Does the 5-Step REACH Forgiveness Method Work? Research Says Yes

Forgiveness sounds simple until someone actually hurts you. Then it can feel like the hardest thing in the world, and "just let it go" becomes useless advice. Over the years, one structured program has tried to turn forgiveness into something you can practice step by step.

It's called REACH Forgiveness, and a narrative review gathered up the evidence on how well it works when it's taught to people in groups.

What the researchers wanted to know

REACH is an acronym designed to "cue memory for steps in emotional forgiveness." R stands for recall the hurt; E for empathize with the person who caused it; A for the altruistic gift of forgiveness; C for commit to the forgiveness you've experienced; and H for hold onto that forgiveness when doubts creep back in.

The review set out to ask a straightforward question: across the studies that have tested REACH in psychoeducational groups, the kind where a facilitator walks a group through the steps, how effective is it, and for whom does it work best? Rather than run a new experiment, the author pulled together existing results to look for patterns.

How they studied it

This was a narrative review, which means the author gathered, tabulated, and examined studies rather than conducting a fresh trial. In total, 24 studies that reported outcome data on REACH Forgiveness psychoeducational groups were examined. To compare them fairly, the review leaned on a clever measure.

An earlier meta-analysis had found that the size of forgiveness gains was "linearly related to time spent in forgiveness intervention," more hours, bigger shifts. So this review looked at effect size per hour, written as d/hr, as a way to compare programs of different lengths on a level footing. A larger d/hr means more change packed into each hour spent.

What they found

089, a modest but real amount of change for each hour invested. The review also surfaced some honest wrinkles. 065 for the six studies he wasn't part of, a pattern researchers call "the allegiance effect," where a method's creator tends to find stronger results.

077). The effects of other cultural adaptations were mixed. Importantly, the review flagged where the group approach fell short: it wasn't effective for couple groups or pre-college youth, and in some cases it was less effective than simply working through "do-it-yourself workbooks."

What this means for you

The encouraging news is that forgiveness appears to be trainable, it's not just a personality trait some lucky people are born with. Having a clear roadmap, like recalling the hurt, trying to empathize, and then deliberately committing to and holding onto forgiveness, gives you concrete steps instead of a vague instruction to "move on."

The finding that more time tends to yield more change is quietly motivating: this is a practice, not a switch you flip once. And you don't necessarily need a group. Because a self-guided workbook sometimes matched or beat the group format, the steps themselves may matter more than the setting.

If there's a lingering hurt you'd like to loosen your grip on, walking slowly through recall, empathy, the gift of forgiveness, commitment, and holding on is a structured place to start, on your own terms, at your own pace.

The honest caveats

Several cautions are built right into this review, which is a sign of careful science. The allegiance effect is a real limitation: results were stronger when the method's champion was involved, so some of the shine may reflect enthusiasm as much as the technique. The differences between Christian and secular samples, and the mixed results from cultural adaptations, mean the program doesn't land identically for everyone.

The gains per hour are modest, not miraculous. And the review is upfront that REACH group psychoeducation didn't help certain groups, including couples and younger teens, and was sometimes outperformed by workbooks. Because this is a narrative review rather than a single controlled trial, it's best read as a map of what the evidence currently suggests, not a guarantee of results for any one person.

Forgiveness is also deeply personal, it doesn't mean excusing harm or reconciling with someone unsafe, and none of this is a substitute for professional support if a wound runs deep.