Originally Posted by
Kathleen41 
If someone is not convinced on step one, he is not convinced, and there will be no helping him until he is convinced:
I spent years professionally in the field of addiction recovery working in rehab and day-programs (IOP) and my experience as well in AA and for me, there is plenty of real help to be offered even for the most resistant of drinkers/alcoholics.
It's really about knowing just how far a drinker/drunk can go south with his life and yet still be open to certain offerings from those who he or she admires and respects on a gut-level. When people are hurting enough they may choose to drink, and defend their actions with lies - and sometimes those lies are they don't want to quit and/or they want to try to control their drinking. More often than not, they have already failed at drinking so much they are really just completely unresolved in what to do next - so they drink of course.
When these same people meet someone who has walked in their shoes they take notice of course.
And when those someone's can share their experience with respect and gratitude for being of service to the still suffering drinker, damn straight the drinker takes notice again. I've plenty of stories from my days back helping in rehab and IOP with drinkers and addicts openly lying about recovery yet still trying to quit anyways.
Earning a drinkers trust and respect is sometimes an impossible challenge to be sure - but not always - and so, I've learned it's always best to keep my heart and mind open to even the most hardened drinker/user because you never know when they just might make this day their final quit. I don't tell people they haven't had enough, and I don't agree with them when they tell me either. Anybody who wants to quit has had enough is the way of things for me anyways. I know first hand just how devious and destructive addiction ambivalence in action can present itself - and once I see that in anybody I helped, I always had their back on helping them quit.
When I was quitting myself some told me too I hadn't had enough, lol. I always told these people to go help someone else because I'm all stocked up on stupid, thanks.