Introduction

Every Tuesday night at eight o'clock, in church basements and community centers across the San Francisco Bay Area, miracles happen. They don't announce themselves with fanfare or dramatic music. They whisper in the soft voices of people admitting powerlessness, in the gentle applause for someone celebrating another day clean, in the rustle of well-worn literature and the aroma of coffee that tastes like hope.

These are the recovery rooms-sacred spaces where broken souls find healing, where the walking wounded discover they're not walking alone. From the Bayview-Hunters Point district to the suburban treatment centers of San Jos