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
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Driveway to Saddleback Church, Rancho Capistrano
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
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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.[4] Celebrate Recovery is one of the seven largest addiction recovery support group programs.[5] Promotional materials assert that over 5 million people have participated in a Celebrate Recovery step study in over 35,000 churches.[6][7] Leaders seek to normalize substance abuse as similar to other personal problems common to all people.[8]
Methods
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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.[9][10][11][12] 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.[9] Celebrate Recovery groups are held under the management of local church organizations.[13] 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.[14] Celebrate Recovery has not been significantly studied, so there is no empirical evidence regarding the impacts or efficacy of the Celebrate Recovery program.[15]
Program fidelity constraints
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The name Celebrate Recovery is a registered trademark of John Baker,[16] and the national Celebrate Recovery organization requires that groups using this name hold closely to a standardized format.[9][10] They may not use resources outside of the Bible and authorized Celebrate Recovery curriculum materials.[17] Group facilitators must be trained and agree to a list of expectations,[9] including standardized guidelines[18][19] at each meeting.[17]