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Welcome

The Secular Recovery Community Website

Please visit our main page at
http://www.secularrecovery.com/
 

Departments on our home page
http://www.secularrecovery.com
 
home
welcome
mission statement
dedication
faq
contact us
meeting directory
discussion forum
SRC Ning
     YourSoberSpace
bookshop 
donate
green tea
links
Don's Blog
members

http://www.secularrecovery.com

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SRC Secular Recovery Community

If you have a problem with alcohol or drugs (or think that you may have a problem), you need not deal with it in isolation. Welcome to the SRC where you can find immediate information, support and friendship without the religious content of traditional recovery programs.

What can you do on this web site, anyway?


Learn more about the purpose, history and aims of SRC the Secular Recovery Community. See our FAQ and mission statement.

Visit the SRC online bookshop where you can peruse and buy books about addictions, recovery and related topics from a secular perspective.

Search the online meeting directory where you can find a secular support group closest to your home

Visit the SRC online discussions forum w here you can make immediate contact with others in recovery; reading and/or joining in the discussions.

In the News - read about developments in addictions, alcoholism, recovery and mental health related issues in the news. See our fantastic blog by Don Phillips.

http://www.secularrecovery.com

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Mission Statement

SRC, the Secular Recovery Community is a collection of resources for people seeking assistance with problem drinking and drugging but are uncomfortable with the religious content of traditional recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). We do this by providing the services of a Website, Online Bookshop, Online Discussion Forum, and an Online Directory that will assist you in locating a secular meeting closest to your home.


Greetings and Welcome! My name is Rex Alexander, a recovered alcoholic and founder of the SRC the Secular Recovery Community. In 1984 I stopped drinking and using mood altering, recreational drugs--and now it is my goal to give something back to the secular recovery movement. The aim of SRC is a simple one in principle that came about in response to a clear but very tough problem shared by all organizations in the secular sobriety movement: There are not enough secular support group meetings! Period. It is all good and well for an organization to style itself as an alternative to traditional 12 Step programs, however it is quite another to actually provide meetings to all those who might want and benefit from one! As of this writing, the number of secular support group is unknown, but probably can be counted in the hundreds. Compare that to the tens of thousands of traditional 12 Step meetings world-wide!

While we are excited about SRC Discussion Forum, Bookshop and Website, those components are in a sense afterthoughts. The real heart and driving idea behind SRC is perhaps the least flashy: The Online Secular Meeting Directory, designed to assist people in locating a secular support group meeting--of whatever brand or organizational affiliation--closest to their home. However perhaps I am getting ahead of myself and a bit of background will help to make this idea more resonant

In 1933, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) were pioneers. From the earliest days, they intuited the value of "one alcoholic helping another" and established the institution of the local support group where people with a drinking problem could meet to "share their experience, strength and hope" in helping themselves and one another to recover. From the humble beginnings in 1935 of a single meeting in Akron, Ohio the support group concept grew into a world-wide cultural institution. In 2002, the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous reported more than 100,000 A.A. groups in 150 countries, with a total membership of approximately two million alcoholics world-wide! By any reckoning, this is an extraordinary accomplishment.

There is, however, one serious downside to this remarkable accomplishment. The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous represent a religious belief system which insists that recovery from alcoholism necessitates a religious solution. Nothing wrong with that . . . except that many people are uncomfortable with the religious content of 12 Step programs, and regard religion and recovery from addictions as separate issues. For decades, those alcoholics and addicts who felt they could benefit from the support and fellowship of group meetings were stuck with the often equally unappealing choices of either going it alone, or of attending 12 Step meetings which conflicted with their core beliefs and personal values. While some can and do resolve or make peace with this inherent conflict, others cannot or do not care to. One can only imagine the sense of isolation secular-minded drunks experienced in those early days when AA was the "only game in town" and the internet was still science fiction for ordinary people.


In 1985 James Christopher met his personal conflict head on by founding Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS) which was the beginning of a network of support groups patterned after the idea that Alcoholics Anonymous had pioneered fifty years earlier--but based upon the principle of self-reliance, peer support and treating religion and sobriety as separate issues. In the ensuing 20 years, other organizations followed, each making its own unique contribution to what I refer to as the world-wide secular recovery movement.


While it seems to me that James Christopher deserves credit as founding father of the secular recovery movement, we should not overlook that fact that he was hardly the first. As early as 1976, the late Jean Kirkpatrick founded Women For Sobriety (WFS) a secular-based approach. Moreover, for who knows how long before the founding of SOS, there have been atheist-agnostic-freethinker and moderate groups operating overtly and covertly from within Alcoholics Anonymous. All of the early pioneers--many of whom are unsung and unrecognized--deserve our respect and our gratitude.

