Celebrate Recovery WFR - Small Groups

FIND HEALING IN A SMALL GROUP!

Celebrate Recovery small groups provide a safe place to share one's experiences, strengths, and hopes with others who are going through a Christ-centered recovery. Each group provides you with a group leader who has gone through and experienced victory in a similar area (hurt, hang-up or habit) via the application of the Celebrate Recovery process.

The groups also provide you with the opportunity to find an Accountability Partner as well as a Sponsor. At Celebrate Recovery, our groups are gender specific and offer a safe place for growth. There are several groups available. Just click on the tabs above to learn more.

NEWCOMERS 101

GETTING STARTED

The Newcomers 101 class is a one time class designed to familiarize you with the various components of Celebrate Recovery. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and to help you identify an open-share group to attend the following week. During the latter part of the class, the group breaks out into a men’s group and a women’s group to give you a chance to share and to ask more detailed questions.

We recommend several actions to help you begin recovery:

--Attend several meetings before you decide if this group is not for you.
--We encourage you to obtain a copy of the Celebrate Recovery Workbooks and the Life Recovery Bible.
--Participation in the meeting is your choice. You can pass when it is your turn.
--You will receive a phone list. Call a sponsor to work with you, as you have questions and as you work on the steps. Use the phone list to call people when you need help.
--We guard the anonymity and confidences of group members carefully. Do not share who you see or what you hear in these meetings with any person or prayer list.
--Keep coming back. God will change your life as you apply the Christ-centered 8 Recovery Principles.

--Attending this meeting is the first step in confronting the denial in our lives. We are glad that you are here, and we encourage and support you as you grow with us. We love and support you.

FIND FREEDOM FROM ANGER

Every person has a "Pattern of Toxic Behavior" that can significantly damage the important and intimate relationships in his or her life.

Anger is one of our ten (10) basic, God-given, emotions. This emotion can be CONSTRUCTIVE or DESTRUCTIVE - depending upon our response. The focus of this group is on giving Jesus a "NANO SECOND" (just one billionth of a second!) to help us use all of our emotions according to God's design, for our lives, and to appropriately change our pattern of relating to others and our responsibilities.

When most of us think of an "angry" person we think of someone who destroys themselves and their relationships through uncontrollable outbursts of rage. We usually picture someone who goes around slamming doors, yelling loudly, and making life miserable for everyone, including themselves. Yet this is only one part of anger, as anger has many faces. Equally as damaging and destructive is anger that is suppressed, or "stuffed," as it will only continue to destructively influence our behaviors and attitudes. Ultimately, even suppressed anger erupts from deep within the heart.

Recognizing and accepting responsibility for toxic patterns of behavior is the first hurdle to overcome as one runs the race toward true freedom from anger. Walking through the recovery process with Jesus Christ as our Higher Power allows us to admit our powerlessness to control our anger, as well as trust that He will help us to overcome our destructive habits.

Breaking the old patterns that have kept us locked into destructive behavior takes time. What took years to bring about will take some time to change. But with Jesus Christ as our Higher Power, and the willingness to allow Him to change our life, real freedom from anger is possible!

Take a few minutes and complete a simple questionnaire. It may reveal more about your anger than you realize. It may also be the beginning of the healing that you're looking for!

SELF-EVALUATION

The following inventory can help you in the recognition process as you seek to determine whether your anger is reaching a destructive level in your life.
Check the boxes of the statements that apply to you:

I become impatient easily when things do not go according to my plans.
I tend to have critical thoughts toward others who don't agree with my opinions.
When I am displeased with someone I may shut down any communication with them or withdraw entirely.
I get annoyed easily when friends and family do not appear sensitive to my needs.
I feel frustrated when I see someone else having an "easier" time than me.
Whenever I am responsible for planning an important event, I am preoccupied with how I must manage it.
When talking about a controversial topic, the tone of my voice is likely to become louder and more assertive.
I can accept a person who admits his or her mistakes, but I get irritated easily at those who refuse to admit their weaknesses.
I do not easily forget when someone "does me wrong."
When someone confronts me with a misinformed opinion, I am thinking of my comeback even while they're speaking.
I find myself becoming aggressive even while playing a game for fun.
I struggle emotionally with the things in life that "aren't fair."
Although I realize that it may not be right, I sometimes blame others for my problems.
More often than not I use sarcasm as a way of expressing humor.
I may act kindly toward others on the outside, yet feel bitter and frustrated on the inside.

