| Recovery Groups Offering Alternatives to 12-Step -- U.S. |
| Grateful acknowledgment to LifeRing for much of the information contained in these listings. If you know of other secular-based organizations or programs that should be included here, please contact us. Also, please tell us about any corrections, updates or broken links you find here. Thank you! |
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http://www.unhooked.com LifeRing is one of the pioneers and most significant players in the secular recovery community. LifeRing is a network of face-to-face and online support groups for people who want to be free of alcohol and addictive drugs. LifeRing sees the power to get clean and sober inside each person through the positive reinforcement of the group process, that power becomes dominant in each person and enables us to lead clean and sober lives. The proportion of churchgoers and others in LifeRing is about the same as in the general population. Since the LifeRing recovery process does not rely on a "higher power" or similar concepts, LifeRing participants' religious and/or spiritual beliefs remain private and don't become an issue in the meeting. LifeRing encourages each participant to work out their own particular path and to use the group process as a workshop for that purpose |
| http://www.womenforsobriety.org/ Women For Sobriety, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women overcome alcoholism and other addictions. Founded in 1976 by the late Jean Kirkpatrick, WFS is based on the premise that recovery requires affirmation and reinforcement of self-esteem, rather than the 'annihilation of ego' propounded by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Kirkpatrick is the author of numerous books, pamphlets and articles championing the unserved special needs of women alcoholics. Kirkpatrick is the godmother of many of the subsequent alternatives to the 12-Step approach. |
| http://www.smartrecovery.org/ SMART Recovery Self Management And Recovery Training emerged in 1994 as the result of a division among the leadership of Rational Recovery (RR) which preceded SMART. SMART is a nonprofit organization that promotes support meetings and publishes literature. Meetings may be led by professional counselors. The guiding philosophy of SMART is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) formulated by Dr. Albert Ellis. Its primary sobriety tool is the "ABC," a way of changing one's emotions by changing one's mistaken beliefs. The current president is Arthur T. Horvath, Ph.D. |
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http://www.rational.org/ Rational Recovery (RR} is a for-profit franchisor
of Rational Recovery Centers using the proprietary Addictive Voice
Recognition Techniqueฎ (AVRT). Founded and owned by Jack and
Lois Trimpey, RR sees recovery self-help support groups
unnecessary and unhelpful. Its web site offers a "crash course in AVRT."
While SRC position on support groups is 180 degrees from Mr. Trimpey's,
we feel his ideas have much to offer and completely in accord that
complete abstinence from alcohol and other mood altering drugs is the
safest, surest and most direct path to recovery. TOP |
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http://www.secularsobriety.org/ ,
http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/links.htm Secular Organizations
for Sobriety (SOS) aka "Save Our Selves" SOS loose knit,
alternative recovery method for those alcoholics or drug addicts who are
uncomfortable with the spiritual content of widely available 12-Step
programs. SOS takes a reasonable, secular approach to recovery and
maintains that sobriety is a separate issue from religion or
spirituality. SOS supports healthy skepticism and encourages the
use of the scientific method to understand alcoholism. TOP |
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http://members.tripod.com/~NadineGaye/16steps.htm Sixteen Steps Groups founded by Charlotte Kasl, Ph.D. and inspired by her classic book Many Roads, One Journey (see review), the Sixteen Steps groups feature a blend of self-affirmations reminiscent of WFS, together with doses of New Age influence with a feminist flavor, aiming at all-around personal transformation and liberation from oppressive, addiction-engendering cultural programming. TOP |
| Alternatives to 12-Step Abroad |
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http://perso.wanadoo.fr/vie.libre/
Vie Libre: A Free Life. French association dedicated to mutual self-help by
alcoholics and to social reform to reduce the influence of alcohol and
of the alcohol industry in society. Secular. Founded 1953. French
language. TOP |
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http://perso.wanadoo.fr/croixdoridf/croixdoridf/
Croix d'Or Cross of Gold. The organization "seeks to make
victims of alcohol into happy and useful abstainers. ... To recover, I
need to make recovery my own responsibility, my own initiative;
otherwise it will not happen." Secular, French language. TOP |
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http://www.acay.com.au/~narcosis/yes.html
Yes Recovery
Founded in Sydney, AU, seeking members worldwide.
"Many programs and fellowships require a belief in God or else have
authority figures whose rules or therapies must be obeyed. This program
has no such requirements, and it promotes the strength and authority of
the individual," as laid out in the "48 Precepts." TOP |
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