AA to zz.

I thought I should report on the AA meeting. It was a requirement for my Drug & Alcohol class (no, they didn't teach us how to abuse drugs and alcohol so much that I now am seeking treatment. . .) I was pretty nervous going into the whole thing. I was mortified to go by myself. Especially in another country. Not only would I be sticking out as a student, but I'd feel a bit out of place culturally. I asked a couple of classmates if they wanted to go together and they were happy to as they had been harboring some of the same thoughts and feelings.

The meeting was in Mildenhall. It turned out to be a really cool assignment. As hesitant as I was thinking about the whole thing, when we got there everyone was so nice and we were made to feel really comfortable. The time flew by. That night they were going through a piece of their main book (with the 12 steps discussed in depth). Everyone who wanted to could share about their experience in relation to that subject. I really really really respected each of the individuals who is there. They are members of a culture in which alcoholism is almost socially acceptable. However, they had the courage to realize that their life was falling apart because of their behavior and they were fighting every day for sobriety (and will fight every day until the day that they die). On a cold rainy Monday night instead of staying in the comfort, protection and warmth of their home they gathered to support each other. Some of those people had been coming for years. It was pretty amazing.

Interestingly, the subject was prayer. It was really intriguing to be sitting in a room in a pretty godless culture hearing people discuss prayer. AA principles are based on the belief of God or a Higher Power as understood by the participant. A lot of people shared about how they would even pray the prayers (such as the Serenity prayer) that were integrated into the AA curriculum and really found that useful. It was a bit painful to hear the connection of spiritual life with people "working" to "at least go through the steps" and my heart really felt for these people who are searching but don't quite see Christ as the answer.

Often the dialectics of faith and mental health really leave my head spinning. The field of psychology demands of its participants in ethics codes to separate sacred from secular, but sometimes that's a really struggle. It's been really nice to have a classmate who is a believer to grapple with the question "what do you do when someone is seeking a secular solution to a spiritual problem?" Really, it seems the entire field is seeking a secular solution to a issues with spiritual components and there simply isn't one.

On the other hand, it drives me MAD when Christians think that somehow people should "pray away" mental illness (my blood pressure just went up typing that). Yes, pray. Christ is the Great Physician. However, mental illnesses must be treated like physical illness -- people need to use their brains and take advantage of the avenues that God uses to heal (i.e. modern medicine, doctors, psychologists, etc.) If I had a friend with cancer I would be mortified if she decided she didn't need to go to the doctor and seek physical treatment. Yet, somehow sometimes when someone has a mental illness people see seeking treatment as some sort of weakness or lack of faith.

My dream job is at a place that is one of the most successful inpatient treatment eating disorder programs in the entire U.S. - Remuda Ranch in Phoenix, AZ (they also have one in VA but there are no AF bases close so that's not really an option). I want so desperately to work there not simply because they are the best at what they do but because they unapologetically integrate faith and biblical principles into their treatment. They can do this ethically because patients from any faith can come for treatment but are informed of the principles on which the program is based. And, well. . . you can't argue with success. . .

I have really learned in the last couple of months that working in the mental health field, you can really be a light and people can really see a difference in you even if you never overtly say a work about what you believe. It's been really interesting especially among coworkers some of the questions I've gotten about what I believe, as most of them know that I go to church and are quite curious. It's that "hmmm . . . there's something different about that girl" phenemonon. It's true that when Christ has Lordship in your life you are very different from everyone else without saying anything. Our core beliefs are really reflected in how we live life.

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words." - St. Francis -
That's what it's really all about.