Uncovery: The Power of Community to Heal TraumaSýnishorn

More than a replicable lifestyle or series of behavior modification techniques, real recovery is the discovery of a person’s God-given identity and learning what it means to walk in it for the rest of your life. This is hard if not impossible to do anonymously. It requires a Spirit-led, relationship-driven approach that in many ways cannot be programmed. Operating in a flexible framework can provide opportunities for people to go deeper in recovery—into Uncovery territory.

To help people transform and break free of addiction, mental health issues, and suicidal thoughts, we need to consider their whole life, including spiritual discipleship, community, work therapy, and more. By exploring and diving deep into each of these areas of life, we can provide a unique prescription for healing and wholeness that creates pathways to a promised-land life. This multifaceted, relational approach looks at the fullness of the individual, not just the struggles from which they’re attempting to recover.

You can get sober without Jesus. But building a promised-land life worth staying sober for is not possible without a firm foundation in Christ. People in recovery need to hear the truth of the gospel in a language they can understand, grow from, and eventually share with others. Discipleship is all about helping people get to know the real Jesus personally, not just knowing about Him.

Getting to the root of someone’s problems requires a deliberately comprehensive approach. This means honoring the whole person by removing labels and helping them walk through deeper-layer struggles as they come up along the journey. It’s about learning new patterns of living to move beyond sobriety toward a transformed life.

Authentic community is the all-too-often missing piece in the recovery puzzle. While Friday night meetings and weekend service projects present opportunities to build real friendships, they can also be a breeding ground for triggers and codependency. We need to relearn what it means to do life together in an atmosphere of transparency, vulnerability, and unconditional love that leaves no one behind.

People in recovery need a purpose, and work can be an important reason to stay sober. Helping people find and keep jobs they enjoy doing builds dignity, responsibility, knowledge, and experience. And if we can’t help them find jobs, why not create them? Startups and microbusinesses can provide income opportunities and entrepreneurial training for people in recovery who want and need to work in a safe, supportive environment.