There is the obvious problem that exists among many of our clients in TRT. Just as it is a challenge to help addicted people interested in recovery move through recovery stages of change, it can be a difficult challenge helping people new to recovery to move through the ABC steps of TRT. There are people that do not really believe in God. It isn’t necessarily the issue that they reject faith in God (Jesus Christ), so much as it is a lack, even absence, of knowledge, awareness, and experience with the issue of believing in something—or someone—they cannot see, hear, or touch. There are also folks who have had negative experiences with religion and church, or have become disheartened by public perceptions of organized religion.
These folks generally come into TRT with an idea of what it is, whether through the intake process, or exploring the website of a TRT facility. They may have decided on this course of therapy simply out of logistical convenience. The facility is close, accepts there insurance (TRT is a credentialed 12-step cognitive-behavioral model accepted by most insurance companies), and can get them in right away. By the time they have become part of a therapy group, these “unbelieving” clients are establishing rapport with the Transformative Recovery therapist, as well as the TRT group that consists of mostly “believing” recovering clients. Listening to clients speak of the power of prayer in their new life of recovery lends credibility to TRT recovery tools and is influential in tweaking the curiosity of the “unbelieving” client interested in improving his quality of life.
