Hi All
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 3
Hi All
Newcomer to the rooms; been in AA 31 years (continuous sobriety 10+ years). Addicted to drugs after my stint in Vietnam in the 60's; clean for over 15 years.
Glad I found this site. I need all the help I can get. For the past four months, I've been chairing a weekly meeting at the local VA Medical Center for vets in Substance Abuse Programs. They are wonderful vets who are trying to recover from alcohol and/or drug addictions. I've had to customize my meetings to meet the needs of both, and am hoping you guys can lead me by the ear to solutions to some of our problems. For lack of other choices, I've patterned the meetings on my experience with AA, and use AA material. This tends to leave the drug users out (especially if I apply "singleness of purpose" - which I don't), and I'm trying to learn how I can best approach this dilema. I love what I'm doing, but just want to do it better.
Thanks.
DonSan
Glad I found this site. I need all the help I can get. For the past four months, I've been chairing a weekly meeting at the local VA Medical Center for vets in Substance Abuse Programs. They are wonderful vets who are trying to recover from alcohol and/or drug addictions. I've had to customize my meetings to meet the needs of both, and am hoping you guys can lead me by the ear to solutions to some of our problems. For lack of other choices, I've patterned the meetings on my experience with AA, and use AA material. This tends to leave the drug users out (especially if I apply "singleness of purpose" - which I don't), and I'm trying to learn how I can best approach this dilema. I love what I'm doing, but just want to do it better.
Thanks.
DonSan
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,090
Welcome, DonSan !
I'm glad you found SR.
There are many forums on this site. Some are subforums for Drug Addiction, Secular Recovery, Friends and families. There are also forums for AA/NA, Secular AA/NA as well as other recovery methods that have worked for many such as SMART, RR/AVRT, etc.
And, a lot more.
Hope you'll take some time to look around and ask as many questions as you'd like to.
Again, Welcome.
I'm glad you found SR.
There are many forums on this site. Some are subforums for Drug Addiction, Secular Recovery, Friends and families. There are also forums for AA/NA, Secular AA/NA as well as other recovery methods that have worked for many such as SMART, RR/AVRT, etc.
And, a lot more.
Hope you'll take some time to look around and ask as many questions as you'd like to.
Again, Welcome.
~sb
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 15,962
My alcoholism showed up in the use of other substances.
It's about me not being able to live comfortably in my own skin unless I had something in my body to get me out of my mind....
I didn't know how to live life without drinking/using. Simple.
I had a choice....spiritual way of life or alcoholic/drug death?
Glad you found SR!
It's about me not being able to live comfortably in my own skin unless I had something in my body to get me out of my mind....
I didn't know how to live life without drinking/using. Simple.
I had a choice....spiritual way of life or alcoholic/drug death?
Glad you found SR!
Sobriety is Traditional
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Orcas Island, Washington
Posts: 9,064
Welcome Don,
There are great discussions of recovery methods here. I would bet you could find the answer to anything your gang comes up with!
"This tends to leave the drug users out." A simple answer to your question: try NA material. It's exactly the same twelve steps and twelve traditions as AA, but worded differently and updated. Bill W. knew the AA book he wrote was trite; he wanted readers to say "that's not for me; I'll do it my way." He wanted people to figure out their own higher power. It is necessary to gently coerce people to quit alcohol, which is legal and kills slowly. Drug addicts do not have this option. They are presently headed for jail, institutions, or death. They should be more willing to accept any recovery program and figure out a higher power later.
Check out the NA book, It Works: How and Why.
There are great discussions of recovery methods here. I would bet you could find the answer to anything your gang comes up with!
"This tends to leave the drug users out." A simple answer to your question: try NA material. It's exactly the same twelve steps and twelve traditions as AA, but worded differently and updated. Bill W. knew the AA book he wrote was trite; he wanted readers to say "that's not for me; I'll do it my way." He wanted people to figure out their own higher power. It is necessary to gently coerce people to quit alcohol, which is legal and kills slowly. Drug addicts do not have this option. They are presently headed for jail, institutions, or death. They should be more willing to accept any recovery program and figure out a higher power later.
Check out the NA book, It Works: How and Why.
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