Guiding Light Recovery is a four–month inpatient substance abuse treatment program available for Grand Rapids men at no financial cost. The men that come through our doors seeking an end to their lifestyle of addiction to drugs and alcohol are often mentally, physically, and spiritually broken. Clients admitted into our Recovery program are given a safe environment to heal and time to get their life in order.
The core philosophy of the program centers around the seven different focus points and ways of living that are taught to the men here. These are the principles of willingness, honesty, vulnerability, self-awareness, self-compassion, responsibility, and spiritual formation. All of these focus points are essential for a man to integrate into his life if he is seeking to free himself from the bondage of drugs and alcohol. Each of these points is thoroughly, comprehensively, and holistically explored in the Guiding Light Recovery curriculum. Each week of programming is dedicated to one specific focus point. Twice a week the men attend a cognitive behavioral therapy class facilitated by our life coaches Mike Ryan, Daniel Irwin, Ryan Becksford, or Jacob Passerman. Each class’s lesson plan is centered around that week’s principle and is designed to open up a constructive dialogue and articulate to clients how this or that focus point is needed and has been lacking in their lives.
A man living in active addiction has a way of life that is inherently defined by unpredictability and chaos. The programming of Guiding Light Recovery provides a constructive routine and basic sense of structure that many of the men that come through here have not had in their lives for years, if not decades. There are many other aspects of the Recovery Program at Guiding Light, such as our emphasis on the importance of physical health and one’s spiritual development.
But there is one reason above all else that our program really works. The foundation and core of our programming structure is the seven focus points. Men that come through Guiding Light Recovery have remarkably higher success rates in sobriety than anywhere else. 81% of the men that stay committed to the program long-term (spending four months in treatment, finding employment, and moving to our sober-living apartments at Iron House) are able to stay sober over a year. This is in stark contrast to a 2007 study conducted by the social-research journal, Evaluation Review, showing that only 33% of men who attempt to get sober are able to make it that long. Unlike most other rehabilitation programs, Guiding Light Recovery really does work, and the numbers show it. The only cost for men to come here is their willingness to change their lives for the better. We are entirely funded by private donations, and for that we are eternally grateful to our generous donors, volunteers, and supporters for helping us on our mission to make our community a better place, one man at a time.