If you checked 4-8 boxes, your anger is probably more constant than you would like. If you checked 9 or more boxes, there is a strong possibility that you have struggled with periods of anger or rage, whether you are aware of it or not.

(Adapted from "The Anger Workbook," written by Dr. Les Carter and Dr. Frank Minirth)

BREAKING FREE FROM CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY

If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit drinking or using entirely, or if you have little control over the amount you consume, you are probably an alcoholic and/or an addict. If that is the case, you may be suffering from a problem which only a spiritual solution will conquer.
If you are as seriously alcoholic or addicted as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human resources, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best as we could; and the other was to accept Jesus Christ as our Higher Power.

Romans 7:15-25

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." (NIV)

THE SOLUTION

By working through the Eight Recovery Principles found in the Beatitudes with Jesus Christ as your Higher Power, you can and will change! You will begin to experience the true peace and serenity you have been seeking, and you will no longer have to rely on your dysfunctional, compulsive, and addictive behaviors as a temporary "fix" for your pain.

By applying the biblical principles of conviction, conversion, surrender, confession, restitution, prayer, quiet time, witnessing, and helping one another, which are found within the Eight Principles and the Christ-centered 12 Steps, you will restore and develop stronger relationships with others and with God.

SELF-EVALUATION

Have you ever decided to stop drinking and/or using for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days?
Do you wish people would mind their own business about your drinking and/or using – stop telling you what to do?
Have you ever switched from one kind of drink or drug to another in the hope that this would keep you from losing control? Have you had to have an "eye-opener" upon awakening during the past year? Do you need a drink or drug to get started, or stop shaking?
Do you envy people who can drink or use drugs without getting into trouble?
Have you had problems connected with drinking or using during the past year?
Has your drinking or using caused trouble at home?
Do you ever try to get "extra" drinks or drugs at a party because you did not get enough?
Do you tell yourself you can stop drinking or using any time you want to, even though you keep getting inebriated when you don’t mean to?
Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking or using?
Do you have "blackouts"?
Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink or use?

What is your score?

Did you answer YES two (2) or more times? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol or drugs.

But again, only you can decide whether you think Celebrate Recovery is for you. Try to keep an open mind on the subject. If the answer is YES, we will be glad to show you how we stopped drinking and using drugs ourselves.

Celebrate Recovery does not promise to solve your life's problems. But we can show you how we are learning to live without drinking or using one day at a time with the help of our Higher Power, Jesus Christ. We stay away from that first drink. If there is no first one, there cannot be a tenth one. And when we are free of alcohol, we found that life became much more manageable, with Christ’s power.

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REGAINING SEXUAL PURITY

Our lust started as an overpowering desire for pleasurable relief from inner pain, emptiness or insecurity, with which we could not cope. At first, it worked. For a time, sex with ourselves or with others dissolved the tension, relieved the depression, resolved the conflict, and provided the means to deal with, or escape from, seemingly unbearable life situations.

Eventually, our quest for relief became an addiction, and the addiction took on a life of its own. Pleasure and relief were gradually replaced with tension, depression, rage, guilt, and even physical distress. To relieve this new pain, we resorted to more sex and lust, losing more control in the process. We were driven to spend more time thinking about and carrying out our addiction, and lived in denial to avoid recognizing how much of our life our addiction controlled.

Finally, our addiction came to take priority over everything: our ability to work, live in the real world, relate with others and be close to God. What started as the cure had become the sickness. The Answer had become the Problem. We were hopelessly addicted to lust.

Overcoming Lust and Temptation

A new loneliness overwhelmed us as we realized that we had become increasingly separated from God and our loved ones. We began to seek sobriety, and as we stayed sexually sober for some length of time, we discovered that even though we may not be acting out our compulsion, our obsession was still with us.

We began to recognize the many disguises the Enemy uses to trick us into lusting. We learned not to rely on our failed and weakened selves, but rather, to turn to God's pure love and absolute power. With increased reliance on God, we worked on recovery with altered attitudes and growing humility, and we gained progressive victory over lust.

