48 12 steps
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes (if participants are not familiar with the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous)
Materials: The following handout: 12 steps from AA adapted by Jeff Albin
(1) Started to understand that I have an addiction that I need help with, that I have made decisions which have made my life unmanageable.
(2) Came to understand that I am not alone in this world, that I need the help of people and a Higher Power if I am to live free and up to my full potential as a human being
(3) Developed a relationship with a Higher Power and when I became ready turned my will and live over to that Higher Power.
(4) Took an honest look at how my actions had harmed the people around me and made a list of those actions.
(5) Shared this list with a person I fully trust and I knew would not judge me but would still be honest with me
(6) Made myself ready to have my Higher Power remove my character defects.
(7) Asked my Higher Power to remove my shortcomings
(8) Took full stock of actions, both positive and negative and looked honestly and fearlessly at any harm I might have caused
(9) Made full and complete amends to people I had harmed except in cases when revealing secrets would cause more harm.
(10) Continued to keep myself in check by developing awareness of my harmful actions and when I had harmed somebody promptly admitted it.
(11) Sought to deepen my spiritual practice and my relationship with my Higher Power through conscious contact and daily meditation.
(12) Through my actions and words started to become a role model for a clean and sober life and helped other people when they seemed to suffer from my same disease,
Procedure: Ask students to share within their comfort zone which step they are on and how it is progressing.
Alternatives:
(1) Ask participants to rewrite the steps in any way they are comfortable and willing to follow.
(2) When these rewritten lists are finished, take a group conscience and see if the revisions fit within the spirits of the original steps.
Notes:
(1) Use this as an ongoing check in for students in groups where recovery from addictions is the primary focus.
(2) Many people are uncomfortable with the God references and the masculine pronouns.
Activity Credit: Inspired by Doctor Bob and Bill W.
49 Tarot Archetype Cards
Preparation time: None
Materials: A set of tarot cards. Try to choose the most benign set available.
Procedure: Lay the cards out in the center of your circle. Instruct participants to select:
(a) One card for them at their best
(b) One card for them at their worst
(c) One card for their relationship with their family. They can choose to focus on one familial relationship.
Alternatives: If you are doing family work you can have participants select one role for each of their family members.
Notes: More conservative thinkers might equate tarot cards with the occult or witchcraft so I would not use them in settings where this would be an issue. Personally, I seriously doubt that someone could tell my fortune by using a mass manufactured set of images. I think of the images more like cartoons or superheroes. They are, however, the most readily available set of graphic archetypal images available.
50 Buddhist tenets
Preparation time: 10 minutes or enough time to familiarize yourself with the tenets on this handout
Materials:
The Four Noble Truths are beliefs that underly most of Buddhist epistemology. I have re interpreted them with a focus on substance abuse and addiction.
1. The nature of life is that suffering and pain are involved when we insist on misguided practices and beliefs
2. We suffer when we seek comfort in things or substances
3. We end our suffering when we cease seeking releases in substances and things
4. There is a path that will help us out of our addictions.
5. Right Attitude: Am I living life at 100%?
6. Right Intention: When I do something do I know what I want before I start or am I just living an action/reaction existence?
7. Right Words: Is is true? Is is necessary to say? Will it cause harm?
8. Right Livelihood: Am I making money from activities that cause harm? Ie stealing or dealing
9. Right Mindfulness/Awareness: Am I living my life with eyes wide open?
10. Right Effort: Are my efforts yielding fruit?
11. Right Concentration: Have I lost my focus or my path?
12. Right Action: Do they hurt or help others?
Procedure:
(a) Ask participants to view the above list and see if there is anything they have focused on in the last week or any area they need to work on.
Alternatives:
Select just one of the tenets and have participants focus on that theme. Right words can be re framed as using no putdowns or not spreading or participating in gossip,
Notes: You do not want to be deceptive but you can teach these notions without referring to Buddhism. They are general enough that they can be taught without involving religion. The Buddhist notions of attachment are a wonderful guide for young people in recovery from substance abuse as well as a country suffering from a materialistic hangover. In some groups with older students I include this information along with beliefs and practices from some of the world's major and minor religions as a way for students to begin their work with a Higher Power of their choosing.
Activity Credit: Inspired by Pema Chodron
51 YOGA TENETS (re interpreted for students)
Preparation time: 20 minutes or enough time to familiarize yourself with these principles..
(1) Agree to honor all living beings: being peaceful in my actions and words
(2) Speaking truth when necessary: Not lying or spreading or participating in gossip or slander
(3) Not stealing
(4) Honoring my body by not giving myself away sexually
(5) Non covetousness: gratitude for what I have
(6) Purity: I pay attention to what goes into my body and my mind. “Garbage in, garbage out.”
(7) Contentment: striving to be at peace wherever I am
(8) Stamina/Perseverance/ Resilience: I train myself to be able to handle “life on life's terms.”
(9) Self Education: I am not content to merely passively absorb what school or society offers. I have my own intellectual pursuits and hobbies.
(10) Spiritual or religious involvement: I involve myself in a church or faith and regularly study the sacred texts of that faith (Bible, Talmud, Koran, Upanishads).*
Procedure:
(1) Allow students to familiarize themselves with the yoga tenets.
(2) Ask students to pick one tenet they feel they are strong at.
(3) Ask students to pick another tenet which they feel they need to work on.
(4) When you see that they are ready ask them to share their strength and weaknesses.
(5) Some facilitators prefer to have two positive and one negative.
Alternatives:
Most philosophies, religions and spiritual practices have developed codes over the centuries. Students who have been schooled in one world view are often surprised to find a number of similarities between these guidelines. If your audience is primarily of one religion you can:
(1) Ask them to do this check-in within their own cultural guidelines .
(2) Ask them to stretch themselves and use this check-in with something from another culture.
Notes:
Yoga is not as some opposed to it claim, a religion but it is most definitely a philosophy. It offers a moral code along with a physical practice that when adhered to brings peace and serenity. Like many of the Eastern philosophies the codes are not about being absolutely right to wrong. It advocates involvement in a religion but does not advocate any particular religion. In my work with young people and others in recovery from substance abuse I have found that many have issues with conventional churches and AA. Offering a variety of codes like these and allowing them to choose and adapt is often the best way to work with them.
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