Mr. Yeager's book on addiction and recovery is a very important part of the courses we teach at the Sober College School of Addiction Studies at Andrew Jackson University. Our courses are designed to help educate anyone on addiction and recovery. Michael's book provides relevant and accurate information, used as supplemental reading for a number of our courses. In addition, Sober College's young adult residential program in Woodland Hills, CA, uses Michael's book to help educate not only our residents but their family members on addiction and recovery as well.

This workbook captures the essence of the 12-Steps and adds a new dimension to help young people challenge and change their negative core beliefs and say goodbye to pain or lost relationships in their lives. It offers relevant questions that someone in recovery needs to ask in order to become and stay addiction free. I know of no other book that helps addicts of any type so directly find their patterns and beliefs that have been their roadblocks to recovery.

The ways the steps are written in this workbook act as a guide to the reader in making meaning for him/her as to what the step means to each reader. As the steps in AA are reports of action taken to produce the result of initial and long-term recovery, this interpretation of the steps help produce the same result, i.e., long-term abstinence or an addiction free lifestyle.

The Spiritual aspect of 12-Step approach is discussed in a non-threatening way to offer readers easy access to their own understandings of a Higher Power. As this workbook is constructed to allow readers the freedom of exploring their own concepts of a Higher Power there is no pressure to engage in recovery in a forced upon self manner.

The chapter on challenging and changing core beliefs is a wonderful addition as most young people in recovery seem to have a fairly low opinion of themselves. This workbook gives the reader a chance to discover and then challenge these beliefs in a practical manner that effectively takes them to a new dimension of self-understanding and personal freedom. If they can challenge authority - for example, the authority within themselves - they become free to make better, more accurate decisions about how they relate to self and others, thereby letting the victim mentality go.

The final chapter on grief/loss is a wonderful and totally missing chapter from almost all treatment books I've ever seen. Now readers have the opportunity to directly and specifically notice what they have not said, why they did not say it and finally say it to be able to say goodbye to the pain of the past.

This is a great workbook, that's easy to read and understand! It's perfect for treatment centers to make available to their clients and individuals doing their own recovery. We have been very pleased with the results we have seen in our clients since we began using it at Sober College.