Recently I was moderating a peer group at our eighteen month “Hard Six” program where the participants were asked to finish the sentence: “since I've been in the program the most important thing I've learned is...” The variety of responses among the 11 participants was interesting, but most focused on commitments.

Several spoke of never being able to complete anything in their lives with the exception of a jail term - where they had no choice. While finishing commitments was the number one topic it wasn't the only one.

One man talked learning that he didn't have to follow his normal pattern of “running away” when things got tough. For him “running away” meant not only leaving, but also reverting to drug and alcohol use once he did leave.
Another talked of learning that he could stay sober “one day at a time” by attending 12-step meetings and working with his sponsor.

A seriously mentally ill client was happy about his success with moderating his medication to the point where he could tolerate the “voices in his head.”

A man with a long history of prison and violence talked of learning to change his point of view. When he came to the program he thought everyone “was against” him. Now he looked at the world differently and felt that most of the others in the program were trying to help him.