As we yielded to God, temptation began to lose its control over us. When we admitted we were powerless and gave our lives and our will over to God, He worked in us, and we began enjoy a new balance in our lives. Leaning on and learning from others in the program, we continue to walk in His strength, gaining true freedom from lust and sin through obedience to Christ our Lord.

EVERYDAY ISSUES

If you struggle with any of the following you could benefit from the Life Issues group:

Have a loved one that is chemically addicted, Anxiety, Regrets, Anger,Codependency,Overspending, Grief, Gossiping, Negativity, Gambling, The need to control---you get the idea---basically any kind of hurt, habit, or hang-up

CODEPENDENCY

Click here to learn more about codependency

FINANCIAL RECOVERY

Being unclear about your financial situation. Not knowing account balances, monthly expenses, loan interest rates, fees, fines, or contractual obligations.
Frequently "borrowing" items such as books, pens, or small amounts of money from friends and others, and failing to return them.
Poor saving habits. Not planning for taxes, retirement or other non-recurring but predictable items, and then feeling surprised when they come due; a "live for today, don't worry about tomorrow" attitude.
Compulsive shopping: Being unable to pass up a "good deal"; making impulsive purchases; leaving price tags on clothes so they can be returned; not using items you've purchased.
Difficulty in meeting basic financial or personal obligations, and/or an inordinate sense of accomplishment when such obligations are met.
A different feeling when buying things on credit than when paying cash, a feeling of being in the club, of being accepted, of being grown up.
Living in chaos and drama around money: Using one credit card to pay another; bouncing checks; always having a financial crises to contend with.
A tendency to live on the edge: Living paycheck to paycheck; taking risks with health and car insurance coverage; writing checks hoping money will appear to cover them.
Unwarranted inhibition and embarrassment in what should be a normal discussion of money.
Overworking or under earning: Working extra hours to earn money to pay creditors; using time inefficiently; taking jobs below your skill and education level.
An unwillingness to care for and value yourself: Living in self-imposed deprivation; denying your basic needs in order to pay your creditors.
A feeling or hope that someone will take care of you if necessary, so that you won't really get into serious financial trouble, that there will always be someone you can turn to.

OVERCOMING FOOD ADDICTION

The Women's Food Addiction Group will provide support to any and all women who struggle with food issues and will focus on strengthening the individual's relationship with God. This will provide freedom from the ongoing internal battle with food. You can expect to become closer to God through His Word, the Recovery Principles and the love and support of other women.

Do you struggle with overeating or constant dieting?
Have you been on a diet and lost all the weight, but need support not to go back to unhealthy behaviors?
Do you ever feel out of control and unable to stop eating?
Do you eat out of frustration, anger, or fear?
Does it seem impossible to eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are full?
Do you eat to feel comfort?

THE PROBLEM

Throughout our lives many of us have turned to food to ease our pain or fear.
We felt comfort in eating and found ourselves turning to food whenever we were hurt, angry or frustrated.
Food became our comforter, our friend.
Some of us may have one certain food that we can not stop eating, or are unable to eat only in healthy amounts.
Some of us may have been emotionally, physically or sexually abused and use food to cope with the emotions of those events.
Some of us may have had healthy eating habits as children or young adults, but at some point in our lives we chose to overeat and lost the ability to discern when we were physically hungry or when we were physically full.
Some of us may have turned to food after obtaining sobriety in other areas.
We thought food was "safe,not realizing it could become our "drug of choice".
We have focused on our body image instead of our health.
Many of us have tried various diet programs, exercising, medications or many other ways of trying to control our eating habits.
We have failed over and over and are left feeling guilty, incapable and unlovable.
We have given in to the idea that there is one perfect diet or pill out there that can save us, if only we could find it.
Some of us believe that thin people do not struggle with food addiction. We have also failed to recognize food as our "drug of choice".
As a result of our food addiction we feel out of control and may struggle with many other areas of our lives.
Some of us have low self esteem which may affect our motivation, and our relationship with God and others.

