Spiritual Care For Older Adults
What is Spirituality?
One of the most important aspects of your addiction treatment at Hanley Center is spiritual care and counseling. By no means do we equate spirituality and religion; instead, we believe that spirituality reaches deeper – beyond religious traditions – to the very foundation of your life.
Spirituality encompasses a sense of hope, self-worth, and purpose in life, all of which significantly affect your quality of life and sense of wellness.
We believe that spirituality is the set of personal convictions that influence your daily life through your thoughts, deeds, verbal communications, and relationships with yourself, others and your higher power.
Spirituality and Older Adults
Men, women, older adults and even Baby Boomers tend to approach spirituality differently. Older adults (65 years of age and older) tend to struggle with a lot of guilt and grief. They are at a stage in their lives when loss becomes more prevalent – the loss of a job through retirement or otherwise, the loss of relationships through divorce, and the loss of friends, family and spouses through death.
Older adults begin to realize their mortality and may reflect on their lives with regret. They focus on the things they should have done or should do now, but it is difficult for them to accept any concept of surrender.
Your spiritual care counselor will help you overcome these obstacles and help you discover your Higher Power. He or she will help you formulate a spiritual transformation that will lead to individual freedom and a meaningful spirituality for your continuous recovery from drug and alcohol abuse.
Spiritual Care for Addiction Treatment and Recovery
The 12-Step spiritual principles taught and experienced at Hanley Center are vital to the ongoing success of older adults in recovery. They enable you to let go of old behaviors and feelings of shame and guilt that trapped you in a cycle of addiction.
They empower you to tap into your own spiritual resources to promote peace of mind, restore injured relationships, and foster sobriety on the journey to recovery.
At Hanley Center, the chaplain’s ministry is one of comforting presence and unconditional love, which focuses on fostering peace and the well-being of the whole person. Through spiritual counseling and activities, older adults come to realize that addiction to drugs and alcohol compromises the quality of their relationships and daily life.
