About
Warren Northern, the Author, Founder, and Facilitator of the work, 12 Step Recovery Guide for Men of African Ancestry, is from Chicago, IL.
His background includes growing up and living and working in Chicago. He raised a family and has also worked in corporate America, in middle and executive management, for most of his work life.
In the spirit of his own cathartic experiences, suffice it to say that he has been a member of the 12-step therapeutic and recovery community for more than 30 years.
His journey through this process led him to see a broader perspective beyond chemicals and substances. What seemed to be missing was more of a historical, socio-political, and maturational perspective that also encompassed the dynamic of nature vs nurture, its influences, as well as our reactions to them.
He began asking the deeper questions within and finding ways to examine the miseducation, or dare we say the impact of social and civilizational propaganda, where it is, and what it is.
From this stance, he does not speak for any other 12-step methodology and dares to branch off into aspects of human endeavors and history as related to all People of African Ancestry, regardless of epochs, timelines, and geography, however, let the reader judge!
This small work doesn’t portend to speak directly to all people of African Ancestry, all challenges, criticisms, critiques, groups, or differences, but it does ask each person to honestly take the journey within to reconnect to our inner-self, regardless of our apparent distinctions or differences.
Within the pages and the journey, not only will the reader find his story, but you may well find your own.
Anonymity & Why, even in the 21st Century
There are many people both, in and out of the recovery world, who come from all sectors of society; individuals, institutions, organizations and even aspects of academia who have read this book, and were enthusiastic about its content.
I have had the privilege to dialogue with people about its content. These same people, men and women would gladly endorse this small work as a worthy read.
Not one of them asked for privacy or anonymity, but in this world of recovery, since we’ve tried to adhere to this principle in the body of the work, any such acknowledgments should come organically.
To that end, we welcome your feedback and acknowledgments!
When I first entered the world of recovery many years ago, I was, like most, apprehensive and skeptical. Not knowing what to expect, I found the journey introspective and highly adaptable.
For me, it was more pliable to so many aspects of living and learning from the past and the present, that is historically and culturally, psychologically and even spiritually.
This represented a paradigm shift, indeed a leap of maturational insight. I was beginning to reinterpret the landscape of reality quite differently.
The journey led to a shift, an insight as a way to interpret reality both from within and without. It was also a way to see natural and spiritual laws such as cause and effect, stimulus and response, and the discoveries that came with them.
I was able to connect with aspects of recovery outside of the realm of conventional programmatic literature, and I reconnected with my inner-self and toward self-awareness.
The journey inward is still one of the best things that ever happened to me. If it can work for me, it can work for you, too.
It’s time for us as Men of African Ancestry to Make The Magnificent Journey Within!