Celebrate Recovery

 Purpose

According to the creators: “Celebrate Recovery [CR] is a Christ-centered, 12 step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain or addiction of any kind. Celebrate Recovery is a safe place to find community and freedom from the issues that are controlling our life.”

 Pricing Summary (subject to change)

Startup costs for two facilitators (materials): ~$200

Cost for 10 participants (curriculum): ~$500

 Perspective

This program is strongly Christian. While the structure draws on the success of Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12-step program, they proclaim that “Jesus is our only higher power.” They weave biblical concepts like the beatitudes into their core teaching.

Their philosophy is that all people have difficult experiences in their past or “hurts.” These hurts can lead to areas of personal weakness or “hangups” and these in turn can spark bad habits, such as addictive behavior. They seek to address both the habits and the root causes together.

 Structure

Celebrate Recovery is a weekly, on-going support group with three components. The first is a large group meeting that contains music as well as personal testimonies or a lesson. The lessons and testimonies are videos that run on a one-year repeating schedule. From there, participants break into smaller “open share groups” by issue and gender. These groups have simple rules to spark productive group conversations and support.

The final component, typically pursued on another day of the week is “Step-Study Groups.” These groups go through workbooks that cover the CR version of the 12-steps to recovery. These groups are not segregated by issue, but are separated by gender. Participants usually only go through the step-study group once, and then participate in the weekly meetings for as long as they would like.

 Best For

The target participants are adults struggling with some sort of hurt, emotional pain, or addiction. This includes, but is not limited to, alcohol or narcotics. Only an estimated one third of attendees struggle with chemical addiction; the rest struggle with issues such as anger, low-self image, or unhealthy codependency. Because of the universality of these issues and CR’s approaches, it could be an appropriate intervention for people in poverty. Curriculum is also available in Spanish.

This is most suitable for a church but could be used by a faith-based nonprofit.

 Evidence That It Works

Celebrate Recovery has been used by over 4 million people since its inception in the 1990s. There have not been any specific studies on CR’s efficacy, nor do they track and release outcomes. However, there is ample evidence that 12-step programs in general are effective and additional evidence that faith is a significant factor in improving addiction recovery.

 Cost and Resources

This program requires a large group meeting area, with the capacity for video projection and music. You will also need smaller rooms for the open-share and step-study groups.

The facilitator curriculum starter kit has lessons for the large group meetings, a leader’s guide and numerous other resources, for around $150. DVD’s of additional video testimonials and large group lessons are also available for $20 each.

CR has a support infrastructure with regional representatives who can assist you in starting a program.

Facilitator training is occasionally available in regional events, but is is not required.

The eight pamphlets required for each participant in the Step-Studies cost around $5 each, for a total of $40-50 per participant.

 How to order:

https://www.celebraterecovery.com/  

 What We Love

This program leverages the power of relationship to assist people with their addictions and other hurts. It is comprehensive and fairly straightforward to operate due to the significant amount of resources available through the CR organization.

 Considerations

This program is designed for churches and may not work well in other contexts. It is also not designed to track the outcomes of individuals, so if you intend to make sure the program is working, you will need to build some sort of deliberate follow-up/ check-in system.

Links Reviewed 6/24/24