Mad Dogs is not simply the name of a workshop or programme. It represents a living legacy of 12-Step recovery — a way of life passed from one person in recovery to another through spiritual guidance, shared experience, example and service.

Its roots reach back through generations of people who understood that recovery was not something to be kept, packaged or sold, but something to be lived and freely passed on.

Within this legacy, Don Pritts was an important influence on Joe Hawk and Mark Houston. Joe and Mark went on to give Big Book and 12-Step workshops together across the United States, sharing their experiance of the programme at a deeper, practical and spiritual level.

Joe Hawk also guided Dan Sherman through the Steps. Dan later developed the Big Book Awakening approach and workbook, another expression of the recovery experience passed through this lineage.

The work of Joe Hawk and Mark Houston became an important part of the legacy that came to be known as Mad Dogs.

That legacy has continued through Michael Eugene “Mike D.” Dolphin, spiritual advisor, teacher and author of Bridge to Shore, who has continued to share this approach to the Steps through workshops, recovery gatherings and individual spiritual guidance.

For more than 26 years, Nicholas “Nick T.” Theocharis has lived and grown within this lineage, personally guided and mentored by Mike D., who remains his spiritual mentor and guide today.

Nick continues to carry this legacy forward through Mad Dogs — Living the Steps.

Living the Steps

At the heart of Mad Dogs is a simple understanding:

The 12 Steps are not merely something we work through. They are something we learn to live.

For anyone who would like to deepen their experience of the 12-Step programme of recovery, Mad Dogs provides opportunities to explore the Steps and their spiritual principles through free workshops, recovery gatherings, spiritual guidance and shared lived experience.

The emphasis is not simply on understanding the Steps, but on discovering how their principles can be practised and lived in everyday life.

It means moving beyond simply knowing the language of recovery and beginning to practise honesty, willingness, humility, responsibility, forgiveness, service and continued spiritual growth in the way we actually live.

Mad Dogs does not provide or replace fellowship sponsorship. People involved in a 12-Step fellowship are encouraged to maintain their own fellowship connections and relationships as they choose.

There is never a charge for Mad Dogs workshops or 12-Step guidance.

Where we gather for workshop days, simple food and refreshments — including organic soup, bread, coffee and tea — may also be provided.

Why?

Because what was freely given to us should be freely passed on.

Carrying the Legacy Forward

For more than 26 years, Nick has continued to pass on what was freely given to him within this recovery legacy, sharing his experience of the 12 Steps with others one-to-one and through
Big Book & 12-Step workshops, retreats, recovery gatherings and shared recovery experience.

Since 2015, Nick has regularly facilitated Mad Dogs recovery workshops in IJsselstein, the Netherlands, and continues to do so today.

When Stichting Theocharis Recovery House Foundation was established in 2022, Nicholas Theocharis (Nick T) wanted this part of the recovery legacy he had received to continue alongside the Foundation's professional recovery-support work — not as something to sell, but as something to continue passing on freely.

Alongside this lived experience, Nick pursued professional training in counselling, bringing together two distinct but complementary parts of his life's work: decades of lived 12-Step experience and professional knowledge gained through formal training and years of supporting people affected by addiction.

Nick is passionate about keeping this legacy alive, building upon what was handed down to him, and making it available to anyone who genuinely wants it.

Not as something to own.

Not as something to sell.

But as something to live — and freely give away.

Mad Dogs workshops and 12-Step guidance are always offered free of charge.

Nick continues this work through Mad Dogs — Living the Steps, with activities supported through Stichting Theocharis Recovery House Foundation

Our workshops are primarily held in person, with free online Mad Dogs – Living the Steps Big Book and 12-Step workshops also offered from time to time.

Independent and Free

Mad Dogs — Living the Steps is a free recovery initiative within the work of Stichting Theocharis Recovery House Foundation.

Mad Dogs is a recovery community and a living 12 Step leagcy. It is an expression of the wider Mad Dogs recovery community and legacy, centred on the Big Book, the Twelve Steps and living their spiritual principles in everyday life. It does not represent, speak for, or claim affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or Cocaine Anonymous.

Mad Dogs does not replace meetings, sponsorship, fellowship participation or a person's own  relationships within their chosen 12-Step fellowship.

Mad Dogs workshops and 12-Step guidance are free and entirely separate from the Foundation's paid recovery-support services.

They are not medical treatment or psychotherapy and do not replace professional addiction treatment where this is needed.