Faith, Family & Addiction

It is truly a privilege and honor to be able come to work in an environment where I am able to utilize my own personal experience of how God has restored so many areas of my life to encourage our Faith in Recovery clients. I have developed a deep compassion not only for those suffering with addiction and mental health issues, but for their families as well. I think I’ve always had a soft spot for the families of our clients as a result of knowing what I put my own family through during my active addiction to alcohol, benzodiazepines, and gambling.

During active addiction, we usually develop what is known in the faith community as a ‘hardening of the heart.’ This basically means you are so consumed with (your) ‘self’ that the needs of others take a back seat, or in some cases, have no seat at all! The strange thing about it is that usually the people we care about most and who care most about us (our family) take the brunt of our negative and destructive behaviors.

I believe this is why during treatment the floodgate of shame, guilt, and regret is opened, as all of the pain that we have caused others comes to the forefront. This is never an easy process because we are focusing on the very issues that we may have been using a substance to avoid. It is even more challenging due to the fact that we must face this endeavor without that most called upon crutch, the alcohol or substance of our addiction.

In Banyan's Faith in Recovery program, we make a concerted effort to identify the root causes of each client’s addiction. Most of the time the addiction is a byproduct of other issues. It’s the tip of the iceberg. The real issues are beneath the surface. As most of the iceberg is beneath the surface. To provide another way of looking at this, think of weeds on your lawn. We can continuously cut the weeds with a lawnmower each week, but what happens? They keep growing back. However, if we pull those same weeds out from their roots, they no longer grow back! In the same way we must pull out the root causes of addiction so it no longer comes back.

As I mentioned, most people suffering with addiction focus solely on the ‘self’ and their hearts tend to harden. In many ways faith directly conflicts with addiction. Faith emphasizes serving and loving others while addiction focuses on self. People in active addiction often don't feel or realize the impact their lifestyle and choices are having on their family and true friends.

However, the family and friends do feel it, and they are often the ones kept up at night waiting for that dreaded phone call. They are the ones awakened by the siren from a nearby ambulance, praying that their loved one is not in it.

In substance abuse treatment, the client is now receiving much-needed care and hopefully begins sifting through the web of destruction and painful events that accompany the addiction. They begin to build confidence and self-esteem; develop coping skills; and because the foundation of our program is faith, they begin to restore or establish a relationship with God. Through Him, they begin to heal.