THE SOLUTION

We came to realize that we could not control our addiction to food and that we are powerless.
We understand that our problems are emotional and spiritual.
We have become ready to face our denial and accept the truth about our lives and our food addiction.
We are ready to accept responsibility for our actions and make Jesus the Lord of our lives.
We are dedicated to learning about healthy eating.
We are committed to learning the difference between physical and emotional hunger.
We are willing to turn to God when we are not physically hungry.
We will begin to view food as fuel for our body so that we will not eat unless we are physically hungry and stop when we are physically full.
We are willing to begin the process of recovery and working through the 12 steps to heal ourselves, and start living the life God has planned for us.
We are willing to find a sponsor and accountability partners.
We realize our group provides a safe place to share our fears, hurt or anger and also is a place to rejoice in victories.
We have become willing to face our character defects and work through these feelings in our group.
We are willing to take the focus off of food and focus on God.
We recognize that recovery from food addiction is not about our body image or what foods we eat, but it is about trusting God and having an intimate relationship with Him.
We are willing to believe and trust in God's love for us, and to see ourselves as He sees us.
We are willing to seek a closer relationship with God.
By facing our fears we have realized that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are what we need to overcome them.
As we surrender our food addiction to God, we will come to know that He is all we need.
We will continue to seek a daily quiet time with God and will rely on the Holy Spirit as our source of comfort. We will be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
We will use the tools of recovery: calling our accountability partners, journaling and reading the Bible.

EATING DISORDERS

SELF-EVALUATION

1. Do thoughts about food occupy much of your time?
2. Are you preoccupied with a desire to be thinner?
3. Do you starve to make up for eating binges?
4. Are you overweight despite concern by others for you to lose weight?
5. Do you binge and then vomit afterward?
6. Do you exercise excessively to burn off calories?
7. Do you overeat by bingeing or by grazing continuously?
8. Do you eat the same thing every day and feel annoyed when you eat something else?
9. Do you binge and then take enemas or laxatives to get rid of the food you have eaten?
10. Do you hide stashes of food for future eating or bingeing?
11. Do you avoid foods with sugar in them and feel uncomfortable after eating sweets?
12. Is food your friend?
13. Would you rather eat alone? Do you feel uncomfortable when you must eat with others?
14. Do you have specific ways you eat when are emotionally upset, sad, angry, afraid, anxious or ashamed?
15. Do you become depressed or feel guilty after an eating binge?
16. Do you feel fat even when people tell you otherwise?
17. Are you ever afraid that you won't be able to stop eating when you are on binge?
18. Have you tried to diet repeatedly only to sabotage your weight loss?
19. Do you binge on high-calorie, sugary, forbidden foods?
20. Are you proud of your ability to control the food you eat and your weight ?
21. Do you have weight changes of more than 10 pound after binges and fasts?
22. Do you feel your eating behavior is abnormal? Do you try to hide it from others?
23. Does feeling ashamed of your body weight result in more binging?
24. Do you make a lot of insulting jokes about your body weight or your eating?
25. Do you feel guilty after eating anything not allowed on your diet?
26. Do you follow unusual rituals while eating, such as counting bites or not allowing the fork or food to touch your lips?

If you checked five or more of the questions numbered 1, 4, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, you may be dealing with compulsive overeating.

If you checked five or more of the questions numbered 1, 2, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, you have eating behaviors typical of anorexia nervosa.

If you checked five or more of the questions numbered 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 26, you have eating behaviors common in bulimia nervosa.

WELCOME

This recovery support group's purpose is to conquer the painful effects of eating disorders. To that end we support each other as family. We seek to apply the 8 Recovery Principles to our lives and to our relationships.

We welcome you. We cannot fix your problems, and we will not seek to run your life for you. We will accept you and love you. This is a safe place.

When we attended our first meeting, many of us were having a variety of feelings. We were relieved to find a place where people might understand our pain and despair. We were angry that we had to get help and could not manage alone this part of our lives. We felt lonely and were ashamed of the way our lives had become. We had secrets that we were reluctant to share.

Our group is not a therapy group or a study group. It is a Christ-centered support group. We do not give advice. We share our experience, strength, and hope with each other.

Here we learn a new way of living. We learn, at our own pace, to experience in a healthy way intimacy and sharing with others. We learn to trust, to ask for our needs to be met, to say no when no is appropriate, to express our feelings, and to hang around when all we want to do is run. Here no one shames us for what we have done or still are doing. Here we have a safe harbor within which to heal, and for that we are grateful. The only requirement for membership in our group is a desire to change our unhealthy eating behaviors.

