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Integrity Recovery™, was born out of the realization,
for its authors, that many people can put down the bottle or
quit taking drugs or stop gambling for a while, especially if
they are in trouble at home or with the law, but for an individual
to truly embrace a recovery from a dependency they must learn
to reclaim their integrity as an individual. Integrity means
soundness or wholeness. To recover integrity, is to become sound
again, to get well across the ten levels of integrity in body,
mind, and spirit.
Integrity Recovery™ is the cornerstone curriculum
of the treatment approach we use to work with clients experiencing
any form of addiction, as well as issues of depression, anxiety,
anger, grief, relationship difficulties, or just those desiring
personal self-growth.
Integrity is defined as being
"whole," "sound" or "a sense of balance."
Integrity is lost within an individual when key aspects of the
self - body, mind, or spirit - are out of balance and become
disconnected or un-integrated within the individual's awareness.
This can happen at any point in life. Lack of integrity or loss
of integrity is often the result of coping habits we get into
in response to simple day-to-day stressors. But it can be more
pronounced when early life experiences result in our developing
coping habits that include alcohol or drug abuse or gambling,
defense mechanisms to cope with any kind of abuse or trauma (including
emotional), abandonment or neglect, or lack of good parenting.
We view a return to integrity
as being essential for recovery from addiction or from the results
of negative life stressors. We use a structured curriculum in
the form of an Integrity Recovery™ Workbook
to guide our clients through 10 levels of increasingly meaningful
work to bring them back into connection with all aspects of themselves.
The 10 levels include: 1. Awareness;
2. Honesty; 3. Shifting Reality; 4. Reflection; 5. Courage; 6.
Action; 7. Forgiveness; 8. Authenticity; 9. Connection; and finally
10. Integrity.
This work allows each client
to regain a meaningful sense of integrity or balance (as well
as self-respect.) By focusing on body, mind, and spirit across
each of the ten levels, and by both receiving and providing compassionate
support in a group or individual setting, our clients gain a
balanced sense of wellness and overall resiliency.
Simply put, "anybody can
fake it for a while," but "to make it,"
means developing integrity, overall soundness as a person.
We recognize, as agents of
behavioral change, that recovery is a developmental process.
Recovery happens in fits
and starts
Fundamental change, then, means
commitment and a safe context, where fundamental processes, such
as becoming honest, changing thinking patterns, and committing
to emerging levels of recovery can take place. Integrity Recovery™
is grounded in the research of cognitive-behavioral theory and
treatment showing that individuals in treatment, particularly
for addiction, anxiety, and depressive disorders respond well
to this form of treatment intervention. (SAMHSA 2005).
The ten levels that clients
must pass through are: Awareness, Honesty, Shifting Reality,
Authenticity, Commitment, Action, Reflection, Connection, Forgiveness,
and Integrity.
The Integrity Recovery™
Curriculum is designed to be completed in one year. Clients are
issued Integrity Recovery Workbooks, have assignments between
meetings, and are judged by their peers in order to progress
through the levels of integrity in a Rite of Passage exercise.
The length of the curriculum encourages the client to stay with
their treatment program even after they graduate from the program.
Available in English, currently
in its second edition, Integrity Recovery is authored by Daniel
Blackwood and Jerry Rooney, with guidance from the staff of The
Evolution Group, Inc. as well as input from many others including
past clients.
A new Spanish oral tradition
version of Integrity Recovery, "Sanidad," is
available now. Another new edition, "Walking with Integrity"
for the Native American population is due out soon.
Integrity Recovery™ Groups
are structured for clients who are working with this written
material and to provide opportunity for them to present Rite
of Passages in a therapeutic environment. |
