What Is NeuroFaith™ and AA Step 6: Readiness for Transformation?

Step 6 of Alcoholics Anonymous is “We’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” It’s considered one of the more spiritually demanding steps because it requires genuine willingness to submit to a higher power, not just acknowledgment of character flaws identified in Steps 4 and 5. At AnchorPoint, that’s exactly where our NeuroFaith™ model enters the conversation.

Step Six of Alcoholics Anonymous signals a readiness for transformation, a genuine desire to let go, not just an acknowledgment that change would be a good idea. The problem is that readiness isn’t a decision made with just the mind. Real readiness lives in the body, specifically in the nervous system. 

What Is NeuroFaith™?

NeuroFaith™, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Hansen, Ph.D., is a recovery framework built on a foundational belief that addiction is not a moral failure but an adaptive response to pain [1]. It brings together evidence-based neuroscience, trauma-informed clinical care, and Christ-centered spiritual principles to support healing across every dimension of a person’s life: brain, body, emotions, relationships, and spirit.

Originally developed as a book, NeuroFaith™ has grown into something larger, a clinical philosophy centered on safety, regulation, connection, and transformation as the essential conditions for lasting recovery. 

It recognizes that real change doesn’t happen through willpower or shame, but through creating the neurological and relational conditions in which the brain and spirit can genuinely heal. 

At AnchorPoint, NeuroFaith™ is the living framework behind how care is delivered. It shapes the therapeutic relationships clients build with their clinical team, informs treatment planning and group work, and guides the integration of faith in a way that is trauma-informed, clinically responsible, and deeply human.

How NeuroFaith™ Supports Step 6 of AA 

Step 6 of AA asks something most men have never been asked before: not just to identify what’s broken, but to become genuinely willing to let it go entirely. Many of the character defects that surface in Steps 4 and 5 aren’t just flaws; they’re survival strategies, such as patterns of control, avoidance, anger, or self-reliance, that developed in response to pain, trauma, and years of having to manage life without the right support.  

By grounding the recovery process in both trauma-informed clinical care and Christ-centered transformation, NeuroFaith™ helps men understand why those defects took root in the first place and creates the neurological and relational safety required to actually release them. 

When a man feels genuinely safe, connected, and supported, the brain becomes capable of the kind of deep restructuring that Step 6 of AA requires. 

Polyvagal-Informed Therapy 

For men who have spent years in survival mode, and whose trauma responses have been running the show long before addiction ever showed up, the nervous system is not automatically ready for anything that feels like vulnerability or surrender. 

Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, offers a way to understand why genuine readiness is so hard to access and what actually makes it possible, explaining how the autonomic nervous system operates across three states [2]: 

1. Ventral Vagal (Safety & Connection): The nervous system is regulated. A man can think clearly, engage honestly, and do the vulnerable work of therapy without his defenses taking over.
2. Sympathetic Activation (Fight or Flight): The system perceives a threat and may respond with anger, anxiety, and hypervigilance. Deep therapeutic work becomes nearly impossible in this state.
3. Dorsal Vagal Shutdown (Freeze & Collapse): This is when the system essentially shuts down, leading to numbness, dissociation, and emotional flatness. A man may be physically present in a session but completely unreachable.

For men living with addiction or unresolved trauma, that ventral vagal state is rarely the default. Drugs and alcohol became a chemical shortcut, mimicking safety without ever building the internal capacity to reach it independently.   

Polyvagal-informed therapy works by deliberately and systematically building the capacity to access that ventral vagal state, not through insight alone, but through the body. Tools include breathwork and slow diaphragmatic breathing, which directly stimulate the vagus nerve and signal safety to the nervous system [2]. 

Heartmath™ Techniques  

As stated in Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart.” HeartMath coherence™ training gives that biblical promise a measurable, clinical dimension. It is a biofeedback-based practice that teaches people to consciously shift their heart rhythm pattern into a state of coherence, a measurable condition in which the heart, brain, and nervous system are functioning in synchronized harmony rather than the erratic, stress-driven patterns. 

It’s not meditation in the traditional sense or simply deep breathing. It’s a trainable, measurable physiological skill with decades of peer-reviewed research behind it. In a typical HeartMath session, clients use a small sensor, usually clipped to the ear or finger, that measures heart rate variability in real time [3]. 

This shows if the nervous system is in an incoherent state, and then clients learn to use specific breathing rhythms and intentionally activate positive emotional states to shift it. Over time, the practice builds what researchers call autonomic resilience, the capacity to return to a regulated state more quickly after stress or a threat [3].

For men working through Step 6, HeartMath offers a way to practice, measure, and build the internal state that genuine willingness requires.  

Christian Rehab for Men in Arizona Built for Real Transformation  

AnchorPoint Recovery is a Christian rehab center for men in Arizona rooted in neuroscience and guided by the NeuroFaith® model, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Hansen, PhD. 

We combine faith-based care, clinical therapy, and nervous system regulation training to address the root causes of addiction and trauma. We offer several levels of care tailored to each individual, all within a unified therapeutic framework that emphasizes surrender, accountability, and connection to a higher purpose. 

Programs integrate brain science with faith to restore meaning, identity, and purpose beyond addiction. We accept major insurance providers and are committed to making care accessible. Join a brotherhood of men from Arizona and across the nation who are committed to not just recovery, but true transformation. Contact our admissions team today. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Is Step 6 of AA compatible with trauma-informed clinical treatment? 

Trauma-informed treatment often addresses why those character patterns developed in the first place. When a man understands that his anger, need for control, or emotional avoidance were adaptive responses to pain rather than personal failures, the spiritual willingness that Step 6 requires becomes possible.   

Can a man complete Step 6 effectively without addressing underlying trauma? 

Many men attempt to and find themselves cycling through the same patterns regardless of how sincerely they want to change. Without addressing the nervous system dysregulation that underlies most character defects in men with addiction histories, Step 6 can become an intellectual exercise rather than a genuine shift. Trauma-informed care creates the neurological conditions that make the spiritual work of Step 6 actually hold.

What makes Christian rehab different from secular addiction treatment for men? 

The clinical modalities, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and Polyvagal-informed therapy, are guided by a Christ-centered framework. In a Christ-centered program, recovery isn’t just about symptom management or behavioral change. It’s about identity restoration and helping men understand who they are outside of their addiction, shame, and survival patterns.   

How long does it typically take to work through Step 6 in a residential program? 

There’s no fixed timeline, and any program that suggests otherwise is oversimplifying the process. Step 6 isn’t a box to check. It’s a state of genuine readiness that emerges differently for every man depending on his trauma history, the depth of his character work in Steps 4 and 5, and how much neurological safety he’s been able to build.   

Sources 

[1] Luyten, P. et al. (2025). Addiction, attachment, and the brain: A focused review of empirical findings and future directions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

[2] Porges, S. W. (2022). Polyvagal theory: A science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.