Sponsors will have their own personal styles and quirks. Some may be sympathetic to a fault, or they may be inclined to dole out “tough love” to help keep a recovering addict clean. The best sponsor for any individual recovering addict will be the person who can develop a caring, compassionate, and non-judgmental relationship with that addict and who can be available at any time to help an addict through the inevitable challenges that he will face. 12-step programs typically recommend that a sponsor be a person who has gone through his own recovery, which will give him or her a basis for understanding what other recovering addicts are facing in their journeys to sobriety.
Recovery programs generally have no set rules regarding who can be a sponsor or how a sponsor can or should participate in an addict’s or alcoholic’s recovery, but they generally do provide guidelines for what a recovering addict should look for in a sponsor. A sponsor needs to believe in the recovery program that the addict has committed to. The addict should not select someone that he or she might develop an attraction to, as physical attractions and emotional relationships can derail the purpose of sponsorship. Nobody is perfect, and sponsors are not immune to this general rule. A sponsor who has pursued his own recovery and who has been sober for a long period of time will be better able to help a recovering addict if he has his own sponsor who helped him through rough times in his recovery.
Sponsors should be honest and refrain from sugar-coating anything or enabling a recovering addict’s problems. Lastly, sponsors should have the time to help a recovering addict, and be willing to share that time whenever he is needed. The best sponsors will maintain a positive attitude and be willing to offer assistance even if they are contacted in the middle of the night.
Design For Change emphasizes the 12-step experience. Each client in our treatment program completes the 12 steps with a sponsor before they graduate the program. Offering a refuge for addicts, our programs provide the freedom and hope promised in recovery. For information, call us today: (877) 267-3646
