By P. Casey Arrillaga, LCSW, LCDC
Acts of service are a central part of recovery for many people who suffer from addiction and other mental health conditions. While almost anyone would agree that being of service is a good thing, what makes it so prominent in recovery programs? Is it necessary or just a nice side effect? Are there tangible benefits? This post will tackle these questions and more.
What We Know So Far
The importance of being of service to others is a very old idea. Many philosophers and spiritual leaders highlight service as a vital part of a complete life. Spiritual and ethical writing is full of arguments for doing service. They say that acts of service make human relationships work, whether the service is given to a family member, romantic partner, local community, larger society, or humanity as a whole. Why is this?
As it turns out, being of service creates bonds, and these bonds are the glue that holds our relationships together. Service is not the only way to create and maintain such bonds, but it has been shown to be a powerful and rewarding way to do so. When we do service for someone or a group, we feel more connected to them, and become more invested in their outcomes. In other words, we care more about them, and caring connects.
Service need not be anything spectacular to be effective. It can be as simple as giving a kind word to someone we love or opening a door for a stranger. It can be picking up trash on the roadside or starting a community group to help others. It can be anonymous acts that help another person without that person ever knowing it.
While we might assume that acts of service are most powerful in creating goodwill for the person who receives the service, this is not so. In fact, doing service actually creates the most goodwill for the person doing the service. In other words, it is more helpful to do service for someone else than it is to have someone else do service for you. This isn’t to say that it feels bad at all to have someone else help you; it just isn’t as powerful as helping someone else. Interestingly, while it is much smaller, there is a positive effect just from watching one person help another even if you aren’t involved.
The field of positive psychology, which studies human happiness, has a model that breaks happiness into five categories: Positivity, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement [the PERMA model]. Each aspect of happiness is important, but many argue that the most vital is Meaning. This is because without a sense of meaning and purpose, the other aspects will start to feel empty. On the other hand, with a sense of meaning, almost any circumstance in life can be faced.
What does this have to do with service? As it turns out, being of service to others is one of the most reliable and effective ways to create a sense of meaning and purpose. This suggests that being of service not only creates bonds with other human beings, but also creates bonds with ourselves and potentially the universe around us. Being of service gives opportunities to transcend ourselves, to get past our own wants and desires, and thus to feel useful to those around us.
How This Impacts Recovery
Many people who suffer from addiction and other mental health challenges also struggle with a sense of connection and self-worth. This can come from feelings of helplessness to change their own behaviors and get better life outcomes. It can be caused by the fact that people with such conditions may need much more help than they think they can give back, leading to guilt and shame. It can be caused by the selfish nature of addiction, which often leads to behaviors that clash with the sufferer’s core values. It can come from the isolation of many mental health conditions, such as social anxiety, paranoia, addiction, depression, or schizophrenia. It can happen as a result of the stigma that so many people attach to mental health problems. For most, it is a combination of several of these factors.
As people enter into recovery, they may be searching for any hope to not only recover the material and practical aspects of their lives, but even more importantly they want to find hope in themselves as people. Being of service is a powerful way they can do this.
How Can We Use This Knowledge to Help People?
At Windmill, we know that encouraging our clients to be of service can be a game-changer for them. It is baked into the model of the recovery fellowships we offer, such as AA and SMART. It is a frequent subject in the groups and classes we teach. Sometimes this is overt, such as when we talk about the importance of giving back to family and society. Other times it is taught through the example and experience of giving constructive feedback to peers or being a part of community recovery events.
Many times, our clients find service opportunities in simply talking to one another outside of formal class times. We encourage them to help each other understand recovery concepts, pass along knowledge they have gained to newer members of our community, and to mentor others when they are ready. Many clients who complete our program come back to talk at on-campus recovery meetings and sponsor/mentor newer clients. Our private alumni social media groups give ample opportunity to reach out and help each other. In all these ways and more, we offer and encourage many ways to be of service. We introduce our clients to the benefits of service that they can then take out into their families, communities, and the world.
The Bottom Line
Being of service is a vital part of recovery for many people. It can be something simple or grand, but acting on behalf of others has tangible psychological benefits. It also creates and reinforces bonds, even more so for the person doing the service. All of this provides benefit for anyone struggling with addiction or other mental health conditions. At Windmill, we recognize this and help our clients get those benefits.
6 Things to Know About Service
About The Author
P. Casey Arrillaga is the Team Leader for Education at Windmill Wellness Ranch, and he is the author of books including “Realistic Hope: The Family Survival Guide for Facing Alcoholism and Other Addictions”.
Created specifically for those who have loved ones that struggle with addiction.