LE3 .A278 2000

2000

Sumarah, John

Acadia University

Master of Education

Masters

Counselling

Education

This thesis presents three women's stories of their ongoing spiritual journeying as they recover from addictions. They have each moved past active addiction and into a rich and fulfilling spiritual life. Individual in-depth interview format gave each woman an opportunity to openly discuss her unique growth process in a story venue. Common themes which emerged from the women's verbatim transcripts comprise the core of this work. This story of spiritual journeying out of addiction recovery presents the women's overarching themes of: struggle toward abstinence, turning to faith and mystical experiences, counselling experiences, reminders that encourage and deter spiritual journeying, and their present faith. This work was designed and facilitated to enrich participants' journeying by giving voice to their stories as they know them, and to shed light on how counselors and researchers may facilitate the same in their own work. The participants indicate that sharing their stories in a safe and loving group formatwould benefit ongoing spiritual growth. Along with the verbatim interview excerpts, conclusions outline how counselors may enter and participate in the stories of clients who are on similar spiritual paths out of addictions.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3015