Here at The Haynes Clinic we include a number of workshops in our treatment programme. These are based on common issues and problems that people have in life that tend to feed into their addiction, often being part the cause and part as a consequence of it. So, for example, workshops can be focused on change and loss, anger, feelings, fear, anxiety, depression, spirituality, and resentment.
Workshops are always tailored to the patients’ needs
No one workshop is the same as another as it depends very much on the participants, their input from their own experiences and their individual needs, which the counsellor(s) conducting it will ensure are met from their own experience and knowledge of the individuals concerned. However, to give you an idea of how a workshop is run, let’s take a typical one on ‘feelings’. Alcoholics and addicts are notoriously bad at handling their feelings. That is why they drink and use substances – to escape the way they are feeling.
What is included
A typical workshop will cover:
- What are the feelings and emotions they have experienced in the past? Often the people attending will focus on negative feelings but positive ones can also be included and the circumstances surrounding these.
- What are their perceived feelings in the future? Often attendees tend to focus on negative feelings here such as fear and anxiety but some may mention hope….
- What are their feelings now? This will often elicit the most positive response – hope, choice of having a life, security in terms of being in a safe space in the clinic, having people who still care for them, being able to laugh again…
The workshop will then typically focus on how we can dwell so much on our bad feelings from the past. Or worry so much about the future, that we can miss living in the present. Today things are actually ok – possibly even good! We need to live more for today and less in the past. Or worrying about the future – which no one can predict anyway. All we can do is be grateful and enjoy today – ‘just for today’.
Importance of spirituality
That is one typical workshop. Let’s now take another, this time one that helps addicts in early recovery grasp one of the concepts of the 12 Step Programme. Many people initially reject the 12 Step Programme because it contains the word ‘God’ (a god of our understanding). And hence they think it is religious. It is not. The wording is slightly unfortunate as it was devised in 1930s America in the ‘Bible Belt’. However, it is not necessary to be religious or to have any beliefs in a God to follow the 12 Step Programme. The important thing is to be able to be spiritual.
So this workshop covers our beliefs (or lack of them) and how these relate to spirituality, and how these are often as a result of conditioning from other people. Participants are encouraged to be honest about what they think and feel and are led to a new way of considering spirituality so that they no longer confuse it with religious beliefs.
So what is involved in a typical workshop at The Haynes Clinic? Anything and everything but in essence they tend to involve exploring our feelings and finding a new way of seeing things.