Celebrate Recovery: Healing Those Who Are Hurt

By: June Li

Every Tuesday night, The Salvation Army Cobourg/Port Hope Community and Family Services hold a free Christ-centered recovery program called Celebrate Recovery®. Launched in 2011, this program focuses on providing solutions for real and lasting change. Whether an individual is facing addiction, self-harm, mental health issues or co-dependency struggles, they are welcome to join.

David Alexander has served as the Director at the Community and Family Services for 27 faithful years and has witnessed the transformation of participants. “We all have issues which we identify with. Celebrate Recovery® is great as it is a place of support for those who are hurting, who want to talk and are ready to heal,” says Alexander, “Hurts, habits and hang-ups – if you are experiencing any of those issues, you qualify for the program.”

Each meeting begins with a large group session where there are teachings on important recovery issues. Following that session, gender-specific groups called ‘Open Share Groups’ are held where participants are free to share their journeys of recovery. The night ends with their Solid Rock Café, a time of socialization and relationship building.

Celebrating Progress and Milestones

Earlier this year, Alexander and the team at Cobourg/Port Hope CFS organized a special dinner to recognize the successes of those in the program. During the dinner, participants shared their testimonies:

“Real-life sharing, real-life issues. No masks, no lies, no shame, just truth, trust, love and acceptance. Celebrate Recovery® brought hope and joy through Christ to my life for the first time.”

“Celebrate Recovery® has helped me remain current with my issues by providing me with reliable and trustworthy friends that I can be honest with. This has helped me grow emotionally and spiritually.”

“Celebrate Recovery® was the answer to several decades of an eating disorder. I am helped by the powerful songs of mercy and love and healing and forgiveness and joy and freedom. The focus on the power of God to set me free, and the guidance of the Spirit. I’m so grateful.”

The Journey to Recovery

Recovery is a lifetime struggle and the process of recovering never stops.  Programs such as Celebrate Recovery® provide participants with a powerful therapeutic tool for healing. The process of sharing experiences provides a culture of recovery and support, helping individuals deal with depression, isolation and shame.

“Celebrate Recovery® helps us be real so the healing can begin,” says Alexander.

For more information about Celebrate Recovery®, visit their website here or download the Celebrate Recovery Brochure here.