Women are created with unique and specific needs. When searching for a Christian drug and alcohol treatment program, understanding the needs of women specifically is vital to the long-term success of the program. What specifically should you look for her when searching for a program?
#1. Understand a woman’s greatest need is love.
There is no greater need than for a woman to feel loved. With it, she will flourish and thrive; but without love, she will struggle with gut-level fear, insecurity and emptiness. Drugs or alcohol have become counterfeit methods of filling that need for love.
Most woman have struggled with love in human relationships, and don’t know how to receive love from God. They may harbor hurts from the past that continue to affect their understanding of love here and now.
Through treatment, a woman’s capacity to give and receive love is explored. By offering her a stable and loving environment, she begins to hear about God’s love through testimonies, and sees it modeled by those around her.
Despite what any modern medication or modalities may tell you, receiving God’s love and learning to love others is the beginning of all forms of redemption. It lies at the heart of all healing.
#2. Understand the power of honor and forgiveness.
Statistics prove that women are the ones most negatively stigmatized by addiction. Addiction can lead to many other unhealthy behaviors involving sexuality, negative parenting, failed relationships and career loss. This induces a profound level of shame. Once shame is rooted in a woman’s heart, she will operate through performance, or use addiction to check out altogether.
Women that live by shame either succumb to failure, or overly compensate through perfectionism. In either case, this shame will plummet her to the depths of despair, only provoking her to use drugs or alcohol even more.
Honor is the method God uses to usurp the power of shame. It ascribes value to her, and removes the toxicity of her self loathing. This honor comes with the power of the cross – it is not something that can be merited, but something that is received by grace. Grace is the most important ingredient needed to promote her into her true destiny. Thus, it is the central ingredient necessary for a woman to prosper in a drug and alcohol program. While sin needs to be addressed, grace is where the remedy is applied.
Seek a program where true honor can be found – it will be her lifeline.
#3. Understand her need to be validated.
Women are created for intimacy and connection. They need the connection of other females who empathize and understand what they are going through. A woman being heard and understood has incredible therapeutic benefit. It will ignite comfort and confidence in her capacity to share and to find the safety to heal.
At New Life, women are immersed in conversation that reveal the heart. They are seen, known, and validated. And they are taught that in God’s eyes, they are given that same compassion and attention. It is amazing how many women believe their needs don’t matter. For her to comprehend she is worthy of being heard will lead to unthinkable benefits.
#4. Understand her need for self-care.
Women have pressure for beauty and youthfulness. In fact, many women enter programs with disordered eating and unhealthy dietary practices simply because they feel bound by the pressure of society. On the other hand, women can give up self care in the busyness and pressures of life, leaving her vulnerable to many other health conditions.
Self care isn’t just about eating – it’s about a mindset of self love. She must understand that her body is precious and deserves adequate care and rest. At New Life, we instruct healthy principles for eating and diet to allow a practical application of this principle.
#5. Understand her need to feel.
Women are created with a deep capacity to feel. In the healing process, emotions need to be tapped into and drawn out. A woman’s ability to feel and to grieve pain and loss will get her in touch with her true self.
Addiction clogs the heart and places false coverings over those places of hurt and injury. Through the sacred healing process, these walls are broken down and her vulnerability to feel begins to tenderize and prepare her to walk into her true identity.
We say in program you “feel to heal.” A woman is uniquely designed for emotions and thus her emotional connection is vital to her long-term well being.
That’s why our counseling process seeks to tap into the emotional side of her life and give her the safety to feel what has been trapped inside. It is our purpose at New Life to allow pain to be felt and to navigate a woman out of false comfort and into God’s hands.
#6. Understand her need for relationship skills.
A woman needs to learn how manage relationships and to deal with imbalanced relationships, abuse and other serious conditions through education and understanding. Through boundaries she gains practical knowledge how to say “yes” and “no” in relationships. By learning God’s love, she gains access to her created design for intimacy.
At New Life, relationships skills are taught to empower a woman to love others through healthy communication, boundaries, and connection. We use an intensive approach including codependence materials that drive deeply to the heart and soul of a woman’s relationship issues. This is where deep and lasting transformation takes place.
#7. Understand she is created to be empowered.
A woman needs to be empowered to make wise choices, to find her life calling and to be everything God created her to be. A woman was not designed for weakness, but for strength. When God walks a woman through the recovery process, He teaches her how to trust in His love. If she is fiercely independent, she will be challenged to walk in obedience. If she is dependent, she will be prone to want others to make choices for her.
God wants to promote a woman into a position of wisdom where she makes choices that honor God, without feeling obligated to simply comply to expectations. God knows that women are competent, loyal and filled with incredible gifts that are unique to His Kingdom. He wants to unlock the mystery and majesty of this unique design by first loving her, and then teaching her how to walk in the Holy Spirit and tap into the gifts He has given her.
It is our prayer that discharge planning will involve a plan for a woman to move forward into God’s purpose and design for her future.
At New Life Spirit Recovery, we believe a woman’s true identity is found in Jesus Christ. Learning to embrace the design of a woman is a deeply rich and purposeful journey. If you know someone who needs help, please don’t hesitate to get help today! Learn more about the clinical activities we use to take a woman out of bondage and into freedom in Christ. Call us at 866.543.3361 or learn more about our treatment program by clicking here.
