When I was first thinking about writing a book, I had a friend—an author—who tried to convince me not to do it: “It’s really hard, it takes a lot of time, nobody will read it, etc., etc., etc.”
Those discussions were disappointing, but after several conversations he made his advice clear: “Don’t write a book unless there is something you absolutely have to say.”
I got the point. And, after some soul-searching, I decided there was something I had to say about how we can help prevent addiction.
How to Help Prevent Addiction
That led to the book STEPS: A Daily Journey to a Better Life which has the tagline: “How anyone can use the world’s most famous (and misunderstood) life improvement program.”
The Twelve Steps are the most successful recovery program in history, but they are also much more than that. They are a lifestyle that brings peace, joy, and purpose to those who practice them. Amazingly, when lived out ahead of time, they can also help prevent addiction from happening in the first place, rather than waiting until after people crash and burn.
The STEPS were created to change how the world thinks about addiction. For decades, recovery organizations have given HELP to millions of people to rebuild their lives after a crash. Now, our new nonprofit organization—STEPS Ministries—will provide HELP to prevent addiction.
What do we mean by H-E-L-P?
- Holistic – Recovery requires an integrated approach to deal with the emotional, spiritual, and personal aspects of the disease. A similar focus on wholeness can prevent addiction, and this can change how the world thinks. Addiction is a deadly disease, but it can be prevented!
- Emergency – Addiction can be life-and-death. There is much at stake, so we need urgency. We all have issues, and we are all addicted to something. To avoid a crash, we need resilience to deal with life well rather than relying on a substance or behavior to do that for us.
- Lifestyle Program – To improve our lives, we need Why we should change, What to do, and How to do it. Then, it’s our choice to be intentional in how we live. This transformation brings good news. Addiction is an opportunity to improve our lives and help other people.
To help people improve their lives and prevent addiction, we can leverage the lessons taught every day in thousands of recovery meetings all over the world. But we need HELP—a holistic emergency lifestyle program—to take those lessons to people.
That is what STEPS Ministries is all about.
What STEPS Ministries Will Do
The practical wisdom in the principles of recovery is a lifestyle that applies to everyone, but we need to start somewhere. STEPS Ministries will focus initially on providing programs in 3 areas:
- STEPS Proactive Parenting: Education for parents to become intentional on protecting their kids from addictions. This training and coaching will teach parents how to raise kids to be balanced emotionally, spiritually, and personally to lessen the risk of addiction.
- STEPS Business Wellness: Training, coaching, and consulting on workplace effectiveness and addiction prevention. This will help business people become better leaders, managers, and employees who can deal with early warning signs of addiction in a healthy manner.
- STEPS Communications: Digital content and curriculum delivered over the internet to help people improve their lives and prevent addiction. We all need help, whether we just want to improve our lives, are searching spiritually, or want to enhance our emotional well-being.
Why don’t we work together to help prevent addiction? We should, and we can, so please join us.
Question: Who do you know that needs HELP to improve their lives and prevent addiction?
Action: Make a conscious choice to help prevent addiction by supporting STEPS Ministries.
