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That's how the light gets in: A credo of friendship

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From the book jacket of That's How the Light Gets In: A quiet movement of spirituality and friendship has taken root in an unexpected place -- among the sailors and Marines and their families around the world. Its name is Credo. Every week, from Naples to Okinawa people of all ages attend Credo retreats to bring focus to their lives in an atmosphere of safety and mutual concern. Credo complements self-help regimens, Twelve Step groups, religious retreats, and psychotherapy, in fostering spiritual rebirth. In recent years Credo has spread to people of all walks of life, including students, people in recovery, homeless, and other seekers. For many, the experience of Credo friendship has been the turning point of their lives. In this book, founder Donald B. Harris recounts Credo's genesis. He describes his chaotic childhood and the loneliness it bred and tells how his exposure to an accepting family, an accidental community, a generous Spanish nobleman, and the writings of a spiritual leader laid the foundation for Credo. The book reveals how Credo uses contemporary music to help even the inarticulate express their inner yearning. The book is a spiritual autobiography of the author's journey to recovery. His involvement with patients flown in from the battlefront of Vietnam as well as refugees from the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s prepared the soil in which Credo has taken root. That's How the Light Gets In is also an absorbing exploration of the early days of Credo and its evolution in San Diego, Spain, Colorado, and finally Williamsburg. It includes a definition of the underlying philosophy of Credo and a detailed description of the retreat itself, and concludes with a reflection on the course of current American society that makes the Credo response appropriate.

This is a fascinating history of a great program. I participated extensively in the CREDO retreat program during the latter half of my 20 years in the Marine Corps, and it isn't an exaggeration to say I saw it change a lot of lives and probably save a few. I know I talked to two people who said that they'd planned to kill themselves after they got back from their retreats if they still felt the way they did when they started, but they changed their minds; others came back ready to share experiences with their spouses that they'd been afraid or unable to, and which had threatened their marriages.
It started me on a road of change via both therapy and recovery programs. I wanted to give back what I'd gotten, so I volunteered, went through the training and started going on retreats as a helper 'team member'; that experience, in turn, helped me make the decision to go to grad school and become a therapist myself as a second career after I retired from the military.
There are 11 CREDO centers active as of now (April 2011) according to their website; the retreats are open to anyone with a military ID - active, reserve, retired, or family members - and with the state of the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I think they're probably more needed now than they've ever been before.
I hadn't known so much about the program's creation and early history until I read this book. Having read it, I have an even greater appreciation for the program and the chaplain that started it.