(January 4, 2019 at 2:11 pm)wyzas Wrote:(January 4, 2019 at 12:52 pm)alw0992 Wrote: Very well might be. It's a self-contradictory group. On the Tuesday night groups, they use secular plans (at least the stress/anger group did). the lessons dealt with cognitive development/training and they were good for what we were doing. Pretty much how to retrain the brain, how to find healthy outlets, finding triggers, going over consequences if stress and/or gets out of control. But the Friday 12 step groups (because you can attend specific groups without committing to the 12 month program) teach that "No good dwells within us," and our lives cannot be changed by us but by prayer and giving it up to God. Along with that, you're told that by a specific step if you haven't converted to Christianity the program won't work. That's where I became disillusioned and began to develop more secular beliefs (already held them). It's a racket because all of the Judges in our county require, AA, NA, or Celebrate Recovery. The juvenile probation department now requires all juvenile offenders to attend CR meetings as well. But the reason I'm questioning some my beliefs is because of a conversation with my dad, he stated one day: If you don't believe central tenets of any given religion, then why believe? it's dishonest to yourself and to those who do believe them. I've always held that in my early twenties and now that I have children, after taking them to Sunday school a few times, and attending the Celebrate Recovery meetings, I've started asking myself "Am I truly being honest with myself and my little girls?" It is a small world that your sister lived here, I hope she enjoyed her time here.
Are your referring to SR or CR? I know the courts have ruled that an individual can not be required to attend religious counseling/therapy as part of diversion/probation/parole.
https://www.smartrecovery.org/courts/cou...ttendance/
That being said, the only other real choice most people have (without a court battle) is to do the time. Most people here, if court ordered, just show up and shut up.
There are all kinds of groups that meet in your area that are not AA/NA or CR, some charge, some don't. Not sure if you're a "nudge from the judge" but participation in most of these group usually meet the courts requirements. At least they do here, and most are religion "lite".
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/group...worth%20tx
Addressing your religious status: Keep hanging around and talking to us. At the end of the day I really don't care what you believe, as long as you don't expect me to believe it also or validate it. But this being the forum that it is, I may make comments that are not always appreciated. This is my venting place for being in an IRL religious society.
I attend meetings under my own freewill. That's good information to have because roughly 90% of the people who attend the celebrate recovery meetings have some type of court paper that has to be signed. What's upsetting about the program is that by the 3rd or 4th lesson (can't remember) you're already supposed to have converted to Christianity and be baptized and if you're not, you are told that the program won't work. The leader the chapter (guess that's what you can call it; he's a nice guy by the way with a good story) always pushes community service to a church and regular church attendance. But I've noticed that everyone trades one vice for another, which is unhealthy, which makes the rate of relapse very high. There's very little cognitive behavioral therapy/training, but rather being told to call a sponsor and pray. When I worked at a lock down facility, the youths were required to attend celebrate recovery meetings until the owner refused and told them the meetings were no longer needed, but rather switched to cognitive behavior therapy program that was ran seven days a week but staff and therapists; with assignments for the kids to do.
