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Effective 12 Step Recovery Programs
The Philosophy of Veritas Villa, Inc.

The philosophy of Veritas Villa, Inc. is based on the theory of the 12 Step recovery program that addiction to alcohol and other substances is a three-fold disease: spiritual, physical, and mental.

We believe in the wisdom and utilization involved in the 12 Step programs of recovery that have proven to be effective for many hundreds of thousands of people and their families.

We therefore believe that the recovery process involves the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of recovery.

We also believe that healing is a very difficult and painful process -- the same as recovery from any other illness. The philosophy of Veritas Villa treats all three phases of the disease with the wisdom and healing of the 12 Steps recovery programs and the most current medical, psychological, holistic and spiritual approaches.

"Ever since I’ve been involved in the field of alcohol and drug rehabilitation (from 1952), I am still convinced that the only foolproof way to help people get well requires a regular revisiting of the 12-Steps.

When I first got involved in a 12-Step program, they told me that the steps could be taken cafeteria style that I could take what I like and leave what I didn’t like.  Before long, however, as the newcomers continued to grow, they would come to realize that the 12-Steps were written in order, and that each of them had a specific purpose.  We learned that a person could get something extra by concentrating on a particular step for a while and working on just one concept at a time.  Most people utilize each of the different steps at different times but then go back to step one.

It baffles me when I hear that many people today go away to some of the treatment centers and focus only on steps one through three.  I fail to see the logic in that.  Perhaps the feeling is that people can’t be forced, that they must feel that they have a choice.  The most successful treatment plans, however, have required people to sign a therapeutic contract on their initial intake.  Here, the person would promise to do a fourth and fifth step with a staff member before they left.  This is a useful approach in the therapeutic process that helps the alcoholic to make a commitment to sobriety, and to choose the road to recovery.  Self-help groups have been effective because of the 12-Steps – all of them."

The 12 Steps of Recovery

1. We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and drugs and that out lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, and ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Featured Employee

My name is Matt Ryan and I would like to welcome you to our website. I am 25 years sober and have worked at Veritas Villa for 16 years. I am a counselor on the men’s clinical team. I presently work with the uniformed officers and union members that served at Ground Zero. I believe that unresolved trauma will ultimately prevent some people from getting sober therefore it needs to be addressed in a safe supportive environment in early recovery. I look forward to seeing you when you come to the Villa!