Spirit of Recovery

Spirituality enters our life always through unexpected means. Often we wake up because we met a difficulty we cannot surmount through our usual external methods. What seemed like a failure turns out to be the opening for God’s call. Special guest Don Seiler, Unity spiritual leader and a person in long-term recovery, shares how he said yes, and why he keeps saying it. Rev. Seiler is a United States...

Special guest Edward Tick, Ph. D., cofounder with his wife Kate Dalstedt, M.A., of Soldier’s Heart and author of War and the Soul, has worked with veterans for more than 30 years. He coleads powerful healing workshops for military veterans, family members, and healing professionals. These experiences integrate psychological, spiritual, and relational approaches that address the whole person and th...

“They also serve who only stand and wait.” War creates trauma, wounding not only soldiers themselves, but also their families and communities. Both substance and process addictions are commonly part of the pain. The Soldier’s Heart model of healing, developed by special guest Kate Dahlstedt, M.A., and Edward Tick, Ph. D., is a spiritual, holistic, and community-based healing approach for veterans,...

Recovery opens the door to what matters most—living fearlessly and authentically, connecting with our soul, and engaging spirituality from connection with our full spectrum self. Special guest Rudy England shares his experience of the richness that comes from engaging with the Jungian concepts of shadow, wholeness, and soul. An ordained Unity minister, Rudy is an accomplished writer and speaker, a...

Recovery opens the door to energy, vitality, and creativity—in other words, to our spiritual life. Special guest Melinda Wood Allen, singer/songwriter/actress/choral director, shares her music and how she finds the connection between her vitality and her spirituality. Melinda considers recovery principles a vital spiritual path, right along with Unity and New Thought. She sings in Unity and other...

Every one of us has a spiritual purpose. Willingness to fulfill it dissolves that old feeling of uselessness and self-pity. All that we learned in the midst of addictive disease prepares us, in recovery, to give from spiritual depth and meaning. Special guest Marilyn Davis shares her story of finding her purpose and where it has led her. She is a recovery curriculum author who advocates for and wr...

Recovery gives us the opportunity to live our real lives—from the inside out. There is a lot to learn—and unlearn—as we grow into and become our true selves. As we do, we discover that our life is filled with untold joy and meaning. Special guest Sandra Felt, LCSW, is the author of Beyond the Good Girl Jail: When You Dare to Live From Your True Self. A grateful recovering “good girl” herself, Sand...

Research indicates that people who have the disease of addiction have experienced higher rates of childhood or adolescent trauma than the general population. The ability to live with joy and fulfillment and maintain long-term recovery grows when old traumas are faced and healed. Special guest Marilyn Van Derbur is the author of Miss America By Day—first-place winner of the prestigious Writer’s Dig...

Active addiction robs our ability to create the life we are meant to live. In recovery we reconnect with our innate spiritual power of creativity. By learning to use our minds, emotions, and actions constructively, we live fully and well. Special guest Greg Barrette shares practical spiritual principles and actions that help us create the lives we want to live. Greg has been practicing spiritual p...

Recovery is a dance—we flow with changes, learning to keep our balance and partner with others. We learn to dance with life on life’s terms by putting into practice powerful spiritual tools that are open and available for everyone. Special guest Lonnie Vanderslice shares how her combination of recovery and Unity wisdom puts lots of tools in her tool kit, and how her committed use of them keeps her...

The founding of Alcoholics Anonymous touches everyone—whether familiar with the disease of addiction or not. The experience of the cofounders and their wives speaks to the universal experience of human suffering and the spiritual growth that comes from finding a way through. The play Bill W. and Dr. Bob, cowritten by Steve Bergman and Janet Surrey, touches audiences with its message that people ca...

Human beings are created connected—to ourselves, our higher power, and each other. If we lose awareness of our unity, our spirit sleeps within us and we become isolated, lonely, and susceptible to addiction and other problems. As we learn to walk in the WE, our spirit wakes up! This is one of the beautiful gifts of recovery. Special guest Grandmother Mary Lyons, Ojibwe Elder, Grandmothers Council...