Those of us who have experienced life change through the program offer this challenge to you. This program works as we complete the work with the help and supervision of a sponsor or accountability partner. If you do not have a sponsor or accountability partner, we encourage you to enlist one, complete the written work in the Celebrate Recovery Workbooks and share your work with your sponsor or accountability partner.

We are happy you are here. We encourage you to take one day at a time and keep coming back... it works.

INFORMATION

We recommend several actions to help you begin recovery:

1. Attend several meetings before you decide if this group is not for you.
2. We encourage you to obtain a copy of the Celebrate Recovery Workbooks and the Life Recovery Bible.
3. Participation in the meeting is your choice. You can pass when it is your turn.
4. You will receive a phone list. Call a sponsor to work with you, as you have questions and as you work on the steps. Use the phone list to call people when you need help.
5. We guard the anonymity and confidences of group members carefully. Do not share who you see or what you hear in these meetings with any person or prayer list.
6. Keep coming back. God will change your life as you apply the Christ-centered 8 Recovery Principles.

Attending this meeting is the first step in confronting the denial in our lives. We are glad that you are here, and we encourage and support you as you grow with us. We love and support you.

LOVED ONE OF AN ADDICT

Loving An Addict (chemical dependency, alcohol, sex, porn, etc.) can be an emotional rollercoaster. It really doesn't matter if we're the spouse, parent, child or friend of an addict; feelings of fear, shame, and confusion over a loved one's addiction can cause deep anxiety, sleepless nights, and even physical illness. We spend a lot of compassionate effort trying to help addicts recover, but very little on the loved ones, some of whom may be scarred for life. If you have a loved one who is an addict, this small group is for you.
The emotional distress family members suffer is often compounded by the belief that they somehow caused or contributed to their loved one's addiction-or that they could have done something to prevent it. Family members do not cause their loved one's addiction. Nor can they control or cure the addiction. What family members can do is find support, set boundaries, detach with love-and eventually discover how God, through Christ, can provide hope and healing in your relationships. Most of all, God has blessings of peace and joy ready for you whether your loved one finds recovery or not.

What ROLE fits you?

THE ADDICT
The person with the addiction is a lot of times becomes the center of attention. The "world" revolves around this person.
THE HERO
The Hero is the one who needs to make the family look good. They ignore the problem and present things in a positive manner as if the roles within the family did not exist. The Hero is the perfectionist. Their role can play an important and vital part in the family recovery, but 1st they must
The underlying feelings are fear, guilt, and shame.
THE MASCOT
The Mascot's role is that of the jester. They will often make inappropriate jokes about the those involved. Though they do bring humor to the family roles, it is often harmful humor, and they sometimes hinder addiction recovery.
The underlying feelings are embarrassment, shame, and anger.
THE LOST CHILD
The Lost Child is the silent, "out of the way" family member, and will never mention alcohol or drugs or recovery. They are quiet and reserved, careful to not make problems. The Lost Child gives up self needs and makes efforts to avoid any conversation regarding the underlying roles.
The underlying feelings are guilt, loneliness, neglect, and anger.
THE SCAPEGOAT
The Scapegoat often acts out in front of others. They will rebel, make noise, and divert attention from the person who is addicted and their need for help in addiction recovery. The Scapegoat covers or draws attention away from the real problem.
The underlying feelings are shame, guilt, and emptiness.
THE CARETAKER (ENABLER)
The Caretaker (Enabler) makes all the other roles possible. They try to keep everyone happy and the family in balance, void of the issue. They make excuses for all behaviors and actions, and never mention addiction recovery or getting help. The Caretaker (Enabler) presents a situation without problems to the public.
The underlying feelings are inadequacy, fear, and helplessness.
THE ENFORCER
The Enforcer demands recovery or abstinence. They try to keep order in the family by implementing rules for the family to live by. They insist that they can control the sobriety of the addicted. The enforcer will play judge and jury for the addicts behavior, taking away the process of recovery that the addict must face themselves.
The underlying feelings are control, fear, and anger.

As with any recovery, it is sometimes necessary and helpful to gather information, to better understand what others are seeing or feeling. For a family, information and help must be sought for the whole family before the recovery can be complete. Information and understanding may be all that are necessary to bring about recovery, but a specialist might also be necessary, since there may be grief and loss to overcome in the process.