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My company, Workit Health, has offers online, science-backed courses to help you beat alcoholism, all from your computer or phone. Whether or not you do 12-step along with it is up to you. My own company, Workit Health, has created our own recovery meeting format, called Workit Together. These meetings focus on personally defined self-care goals. We built out this option so we could include employees who weren’t in recovery from addiction to substances, but still might struggle with other issues. While peer support is vital to addiction recovery, you might find other ways to stay sober.
Newly sober people who are as confused and demoralized as I was in the beginning of recovery as I was are extremely vulnerable to the whims of controlling sponsors who view their sponsee as some kind of trophy. My decision was finalized when an older man with decades of sobriety decided he wanted to try to “13th” step me. I would really like to encourage people who think they have a drinking problem to seek help from resources where there is more accountability which seems to be 0 to none in AA. I think it irresponsible and ignorant to refer to AA as a cult, personally I would liken it closer to a religion whereby dogma and extremism have taken away from the true sense of the message. I have been looking for alternatives and have found hope in the philosophy of people like Tommy Rosen and Scott Kiloby, former addicts who have an approach that resonates with me.
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When I remembered who I was, and regained my naturally buoyant and happy personality, members told me that I was “on a pink cloud” and wondered if I could stay clean “when the chips were down”. I thought it was a really negative attitude to have. Plus, when I shared my joy about a promotion at work, or moving into a new house, or getting engaged to a wonderful man, other members became jealous. They encouraged me to go to more meetings rather than stay home with my family to rest after an exhausting day at the office. They told me that if my home group was the only meeting that I went to in a week, I was headed for a relapse. They told me that if I wasn’t part of H&I, if I didn’t sponsor people, if I didn’t volunteer at every function, that I was essentially stealing what was “so freely given to me”. You know, I am not perfect but I am not going to drink.
- If I wasn’t dating someone, I felt extremely alone and sad.
- A weekly participant at Burning Tree’s Master Treatment Planning, Dawn is familiar with every client, from their very first week all the way to graduation.
- Without a doubt, going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and being a part of the fellowship saved my life.
- I drank as a substitute/avoidance for being in the uncomfortable ‘now’.
- I decided to check out a Refuge Recovery meeting.
I still make the choice, still have power over the decisions that I make that are right and wrong. There are plenty of other options for you to pursue to be forced to stay in onethat demeans you. I’ve been to AA before and although it is extremely helpful I have to concede that it can get overwhelming at times. There was a time when I wondered if the addiction I was overcoming would make me a permanent AA person.
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Think about going to counseling or family therapy to help with that and to deal with other personal issues. With over 20 years of proven experience, Clearview can help you or a loved one on the path to recovery from a mental health disorder or dual diagnosis. But some people find that it’s not a good fit for them for different reasons. One of the most common reasons is feeling uncomfortable with religious or spiritual overtones, such as relying on a Higher https://ecosoberhouse.com/ Power and praying at meetings. At Acqua Recovery, we pride ourselves on creating individualized recovery plans. While AA was originally created for people struggling with addiction from alcohol, many struggling with addiction to drugs and prescription medications felt the program didn’t pertain to them. The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are so dominant in addiction recovery culture that it can be easy to forget there are other ways to get sober.
Sure, anyone can say anything in an AA meeting and they’re “only suggestions,” but if you hear the same “suggestions” from everyone for years and years, it doesn’t feel optional. You see, I have bipolar disorder and AA attendance & “guidance” prevented me from getting a correct dx and treatment. If there was a god, all the praying I did never removed it. Just woke up and decided to not live that way anymore. It was not until I was 6yrs into program where I sought treatment for BP. About 4 years ago I became more and more troubled by meetings, the constant self-abasement, the culty rhetoric, the falsehoods, the fear mongering.
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You might get bored when you no longer work towards the next step. Be honest with yourself about what you need to stay sober. get sober without aa According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse , therelapse ratefor drug andalcoholaddiction is about 40-60%.
- Today, I have not one single friend in my life from AA after 23 years of active participation in my community.
- But then I took a decision and attended fewer and fewer sessions until I was sure and confident I didn’t need the support of AA anymore.
- However powerless I was when I came into the rooms of NA, through hard work, self reflection, and the drive to change my life, I was no longer powerless.
- Her leadership style encourages the team to integrate objectivity with compassion while remaining consistently focused on the mission of offering ethical and authentic clinical interventions to the chronic relapser.
- In addition to being able to recognize them, it’s important to know when to seek help.
RecoveringFromRecovery is a great example of this. I am finding alot of nasty, acting out, ragers, and fear mongers in AA. I am planning to cut it out…I will not share openly anymore at meetings as people can give you ridiculous cult zealous feedback.