We live in an economy that sells us addictions. Focused on the joys of shopping, gambling, eating, excitement, drinking, and love — our society unfortunately raises us to be sick.
The 12-Steps & More book store opened its doors in the front of St. Michael’s church in Trenton in 2022 with a grant from the Episcopal Diocese.
There are less than a half-dozen brick-and-mortar locations to browse 12-step recovery programs anywhere in the country.
Trenton’s 12 Steps & More bookstore was modeled after the Choices Recovery Bookshop in Manhattan, which has a large selection of books on mental health, spiritual health, meditation, and good eating habits.
When Episcopal Community Services offered St. Michael’s church a grant during COVID to develop a downtown Trenton outreach to the homeless, it seemed a natural fit.
My wife, Kay, and I went up to 78th Street to see the Manhattan recovery bookshop. I wanted to check out the number of shelves we’d need since we didn’t have much space at the church to work with.
As it turned out, Choices had only 40 percent of their space devoted to books with the rest filled with gift items to pay the rent. And of the books, 70 percent were on mental health, Zen meditation, and self-help. The 12-step library for Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA), Gamblers Anonymous (GA), Debtors Anonymous (DA), Food Addicts Anonymous (FA), Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA), and others were all jammed into a corner — so I knew we had enough space; but I was surprised they weren’t carrying any program pamphlets. Giving out pamphlets is how newcomers learn about a program, and that’s how our type of store could be unique.
The big question was if the store could create a sustainable flow of free used books and volunteers to keep it afloat without continual cash infusions from philanthropies.
I was arguing to the diocese that by investing in this purely as an experiment, we might prove any large region could support a store of this sort.
As it turns out, Friends of the Library organizations exist in every town to recycle good books. Ewing, Lawrence, and Hamilton all collect hundreds of books monthly, many of which are for mental health and spiritual self-development.
In the same vein, 12-Step fellowships promote volunteer work as a strategy to break addiction, so in theory, there should be ample workers. The only income required would be to support a store manager to coordinate volunteer schedules and keep the 12-Step inventory up to date, as well as pay for incidentals like website hosting and bank fees. 12-Steps & More opened its doors on April 1, 2022, recycling novels, cookbooks, and history on the sidewalk “Free Books” table to announce its presence.
In the fall, Pastor Eric Tuttle and I decided to hold a brainstorming luncheon to advertise the shop. We invited representatives of several key government and non-governmental organizations devoted to mental health efforts in our community. The café we held in October brainstormed ways to bridge the gap between self-supporting fellowships and that vast umbrella of social services.
The premise behind the brainstorming was that while 12-step fellowships are all based on the traditions of AA to be self-supporting, the overall mental health of society is an extreme drain on public resources, from tax dollars to corporate and private philanthropies and church charities.
When it comes right down to it, there are hundreds of thousands of sober and supportive ex-addicts to support a strong new movement for social health, but the tradition of anonymity hides that important truth, and the professional sector has no way to access their help — if, indeed it was wanted. But our real goal is emotional balance across the entire society — not necessarily to just improve the mental health industry. If the fellowships could improve the overall results, it could actually improve the payback for the public sector and the industry! Was it possible that a bookstore could serve as an intermediary?
The cafe brainstorm established several things. We needed a traditional poster that could be placed in lobbies of social services, with take-away flyers. Therapists and workers would have no problem simply pointing it out, without suggesting anything more than a bookshop with plenty of possible answers to be found on the shelves. Nothing needed to be said about the fellowships, leaving that to the volunteer in the store. Obviously, we needed to be open throughout the week. Also, because of its inner-urban location, the store would be an ideal location for a corporate philanthropy to supply needed giveaway items such as first-aid kits, hygiene kits (soap & toothbrush), sewing kits, plastic parkas, and high-tech blanket pouches. Books on emotional health & self-help topics could be solicited from sororities and fraternities on a regular basis, while a local high school team could be engaged to maintain a social media presence directed at the big fellowships like AA and NA for volunteers.
A bigger question remained, however. Why hadn’t a partnership between self-help fellowships and the public sector mental health industry taken place up to now?
One theory is that the fellowships are designed to be both independent and anonymous, resisting any attempts to market themselves or develop organizational associations. Simply bringing together literature from all the 12-step fellowships is antithetical to the fierce independence of the groups.
At the same time, the 12-step movement has a very strong faith component. While they make every effort to make room for the atheist and agnostic, the step-work is decidedly a spiritual process. In a technological culture that makes religion into taboo, the 12-step fellowships are inimical to an industry touting mental health and emotional balance as well as to government services, given the separation of church and state.
A bookstore easily straddles all worlds. Books on neuroscience can share a bookcase with grief or anger management, meditation and specialized medical diets on another. Food Addicts Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, and Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous would hardly seem out of place.
But best of all, no one can object to our selling Korans, Siddurs, or giving away Bibles.
The 12-Steps & More Bookshop is located in the North Tower of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 140 North Warren Street, Trenton. Find us on Facebook at 12 Steps & More Trenton or by calling the church at 609-392-8086.
Harry Jackendoff is the manager of 12-Steps & More.
