Celebrate Recovery Explained

Celebrate Recovery
Founded Date:	1991
Founder:	John Baker
Location:	Lake Forest, California, United States
Key People:	Johnny Baker
Area Served:	10 countries
Homepage:	celebraterecovery.com

Celebrate Recovery is an American Christian twelve-step program designed to facilitate recovery from a wide variety of troubling behavior patterns. The global headquarters is in Lake Forest, California, United States.

History

The organization was founded in 1991 by John Baker, a former alcoholic staff member of Saddleback Church with the support of Pastor Rick Warren.^[1] John Baker served as the primary author of The Celebrate Recovery curriculum and materials. In 2004, the program was approved by the California Department of Corrections and entered prisons.^[2] In 2020, the organization was present in 10 countries around the world.^[3]

Programs

Celebrate Recovery is a recovery program aimed at all "hurts, habits, and hang-ups", including but not exclusive to: high anxiety; co-dependency; compulsive behaviors; sex addiction; financial dysfunction; drug and alcohol addictions; and eating disorders. Celebrate Recovery is one of the seven largest addiction recovery support group programs. Promotional materials assert that over 5 million people have participated in a Celebrate Recovery step study in over 35,000 churches.^{[4] [5]} Leaders seek to normalize substance abuse as similar to other personal problems common to all people.^[6]

Methods

Celebrate Recovery uses both the 12 steps developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and a very similar set of eight sequential principles that are understood as a lesson of Jesus' Beatitudes. In addition to issue non-specific large group gatherings and individual mentoring, Celebrate Recovery encourages participants to form a small group of "accountability partners" who all have the same problem and support one another closely. Celebrate Recovery groups are held under the management of local church organizations.^[7] A study of Celebrate Recovery participants published in 2011 by the Journal of Religion and Health, found that levels of spirituality were associated with greater confidence to resist substance use. Celebrate Recovery has not been significantly studied, so there is no empirical evidence regarding the impacts or efficacy of the Celebrate Recovery program.

Program fidelity constraints

The name Celebrate Recovery is a registered trademark of John Baker,^[8] and the national Celebrate Recovery organization requires that groups using this name hold closely to a standardized format. They may not use resources outside of the Bible and authorized Celebrate Recovery curriculum materials.^[9] Group facilitators must be trained and agree to a list of expectations, including standardized guidelines^{[10] [11]} at each meeting.^[9]

See also

• Addiction recovery groups
• List of twelve-step groups
• Recovery model
• Self-help groups for mental health

References

• Baker, John. Stepping out of Denial into God's Grace: Participant's Guide, 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. Print.
• Baker, John, and Richard Warren. Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory: Participant's Guide 2: A Recovery Program Based on Eight Principles from the Beatitudes. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1998. Print.
• Baker, John, and Richard Warren. Celebrate Recovery: Getting Right with God, Yourself, and Others: Participant Guide, 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1998. Print.
• Baker, John, and Richard Warren. Celebrate Recovery: Growing in Christ While Helping Others: Participant Guide 4. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1998. Print.
• Book: Baker, John . Celebrate Recovery Leader's Guide: A Recovery Program Based on Eight Principles from the Beatitudes . Grand Rapids, MI . Zondervan . 2005 .
• Baker, John. Your First Step to Celebrate Recovery: How God Can Heal Your Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012. Print.
• Brown . Anthony E. . Tonigan . J. Scott . Pavlik . Valory N. . Kosten . Thomas R. . Volk . Robert J. . Spirituality and Confidence to Resist Substance Use Among Celebrate Recovery Participants . Journal of Religion and Health . Springer Nature . 52 . 1 . 19 January 2011 . 0022-4197 . 10.1007/s10943-011-9456-x . 107–113 . 21246280 . 23310335 .
• Brown . Anthony E. . Whitney . Simon N. . Schneider . Max A. . Vega . Charles P. . June 2006 . Alcohol Recovery and Spirituality: Strangers, Friends, or Partners? . Southern Medical Journal . 99 . 6 . 654–657 . 10.1097/01.smj.0000198271.72795.ab . 16800434 . 7145495 .
  • Kelly . John F. . White . William L. . Broadening the base of addiction mutual-help organizations . Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery . 7 . 2–4 . 2012 . 82–101 . 10.1080/1556035X.2012.705646 . 144983076 . 18 August 2017 .
• News: 12 Steps, Christian Style. Lobdell . William . 24 April 1999 . Los Angeles Times . B3 . 20 August 2017 .

Further reading

• Spriggs, J. David, and Eric Sloter. "Counselor-Clergy Collaboration in a Church-based Counseling Ministry." Journal of Psychology & Christianity 22.4 (2003).

External links

• Celebrate Recovery official website
• Celebrate Recovery UK

Notes and References

1. Kate Shellnutt, How Celebrate Recovery Helped Evangelicals Open Up About Addiction, christianitytoday.com, USA, August 12, 2016
2. John Leland, Offering Ministry, and Early Release, to Prisoners, nytimes.com, USA, June 10, 2004
3. CR, International Celebrate Recovery, celebraterecovery.com, USA, retrieved November 5, 2022
4. CR, About, celebraterecovery.com, USA, retrieved November 5, 2022

5. Alcoholics and drug addicts make up only 30% of Celebrate Recovery's membership

6. "We are all broken," program founder John Baker says. "We have all sinned. We have all missed the mark. We are all struggling with a hurt, habit or hang-up."

7. Celebrate Recovery... function[s] under the auspices of formal church organizations.

8. http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78148908&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch U.S. trademark record for "Celebrate Recovery"
9. Web site: The Trademark Statement – DNA of CR. CelebrateRecovery.com. 22 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170429065421/http://www.celebraterecovery.com/index.php/about-us/dna-of-celebrate-recovery. 29 April 2017. dead.
10. Web site: 5 Guidelines for Celebrate Recovery Small Groups. 3 February 2014. Celebrate Recovery: New Orleans. 22 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170423160400/https://crnola.com/about-celebrate-recovery/five-guidelines/. 23 April 2017. dead.
11. Web site: Celebrate Recovery: Five Small Group Guidelines. National Community Church. Washington, DC. 22 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170423155739/http://theaterchurch.com/discipleship/celebrate-recovery/five-small-group-guidelines. 23 April 2017. dead.