disempowering beliefs built over time, the trauma you’ve held on to and the coping strategies you used to make yourself feel better.
- Shed light on the hidden parts of yourself.
- Recover positive aspects of yourself and feel whole again. Envision a future where you live out your life purpose.
- Discover your passions. Integrate what you’ve learned during your time at The Sanctuary into your daily life and create a new way of being.
Our Program is Holistic and Integrated
When we say that our program is holistic, we mean that every part of it is integrated and fits together to work in concert.
We place equal importance on the clinical, scientific, energetic, physical and nutritional aspects of addiction recovery care.
Holistic means “encompassing the whole.” We believe that something cannot be truly holistic if one part goes ignored.
If you’re in need of medication, it isn’t overlooked – if needed, our clinical team will prescribe the right amount for your specific needs. But your mental wellness is also supported by things like an organic superfood program, ecotherapy and talk therapy. And this may mean that you can eventually reduce the amount of medication you’re taking.
Every component of our program supports the other, taking you from one stage of your recovery journey to the next in an organized way.
Here’s a simplified example of what that looks like: Gut flora can influence your mood. When you’ve made healthy dietary changes through our superfood program, your mood improves and you’re more energetic. This makes you more receptive to certain talk therapies. In turn, that allows you to discover these wonderful parts of yourself that you weren’t aware of.
At The Sanctuary, everything works together towards your recovery.
We Foster an Atmosphere of Acceptance and Love
Humans can make remarkable changes when shown respect and dignity. We take this to heart and place huge importance on creating an atmosphere where you feel safe and comfortable to be yourself.
There is no patient-therapist hierarchy here to disrupt your (or your therapist’s) ability to be in the moment during sessions.
We see everyone who comes to The Sanctuary as equal. We want you to be able to be yourself without fear of judgment. This lets you receive treatment without mental barriers up, allowing you to safely work on deeper levels of yourself.
This is what one of our past clients had to say about their therapy sessions:
“Session after session, you don’t ever want it to end because you can feel the change in yourself. You can feel yourself growing and that they genuinely care. I never felt that from a therapist anywhere … I was comfortable sharing things I haven’t shared with anybody before.”
We Empower You to Make Changes
The first of the 12 Steps states: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”
But if you always identify as an addict, it’s difficult to envision a different kind of life. These thoughts put limitations on how recovered you can actually be. Moving past addiction becomes harder.
At The Sanctuary, we view you in a completely different light. You have the power to make changes, and you are fully capable of recovery.
Our Program Director, Kelley Alexander, talks about a big turning point in the recovery journey:
“The moment we remember, reconnect … with our own internal resources, that’s a game-changer. That is the moment the shift happens when all of a sudden we take back this power.”
You’re not destined to be an addict for life, and you can in fact rewire your brain. This is backed by the science of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, which state your ability to create new neural connections throughout your lifetime.
We also measure and show you how your brain has developed through a non-invasive procedure called brain mapping. Empowering our clients to take their power back has seen incredible results: our clients notice visible differences in brain function before and after our program.
Get Tools for Life-Lasting Change at The Sanctuary
You don’t need to feel constrained by one addiction recovery model. The Sanctuary offers another kind of option.
We believe in your ability to recover, and our program is based on showing you how to make those changes.
We’ll show you that life beyond sobriety can be full of joy. It’s possible to envision your life purpose and to feel excited about living again. Contact us today to learn how.
He is the Founder, Administrator, Counselor at the Sanctuary at Sedona. He has a BA in Political Science and is currently Senior teaching staff at Four Winds Society, an international school of energy medicine. His credentials also include being an Ordained Minister; a Certified Shamanic Breathwork® Facilitator; a Founding Member Society for Shamanic Practitioners; a Member of Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology; a Member of the National Institute for Holistic Addiction Studies. [email protected]