Recovery brings the opportunity to learn new perspectives, new skills, and to engage deeply in healing old emotional wounds and patterns. This means healthy, uplifting relationships are not only possible—they are probable. Special guest Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, shares how to detox from old destructive patterns and build new, positive ways of relating. Mark is an international speaker in the behav...

Faith in the probability of good makes us strong and keeps us growing. No obstacle has the power to stop us when we are willing to turn on our faith. Special guest Rev. Leslie Wilson is a person in long-term recovery who radiates faith and shines with joy. Her powerful spirit lifts up everyone around her and keeps opening new doors for her in recovery. Rev. Leslie is the associate minister at God...

The grassroots wellbriety movement is grounded in the healing power of Native American cultural values. Through recovery trainings and support groups that incorporate the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, the Cycle of Life, and the Four Laws of Change, the White Bison organization supports indigenous communities in reestablishing strong foundations for well-being.   Special guest J. Carlos Rivera,...

Recovery is not an end—it is a beginning. Recovery opens the door to ever-deepening spiritual growth. Life still happens. What’s different is that we meet it with an attitude of gratitude, grace, and openness. Special guest Bob A. has continued to experience the power of recovery in the one-and-a-half years since he shared his amazing journey with us on Spirit of Recovery. Bob shares how spiritual...

Ever worry that you won’t have enough—time, money, energy, sanity (you name it!) to make it through? Recovery invites us to let go of fretting and fussing and make conscious contact with a loving, gracious Power greater than ourselves. And, one day at a time with gratitude, learn to trust and live in relationship with that Power. Special guest Greg Barrette shares from his great wealth of practici...

Recovery thrives as we awaken to the present moment. Being aware of our breath, physical senses, and the activity in our mind leads to greater acceptance of ourselves, space to process our experience, and to make wise choices. Special guest Therissa Libby, Ph. D., assistant professor and coordinator of the Alcohol and Drug Counseling M.S. Program at Metropolitan State University, shares the resear...

Recovery means change—and not just the initial change of letting go of a substance or behavior. Recovery means change as a way of life as we continually choose to live from integrity and wholeness, shedding old ideas in the process. Special guest Marilyn Davis is a recovery curriculum author who advocates for and writes to the addicted population. She opened and ran an award-winning women’s recove...

Our life’s divine purpose becomes our daily reality as we let go of addiction and embrace our deep identity. The journey is arduous, yet help is all along the way. Special guest LaBet Pritchard, a person in long-term recovery and a mind-body fitness instructor, developed a yoga and 12-step program she teaches at recovery centers and retreats in western North Carolina. Her experience with mindfulne...

Get out of your head and into your life. Writing practices are a powerful way to move energy from swirling chaos and confusion to clarity, serenity, and constructive action. Special guest Mark Dennis Anderson is the creator and director of Writing in Recovery, a workshop/lecture series and online resource designed to show how writing practices can benefit any program of recovery. Mark combines his...

When families are affected by active addiction, they lose their sense of connection with spiritual power. Chaos and anxiety cast a cloud over the family, and problems mount. Recovery for families means taking the focus off the person with addiction and placing it on oneself. Family members learn that they do have power—spiritual power to change their lives whether the member with addiction recover...

We cooperate in creating our miracles—as we take the steps, a higher power brings the results. Special guest Royce Sherrick, a person in long-term recovery, is the director of The Step House, LLC, a one-year program that focuses on troubled men who have lost their sense of themselves in alcohol and other substance abuse. Spiritual healing, growth, and self-worth are encouraged through working a 12...

Conscious contact with life-giving power is the essence of recovery. It’s the only thing that can replace the pull of the addictive process—whether the addiction is to substances or behaviors. The 11th Step of the 12-Step wisdom path clearly calls us to what may seem daunting—the practice of prayer and meditation. Our special guest, author Tom Catton, in long-term recovery since 1971 and a meditat...

All people seek to connect with the energy that takes us from the mundane to the Divine. On our way, we may, as Carl Jung wrote, “knock at the wrong address.” Those who make their living as writers, actors, artists, and all of us, as we seek to express creatively, find that recovery shows us the way to the “right address”—our true connection with spirituality. Special guest Leonard Buschel, CADCA,...