Recovery for Men ~ “A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps”

The piece I want to share with everyone today is something I was sent on Facebook that I thought was rather intriguing. It is a book review of “A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps” written by Dan Griffin done by William L. White, MA from the Chestnut Health Systems out of Bloomington Illinois.

Here is a just a small script of the book itself “Rob, a twenty-seven- year-old financial advisor with five years of sobriety, commented: Being a man in the Twelve Step program means that I have to be able to identify and reveal my feelings and secrets to other men. In our culture, men are often expected to keep their emotions and difficulties to themselves. Not only is the program itself challenging, but developing deeply emotional relationships adds to it.” p.12


“A Man's Way” Reviewed by Bill White in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly

The collective experience—the ‘‘we’’—from which the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) were formulated was distinctly masculine. In the intervening years, concerns about gender and AA have focused on the history of women pioneers in AA, feminist critiques of AA, research on recovery outcomes for women in AA, the growth of women’s meetings in AA, and explorations of the phenomenology of women’s recovery in AA. All of this scrutiny unfolded within the larger cultural context of an evolving ‘‘women’s movement’’ which in turn spawned a multi-branched ‘‘men’s movement.’’

This newly published book is written within the tradition of this latter movement. This book is about ‘‘how men live as men’’ and how men live as men in addiction recovery. Griffin offers a personal guide through 12-Step recovery with a particular focus on men’s roles, men’s health, and the capacity of the 12 Steps to spark processes of personal transformation that involve far more than the removal of alcohol and other drugs from men’s lives.

“A Man’s Way through the Twelve Steps” will find appreciative audiences among men in recovery and the women and men living with men in recovery. I suspect the book will find its place in treatment centers and the newly spreading renewal centers and recovery community centers as a source for seminars or a recovery book club selection. Addiction professionals may find this book helpful as a recommended resource for some of their male clients. The book’s strength is in the breadth of issues addressed, the stories, and voices of men in recovery, and the gentle guidance that is offered. It is at heart a book in which men in recovery share their ‘‘experience, strength, and hope’’ with other men. I greatly enjoyed this book and closed the last page with only two wishes: that the book would have used the lives of historical figures in recovery to illustrate some of its themes and that the book would have included references to recent scientific literature that support its suggestions.

There is a growing professional and scientific interest in the long-term, lived experience of addiction recovery. Dan Griffin has added a valuable piece of literature on the phenomenology of addiction recovery among men.
William L. White, MA
Chestnut Health Systems
Bloomington, IL USA


If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ABTomorrow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ABTomorrow