Abstract

Meditation for Recovery

Author: Gail Parker, Ph.D., C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, Conscious Living, LLC

This article describes a model for Meditation training for Recovery Coaches in the Detroit Recovery Project (DRP) who are part of the delivery system of peer support services that are offered to participants in recovery for alcohol and drug addiction. The training was designed to be culturally relevant to participants and had a twofold purpose. First to teach and support the Coaches in a meditation practice that would reduce their stress levels, and second to train them in the delivery of a meditation technique that they could use to teach and practice with their peers in recovery.

This article describes the training model and the effect it had on the Recovery Coaches who participated in a thirty-two hour meditation training called Meditation For Recovery. It also offers insight into how the Coaches integrated the training into their work with peers and how they continued to use it themselves.

A unique feature of this training model is that it was designed as a peer recovery support service as well as a culturally relevant practice for the predominantly African American population that DRP serves. The assumption is that because Recovery Coaches, who are also in recovery are offering the service, and because the meditation practice was designed to be culturally relevant, the predominantly African American targeted population, a population that is typically underserved when it comes to inclusion in learning the practices of Meditation, would be more inclined to embrace the practice as a relevant self-care tool.

The training was well received as is evidenced by self-reports of participants.

Further research is needed to determine the significance of cultural relevance in the delivery of meditation practices to African Americans and other ethnicities. A follow up to determine the continued use of meditation as a self-care tool once the training ended would be instructive.