Through the Archway and Spiritual Immersion
Through the Archway constitutes the spiritual lane of the Sylvia Brafman “5 lanes” approach to treating mental illness and addiction. This unique spiritual wellness approach is designed to tackle the mental obsession associated with addiction and alcoholism. It does this by immersing participants in the fundamentals of recovery.
They receive a strong working knowledge of the core principles of 12-step recovery and how they can apply it to their own lives. This enables participants to gain perspective and profound insight into their own thinking and behavior. More importantly, they gain the tools needed to ignite change. This is the true power of the program. It instills both insight and the knowledge to affect change in one’s own life, where before progress seemed impossible.
Attacking the ‘Spiritual Lane’
For many people, the recovery process will be the most challenging thing they ever do. But we know it works when it’s done properly with the right support system in place. Addiction treatment at The Sylvia Brafman Mental Health Center is worlds apart from your run-of-the-mill rehab facility, in part, because we treat addiction as a mental illness and we attack it in “5 lanes”. This revolutionary approach is more thorough and far-reaching than any conventional treatment center curriculum – and it delivers results by leaving no stone unturned.
Our goal is to establish a custom tailored ‘wellness package’ consisting of different ratios of these 5 elements:
- Clinical: Modalities like CBT, DBT, EMDR to provide coping mechanisms and greater insight into one’s psyche and behaviors
- Medical: Ensuring the body is well-functioning and healthy through primary medicine and addressing specific issues as needed
- Psychiatric: Optimizing brain chemistry through medication as needed and other mechanisms like TMS
- Spiritual: Inspiring a shift in outlooks and attitudes to provide a greater sense of connection to ourselves and the world around us
- Vocational: Nurturing our external life to maximize one’s potential and provide a fulfilling career or educational daily life
How Through the Archway Makes a Difference in Your Recovery
Addiction falls under the umbrella of mental illness, and it requires the addition of a pronounced spiritual element in one’s “wellness package”.
Through the Archway represents an especially robust introduction to spirituality. Forget what you know about the term “spirituality” for a moment. Table any associations with organized religion you may have as well. What Through the Archway offers is a spiritual remedy that is powerful, practical, and sustainable. And it’s accessible to anyone, regardless of their faith or lack thereof.
The 12-step solution is part of Through the Archway, but it is the overall spiritual immersion approach that creates the results. Patients benefit from:
- Lectures on spirituality and recovery
- One-on-one meetings with Peter and Marion Marinelli
- Group sessions and meditations
- Outside 12-step meetings
- A therapeutic, nurturing environment
The guidance and context provided by Peter and Marion Marinelli are the cornerstones of Through the Archway. They help ensure that each of the spiritual principles is fully understood by every participant. This immersion and understanding are the keys to Through the Archway’s success.
You deserve to live the life you want.
Self-worth and empowerment will arise within you. Achieve success, fulfillment and a deeper meaning to life.
The Meaning and Intention Behind the 12 Steps
Millions of people have found successful recovery through the 12 Steps originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. 12-step recovery is an evidence-based element of care which has been proven effective in peer-reviewed research. But how does this process help trigger the profound insight and understanding that enable personal transformation? That’s a big question, but we can touch upon the answer here.
In a nutshell, the 12-step process helps to strip away the desires which have gotten the better of us and the ego and stubborn pride which stand in the way of our progress. We come away from the work with a better understanding of ourselves, the world and our place in it. Most importantly, we have hope, humility, willingness and a sense of purpose. Working the 12 Steps properly isn’t easy, but few things worth doing are. The 12-step process is one of the most powerful tools for personal transformation we have.
If we expect big changes, we have to be willing to do the work. The good news is we know this system and way of living works. We’ve seen it time and time again. There simply aren’t any shortcuts to the cathartic, transformative experience that completing the stepwork creates. It’s that simple.
Here is a short summary of each of the 12 Steps in modern language and the principle associated with each one:
Step 1 – Honesty: We admit and accept that addiction has made our lives unmanageable and we cannot overcome it alone.
Step 2 – Hope: We acknowledge a belief that something greater than ourselves can help us overcome addiction and make our lives manageable again.
Step 3 – Trust: We decide to turn our will (thinking) and our lives (actions) over to a Higher Power of our understanding.
Step 4 – Courage: We take a careful, unflinching look at our thinking and behaviors and make a list of the things we believe we need to change.
Step 5 – Integrity: We thoroughly admit these things to our Higher Power and someone we trust.
Step 6 – Willingness: We are prepared to let our Higher Power and the program help us change these things about ourselves.
Step 7 – Humility: We ask our Higher Power to help us initiate this change.
Step 8 – Selflessness: We make a list of anyone we harmed in our behaviors and decide to make things right to the best of our ability.
Step 9 – Justice: We make amends and set things right with all of those we harmed to the best of our ability. Note, this step isn’t about apologizing. It’s about asking the person directly, when possible and practical, how you can make things right or what you can do to make them better.
Step 10 – Perseverance: We make a habit out of methodically taking an honest look at our thinking and behavior as we did in Step 4, so that we can maintain what we’ve gained and continue to grow.
Step 11 – Spirituality: We use prayer and meditation to maintain awareness and connection to our Higher Power to help us continue to turn our will (thinking) and our lives (actions) over to a greater purpose.
Step 12 – Service: We carry the message of hope and share the solution with others who suffer from addiction as we did. We continue to practice the principles we learned in every area of our lives to the best of our ability.