In my opinion, the most important accomplishment of these various groups over the past two decades has been to demystify and put to rest the AA insistence that a religious program is the only way people can successfully recover from addictions. This has been accomplished by hard work, persuasive, rational argument, and most importantly by thousands of happy, functional, productive, sober men and women who have recovered outside of a religious context. The other important accomplishment has, of course, been to make secular support group meetings available in many places in the U.S. and other countries. Great! However, this brings us full-circle to our introduction where we lament that there are not nearly enough meetings for all those who might want and benefit from them. Along with that, locating the meetings can be extremely difficult and frustrating. Until now, there has been no central, database-driven directory, and no clear path across the internet for people who are searching

It is beyond the scope of this document to speculate about why there are so few secular meetings compared to 12 Step meetings, or to offer compelling suggestions for how to remedy the situation. However, we encourage you to discuss these interesting and important issues in the "Sober Coffeehouse" on the SRC Discussion Forum. Perhaps the problem is simply endemic to secularity some way? Perhaps the phenomenal growth of AA is indeed driven by a spiritual motivation as described in the 12th Step: "Having had a spiritual awakening . . . we tried to carry this message to alcoholics . . ." However, putting such discussion aside for now, we keep our aim modest; to make at least some small contribution in assisting those who struggle with alcohol and drugs to quickly find a support group meeting closest to them, or lacking that, an online meeting that meets their particular needs.

Thank you for visiting. Your participation, comments and suggestions are most welcome.

http://www.secularrecovery.com


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Dedication

 
To the men and women who suffer with addictions . . .
. . . and to those who have recovered.
thanks
This website and the idea for the SRC Secular Recovery Community owes a debt of gratitude to the pioneers who came before. Many of the ideas presented here are directly or indirectly based upon the selfless work of the founding fathers & mothers, pioneers and key players in the early days of the secular recovery movement. The list is a long one, certainly not limited to:

Jean Kirkpatrick founded Women For Sobriety (WFS)
James Christopher, founder SOS
Marty Nicolas, one of the founders of Unhooked and LifeRing Sobriety
Tom Shelley, SOS, LifeRing Sobriety, founder-listmeister Tom's (LSR) List
Paula B, SOS, LSR
Laura "Bones" L, WS, SOS, LSR


This is embarrassingly incomplete. We would grateful if you could suggest other men and women who should be remembered here. Please drop us an e-mail with the name(s) and a few words describing their role in the secular recovery movement. Thanks very much.

http://www.secularrecovery.com


Copyright

The owner of the domain name, http://www.secularrecovery.com, the names SRC, Secular Recovery, Secular Recovery Community, Secular Recovery Forum, Secular Recovery (Worldwide) Meeting Directory, and Secular Recovery Bookshop is Rex Alexander, an American living in Thailand All content on the SRC Website, SRC Forum, and SRC (Worldwide) Meeting Directory is copyright © 2006 Rex Alexander.

Website design, Alexander Fine Arts, Ltd.
Many thanks to ELATED PageKits © 2002 ELATED.com/PageKits.com
for the cool template this site is based on.

http://www.secularrecovery.com


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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

[?]  What is SRC?
[?]  Who is SRC for?
[?]  Does SRC have a “program” like the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous?
[?]  Does the SRC philosophy encompass “moderation”?
[?]  Is SRC atheist or anti-religion?
[?]  Is SRC opposed to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or other 12-step groups?
[?]  Where are you located? Who owns SRC?
[?]  How can I contact you?



What is SRC?

SRC is the Secular Recovery Community, founded July 2006 by Rex Alexander. SRC provides resources for those who have (or think they may have) a problem with alcohol or drugs, but are uncomfortable with the spiritual content of traditional recovery programs. SRC is a network and resource serving the various and diverse organizations, groups and individuals which make up the secular recovery movement worldwide. SRC has modest aims facilitated via five basic components:


(1) SRC Discussion Forum, an online community where members can meet for immediate, live support, discussion, fellowship, networking, sharing of information and resources.


(2) SRC Meeting Directory, a powerful, online, world-wide database that (when completed) will allow you to quickly locate a secular support group meeting (and other recovery services) closest to your home.

(4) SRC Online Bookshop where you can peruse titles and order recommend books and resources on alcoholism and addictions, particularly those with a non-religious perspective.

(5) SRC Website http://www.secularrecovery.com , a modest resource serving as the focal point and masthead of SRC, connecting the Forum, Meeting Directory and Bookshop, presenting information about the nature and history of the secular recovery movement, as well as providing links to organizations, treatment centers and other resources

See Mission Statement for background information and more details.
faq


Who is SRC for?

