We are a community of peers, peer-practitioners, psychotherapists, counselors, psychologists, and physicians who are committed to the practice of Authentic Process Healing (APH) as outlined in Michael Picucci’s book The Journey Toward Complete Recovery.

In addition to addressing the multidimensional and multicultural aspects of addiction and recovery, this Doorway is the home of The Staged Recovery Project. This focus deliberately takes our community's previous learning at The Institute for Staged Recovery and advances the peer-driven possibilities of community healing at all levels. Ana Venezia is the Director of this project which addresses the dynamic, holistic process of recovery.

	"I think of addiction as the sacred disease...Very probably, God created alcoholism in order to create AA, and thereby spearhead the community movement which is going to be the salvation not only of alcoholics and addicts, but of us all." -M. Scott Peck, M.D.

In our APH community we have considerable years of recovery and we understand the addictive disease process from the inside out. We have experienced freedom from addiction and compulsions through two distinct phases: primary and complete recovery.

What is Addiction?

Addiction is generally defined as a disease process characterized by:

• continued use of a substance, behavior or process
• despite physical, psychological, emotional or social harm,
• progressive over time,
• involving habit and compulsion
• with signs of withdrawal when ceased or decreased.

Primary Addictions

• Alcoholism,
• Drug Addiction,
• Food Related Addiction,
• Gambling Addiction (including compulsive debt and spending),
• Sex Addiction,
• Codependency,
• ACOA Syndrome,
• Internet Addiction,
• Obsessive-Compulsive Thinking/Acting (cleaning, shopping, self-diminishing, worrying, etc.)

Primary addictions recovery requires rescuing our life and spirit from compulsive, habitual attachments to substances and behaviors. And as we discover the intricacies of recovery from a wide range of addictions, we recognize a common link among them.

What Addictions Repress

This common link is how addictions act as involuntary coping mechanisms to control effects in the central nervous system (CNS) of trauma, childhood abuse, family and societal distress, prejudice, and ignorance. An addiction serves to self medicate as a way to deal with and suppress complex issues and energies within the psyche. Actually, who we are involves more than our psyches. What is stifled and crushed is the energetic "make up" of the entire person -- your whole being. The effects of both addiction and the trauma that compulsive use tries to control turn highly activated energies inward. Over time they become frozen in place. And when triggered by life events the resurfacing of these "patches" is what addictions attempt to repress.

Addictions as Self Preservation

We who are, or have been addicted, in a sense actually choose (often unconsciously) our addiction as the best coping mechanism available at the time. Addicted people have gone to great lengths, and have taken great risks for self-preservation. When under threat they indeed have an internal savior-self which loves and defends their "being." That hidden and misunderstood source of love protects through a creative, instinctual survival mechanism by pushing in and freezing energy. Unfortunately, as the addiction progresses, a cycle of guilt-relief-shame escalates. The true self is held down and frozen as well.

A New Paradigm of Recovery

With more than twenty years of research and experience in recovery, the APH community supports a re-framing of the recovery process into a dynamic yet simple two-stage holistic process.

Through research at The Institute for Staged Recovery a map of a clear, concise, and flexible journey toward complete recovery has guided our way:

A Living Map of the Journey

Complete recovery includes freedom from all the burdens that restrict our being.

On the journey of complete recovery we expand beyond healing primary addictions. We acknowledge other involuntary habitual behaviors, thinking, and feelings that are roadblocks to the fullness of who we are. You might think of them as heavy pieces of luggage; suitcases filled with medieval suits of armor and weapons of self-defense. These very heavy coffers are hindrances to our full self-expression, the intimacy we seek, and our inherent spiritual gifts.

Beyond First Stage Recovery

In unlatching the luggage you might recognize contents of codependence, self-diminishing thinking, depression, or self-sabotaging behavior. Packed inside are patterns of underachieving, over-achieving, and physical self-injury. You might also find fear of abandonment, fear of violation, and fear of negative projections, wrapped up in being sexually unfulfilled or lacking love. And underneath there is black and white, or right and wrong, thinking and many other folded up dilemmas. All of these and more are outdated, injurious weapons, only effective at keeping us from what we want the most: mutual trust, love, and respect. Until the underlying chaos and energy restrictions are unpacked and released, our inner self-protective system will update old compulsions and defenses with other primary or secondary addictions.

Through research at The Institute for Staged Recovery a map of a clear, concise, and flexible journey toward complete recovery has guided our way:

A Chart of the Relationship Between Trauma, Addiction & Holism

Those of us who recover with a new, holistic paradigm of understanding make a fundamental shift. Instead of "recovery from" addiction and past traumas, we redirect our energies to "recovery of" fulfillment, wisdom, serenity, and emotional, spiritual and sexual wholeness. We can then experience recovery as a process of reconnecting with our loving "savior-self."

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