Edited by: Natti Ronel
How do you integrate spiritual care with institutional care? How do you propose a simple program of treatment to populations whose lives are complicated and complex in almost every field? What happens to the therapist who wishes to adopt a spiritual path in his personal life? These questions and others are dealt with in the book Gone with the Spirit. This collection of articles, the first of its kind, presents the twelve-step program, known especially in the context of self-help groups of addicts like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Overeaters Anonymous (OA) and more, as a professional therapy implemented successfully by practitioners in a variety of settings. The book presents a fascinating journey into the various methods of intervention with challenging target populations, such as homeless addicts or male batterers, through the retelling of the personal stories that are behind the challenging work, and their integration into current, professional knowledge. In this book, outstanding young researchers, mostly from the Department of Criminology at Bar-Ilan University, teamed up with experienced field workers who implement this program that combines vision and a spiritual aspect in a very simple and pragmatic program. In simple language, they bring together the story of a program that includes measures to deal with adversity and life’s ups and downs. Dr. Natti Ronel, editor of this volume, pioneered the teaching of the twelve-step program in Israel for training professionals and has been teaching the course for many years.