When it comes to coping with the twin demons of substance abuse and mental illness, 12 steps to recovery may not be enough. That’s why Dual Diagnosis Anonymous adds five more.
Friends Outside, a Stockton-based statewide organization that strives to keep families together when a member is incarcerated, is planning to expand its Dual Diagnosis Anonymous program.
The addition is possible thanks to the creation of a new space called the Resiliency Lab at the group’s Stockton headquarters. The lab is meant to help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society. It provides a stigma-free environment where former inmates can search for jobs, find housing and get help with other services.
The nonprofit organization is outfitting the lab under a $193,000 tax-funded grant from San Joaquin County.
“We are trying to help those who don’t have the resources to stay free,” Executive Director Michael Sorensen said in an interview.
As a bonus, the lab also gives the center a new, larger space for group meetings like Dual Diagnosis Anonymous, or DDA.
At present, DDA’s weekly meetings attract about 10 participants. The bigger space in the Resiliency Lab will allow the center to accommodate about 25 DDA members, Sorensen said.
The program is open to anyone who has been diagnosed by a professional or through self-diagnosis as suffering from both substance abuse and mental illness, especially those who have been incarcerated.
Friends Outside’s DDA program is based on one created in Oregon in 1996 to help those in need of support for both substance abuse and mental illness. It’s an especially important program for Friends Outside because coping with mental health issues and addiction are critical in helping released inmates start new lives, officials said.
The idea of adding five more steps to Alcoholic Anonymous’ 12-step program is relatively new, Sorensen said, but the approach recognizes that battling mental illness along with substance abuse requires a modification to AA’s original step work.
The five additional steps, as outlined by DDA founder Corbett Monica, are the admission of suffering from mental illness in addition to substance abuse; the willingness to accept help for both; the importance of addressing one’s mental health; an openness to spirituality; and a commitment to service work.
“Sometimes people aren’t ready to make big changes, so having an opportunity like this with low barriers and peer support marks a new beginning,” Sorensen said.