Biblical Counselling and Addiction Treatment
The team at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada understands that substance use disorders, trauma and deep emotional pain go hand in hand.
Our program is structured around each client’s individual needs and we go above and beyond to meet you where you’re at. From there, we help you realize your worth as a unique and valuable person with the strength to heal.
Addiction is a condition that takes over your life and makes you feel hopeless, but transformation is possible.
With the right support, guidance and evidence-based treatment, anyone can overcome the cycle of cravings and despair and find inner peace.
What Is Faith-Based Counselling?
Faith-based counselling at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada involves taking a holistic approach to mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Many people who struggle with addiction feel disconnected from themselves and others.
Their physical, mental and spiritual health is often neglected, which contributes to feeling out of control. Pairing therapeutic modalities with scripture based around clients’ belief systems or curiosity, can provide additional guidance, structure and consolation to the healing process.
The scriptures contain philosophy and lessons on the meaning of life, as well as ancient wisdom outlining how to live healthily and happily under God.
Being a disciple of faith helps you understand your inherent value as a human being, while mentorship is essential in the recovery process.
CBT at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a form of talk therapy that’s used to help people manage a range of mental health issues. It helps you understand how your thought patterns, beliefs and attitude affect your day-to-day life.
People tend to carry underlying beliefs about themselves and the world. Perhaps your emotional or physical needs were neglected in childhood — this might lead to a belief that you’re unlovable or worthless.
You may have been hurt or shouted at by adults, leading you to believe that the world is a dangerous place. Fixed beliefs like these underpin conditions such as anxiety and depression. They make it hard to take action because you believe there’s something inherently wrong with you and action would be pointless.
CBT helps you pinpoint these unhelpful beliefs, and a counsellor works with you to help you understand they’re not true.
You’ll learn that coping skills can help you deal with problems. And, while substance abuse might offer short-term relief, it makes the problems worse long-term.
DBT at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is another evidence-based talk therapy, and it’s based on CBT. However, it has a stronger focus on helping you learn how to manage intense feelings. Emotional dysregulation means you find it very hard to manage emotions because you feel them so intensely.
In DBT counselling, you learn how to accept your feelings instead of fighting against them.
You learn skills that help you take a step back so you can manage them, empowering you to make positive changes.
An important element of DBT is that it teaches you that two seemingly opposite concepts can be true at the same time. For example, you can accept who you are while working hard to change your behaviours.
EMDR at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada
In most cases, people who struggle with substance use disorders have experienced trauma. While some people think trauma needs to be extreme to cause issues, this isn’t true.
Two different individuals can experience the same event completely differently, depending on their personality and experiences. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based addiction treatment modality that combines specific eye movements with trauma-based talk therapy.
EMDR helps you process unhelpful images, emotions, beliefs and sensations from your past. It allows you to see the world from a new perspective, reducing the impact of triggers and relieving symptoms.
Other Evidence-Based Therapy Modalities We Use
At Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada, our therapists strive to discover who each client is, what motivates them, what helps them and what they struggle with.
No two people are the same, so we aim to tailor each program according to each individual’s needs and wishes.
As such, we use a wide range of other approaches in addition to the above. Below are some examples.
Family Therapy
Addiction never affects a single person. The loved ones are always impacted and can benefit from counselling. Most people aren’t experts on substance abuse disorders, and instinctive efforts to help are usually not effective.
Family therapy offers the families of addicted people support and understanding while providing guidance on the best ways to help their loved one.
Mental Health Counselling
Broadly speaking, counselling provides clients with a safe place to discuss their issues and learn to speak openly about difficult subjects. Many people with substance use disorders have deep shame and guilt that’s made worse by an inability to open up and talk about it.
Our counsellors take a holistic approach, which means we help you address the physical, mental and spiritual forces underlying addiction.
Group Therapy and Support Groups
While one-on-one therapy is essential for healing from addiction, group sessions are excellent resources for healing. Learning about other people’s journeys, developing empathy and sharing your story can be profoundly healing.
People with a substance use disorder often feel a deep sense of shame due to their habits. Hearing that others share your symptoms can be liberating and help you see addiction as separate from yourself.
Job Skills Training
Feeling a sense of hopelessness and worthlessness and lacking meaning are common among addicted people. You might feel so bad about yourself that you don’t see how you can contribute to society in any meaningful way.
Finding gainful employment or working towards a qualification can bring you a new lease on life, provided you have support and guidance.
What Sets Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada Apart?
Below are three things our residents say set treatment at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada apart:
- Transformation instead of treatment: We understand that true change doesn’t come about thanks to treatment. It involves holistic transformation of the mind, body and soul.
- Discipleship and evangelism: Applying God’s word to your life brings about meaning, structure and support in the most profound way.
- Extended program: Our program’s duration is 12-18 months, providing the time and space needed to truly create a new normal for yourself.
Our Values
Four values underpin everything we stand for at Adult and Teen Challenge of Central Canada:
- Integrity: We always speak the truth, but with kindness, understanding and grace.
- Excellence: We put maximum effort into everything we do and strive for nothing short of excellence.
- Service: We’re honoured to serve every individual who comes to us and treat everyone like the unique and valued individual they are.
- Leadership: We live by God’s word and maintain the ethical standards and loving approach to humanity outlined in scripture.
Your Story Has a Happy Ending
No matter where you’ve come from, you have the power to change and create your own happy ending under the guidance and love of God. Transformation takes time, and you must learn to give yourself grace and value yourself.
Let the team here at Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada help you move towards healing and away from emotional pain and trauma.