SRC is for people who have a problem (or think they may have a problem) with alcohol and/or drugs who are seeking assistance but without the spiritual content of traditional recovery programs. Friends and family of alcoholics are also welcome.
faq


Does SRC have a “program” like the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous?

No, not really. SRC does not have or represent a “program” or particular therapeutic approach per se. Think of SRC as more of an “interface” or network where the diverse organizations, groups and individuals in the world-wide secular sobriety movement can meet for mutual support and to exchange resources and information. A “tool box” would also be an apt metaphor. Having sad that, we do have a philosophical foundation which we share with the organizations SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety) and LSR (Life Ring Sobriety) who first elucidated these principles in the 1980’s and 1990’s, liberally paraphrased here as:

Sobriety : Meaning complete abstinence from alcohol and other mood-altering, recreational drugs. We don’t drink or use no matter what. The way it has always worked, we feel, is that first you stop drinking and using, and then you begin to get well, not the other way around. We embrace the "Sobriety Priority" as first articulated by James Christopher; we make sobriety our Number One Priority, separate from other life-issues, and allow our hierarchy of values to naturally readjust in subordination to the Sobriety Priority.

Secularity : We see the secular recovery movement as a friendly alternative to the religious content of traditional 12 Step programs, and regard religion and sobriety as separate issues. People of all faiths, or none, including atheists, agnostics, “freethinkers”, secular humanists, and others are all welcome here.

Self-Help : We believe that key to recovery is the individual's own motivation and effort. However, we do not interpret “self-help" to mean that an individual should be in isolation nor recklessly independent in approaching recovery. We strongly support the traditional idea of one alcoholic helping another through F2F (face-to-face) support group meetings as originated by Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930’s. Needless to say we are also enthusiastic about the newer phenomenon of online support in its various forms. We are, however, skeptical that online support will prove to be interchangeable with traditional F2F support for most people. However it is still too soon to say how the phenomenon of online support will develop or what role it will play in future.
faq

Does the SRC philosophy encompass “moderation”?

No!  We regard abstinence and so called “moderation” as incompatible philosophies and approaches. Along with AA, LSR, SOS, SMART and the other mainstream support groups, we believe that complete and permanent abstinence from alcohol and other mood-altering, recreational drugs is the surest, safest most effective way to deal with addictions. The way it has always worked, we feel, is that first you stop drinking and using, and then you begin to get well, not the other way around. For further discussion of this topic, see ==>

http://www.freepowerboards.com/secularrecovery/secularrecovery-about5.html

faq

Is SRC atheist or anti-religion?

No, SRC is not anti-religion. However we do regard sobriety as a separate issue from religion or spirituality, and see the secular recovery movement as a friendly alternative to the religious content of traditional 12 Step programs. Having said that, secular-minded people (atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, “freethinkers”, etc. ) may be especially attracted to an organization such as SRC. However, religious people who regard their religion as an issue separate from sobriety also find an important ally in programs which share the SRC secular approach.
faq


Is SRC opposed to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or other 12-step groups?

No, not at all. SRC supports AA and has great respect for the work the organization has done for more than 70 years. We are in favor of anything that helps people maintain their sobriety. We think of secular support groups as a friendly alternative to traditional 12 Step programs. Moreover, we realize that many secular people remain active in local AA groups, sometimes for lack of alternatives, but often because they truly value the experience. In fact, one of the important goals of SRC is to identify and publish contact info for the many "moderate" local 12 Step meetings that are out there. However, bottom line, we do feel strongly that face-to-face support group meetings, of whatever brand, have been and will continue to be central to the recovery of large numbers of alcoholics and addicts.
faq

Where are you located? Who owns SRC?

SRC is a virtual, online entity serving organizations, groups and individuals worldwide. The owner of the domain name, http://www.secularrecovery.com, the names SRC, Secular Recovery, Secular Recovery Community, Secular Recovery Forum, Secular Recovery (Worldwide) Meeting Directory, and Secular Recovery Bookshop is Rex Alexander, an American living in Thailand who has no ambition for SRC to become a “brick & mortar” organization, to maintain offices, or to sponsor, brand or run face-to-face support group meetings, at least not at this time, however is subject to change as circumstances indicate. All content on the SRC Website, SRC Forum, and SRC (Worldwide) Meeting Directory is copyright © 2006 Rex Alexander.
faq

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How can I contact you?

Feel free to send e-mail to

This FAQ is a work in progress. If you think of other important questions that should be included, please let us know. Thanks.
faq

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