Helping Bahá’ís and Seekers Struggling with Addictions
by
Julie Anne LaLanne
“‘Noble have I created thee’ has sort of become my mantra,”
said LaLanne, who professionally counsels prison inmates on alcoholism
and other addictions—getting her best results by appealing to the
goodness within the prisoners.
With a workshop group of about 30, she shared some processes and practices
she has learned in her efforts.
For friends and Assemblies, she said, it’s a difficult balance
between demonstrating unconditional love for an addict and refusing
to act in ways that support continued destructive behavior.
A further complication is that while friends can offer help, the afflicted
person has to accept the offer before any assistance can be effective.
The “12-step” healing process made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous
was central to the discussion. Most of the steps—such as recognizing
one’s problem and surrendering it to God—are taken within
the individual.
But once an addict allows a friend or Assembly to lend support, the
three elements of practical love—attention, affection and appreciation—are
essential, LaLanne said. Often that means reaching out socially to recovering
addicts; respectfully sharing healthy ways of coping with stress, anger
and boredom; or encouraging them to engage in service to others.
Most at the workshop kept their own counsel. Others sensitively told
tales of lives “distracted by the gods of money, sex, drink, drugs
and lying,” as one person put it, and how they gradually steered
themselves through pain and rejection toward a nobler existence.
—James Humphrey, reporter
