Support groups and connecting with others on the same journey can often help with the change process.
According to British journalist Johann Hari who talks about addiction research in his TED Talk titled “Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong,” the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It’s connection.”
A 12-step program, such as AA, is often the first place people are encouraged to go for support when they are struggling with addiction. Many treatment programs require attendance at AA as part of their program. Parents are often encouraged to attend an Al-Anon meeting.
The 12-step program has helped many people maintain long-term sobriety over the years. But, other support groups are available that can meet the needs of those looking for options or want an evidence-based approach.
As we know, one size doesn’t fit all, so finding the support that will work for you is helpful.
What some have done is adopt a patchwork approach to recovery. Take time to attend a few meetings from any of the groups that interest you.
Attending several group meetings allows you to gain a broader perspective and learn from the different approaches.
And as the saying goes in AA, “Take what you like, and leave the rest.”
Choose to focus your time, energy and conversation around people who inspire you, support you and help you to grow you into your happiest, strongest, wisest self. ~ Karen Salmansohn
Here is the list of seven support groups that can help not only your child by you as well.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women with drinking problems. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.
A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.
A.A.’s Twelve Traditions apply to the life of the Fellowship itself. They outline how A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world through it, the way it lives and grows.
For parents: Al-Anon Family Groups is based on the same principles as AA
SMART Recovery® — Discover the Power of Choice!
The purpose of SMART Recovery® is to provide free mutual self-help meetings for people desiring to abstain from any form of addictive behavior. SMART Recovery® is for people desiring an effective alternative recovery program who want to gain independence from addictive behavior
SMART Recovery® is a well-known self-empowering, scientifically based addiction recovery support group. Participants learn tools for addiction recovery based on the latest scientific research and participate in a worldwide community that includes free, self-empowering, science-based mutual help groups.
The SMART Recovery 4-Point Program offers tools and techniques for each program point:
- Building and Maintaining Motivation
- Coping with Urges
- Managing Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors
- Living a Balanced Life
Local meetings, daily online meetings, message boards, and a 24/7 chat room are offered, with publications available for those wanting more information about the program and wanting to receive addiction recovery support.
SMART Recovery’s Toll-Free Number is 866-951-5357.
For parents: SMART Recovery Family and Friends program has resources to help you support someone struggling with addiction.
My makeup wasn’t smeared, I wasn’t disheveled, I behaved politely, and I never finished off a bottle, so how could I be alcoholic? ~Betty Ford
Women For Sobriety
Women For Sobriety, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women overcome alcoholism and other addictions. It is the first national self-help program for women alcoholics.
Dr. Jean Kirkpatrick founded Women For Sobriety, Inc. in 1975. Dr. Kirkpatrick knew she had a problem with alcohol. It was amazing that in all the years of her drinking, she was not diagnosed as an alcoholic.
From the beginning, she felt that women alcoholics had the same problems she did. They had little or no self-esteem, depression, loneliness, and excessive feelings of guilt. She had found a way to overcome these feelings. Dr. Kirkptrick felt other women would benefit from her experience.
Women For Sobriety, Inc. has received thousands of letters from women and their families expressing what Jean felt was true; women have special problems in recovery. For them to have lasting sobriety, they must address these needs, especially building self-esteem.
WFS has been providing services to women alcoholics since July 1976. They have self-help groups all across this country and abroad. The group is based on a Thirteen Statement Program of positivity that encourages emotional and spiritual growth. The “New Life” Program has been extremely effective in helping women overcome their addictions and embrace a new positive lifestyle.
Recovery Dharma
Recovery Dharma is a non-profit organization grounded in the belief that Buddhist principles and practices create a strong foundation for a path to freedom from addiction. This program is an approach to recovery that understands: All individuals have the power and potential to free themselves from the suffering caused by addiction.
Recovery Dharma uses the Buddhist practices of meditation, self-inquiry, wisdom, compassion, and community as tools for recovery and healing.
“We believe recovery is about finding our own inner wisdom and our own path.”
What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal? ~ Gandhiji
Life Ring – Empower Your Sober Self
Life Ring is a network of positive support groups for living free of alcohol and other “drugs.”
“Imagine that inside of each person who is struggling with drug and/or alcohol issues, there is a conflict between a voice that wants to keep drinking/using and another voice that wants to be free of the drug and lead a better life. We abbreviate these voices as the “A” (the addict self) and the “S” (the sober self).
After each meeting, the “S” in each person is stronger than before. At some point, the person experiences a transformation. The “S” grows stronger than the “A” and rises to the top. Sobriety stops being an uphill battle and becomes almost second nature. So long as people avoid putting alcohol/drugs into their bodies, they can realize whatever potential lies within them and live full, productive lives.
This “S-to-S” connection is the engine of the LifeRing recovery process that they practice in their meetings, both in-person and online. They call it “Empowering Your Sober Self.”
The LifeRing process is strength-based; it works by positive reinforcement of qualities that you already have. You can find a meeting, books, brochures, and other information by visiting their website.
Moderation Management
Moderation Management (MM) is a behavioral change program and national support group network for people concerned about their drinking and who desire to make positive lifestyle changes. MM empowers individuals to accept personal responsibility for choosing and maintaining their own path, whether in moderation or abstinence.
The organization promotes early self-recognition of risky drinking behavior when moderate drinking is a more easily achievable goal.
It offers a supportive mutual-help environment that encourages people concerned about their drinking to cut back or quit drinking early before drinking problems become severe.
They offer a nine-step, professionally reviewed program that provides information about alcohol, moderate drinking guidelines, limits, drink monitoring exercises, goal-setting techniques, and self-management strategies.
As a major part of the program, members also use the nine steps to find balance and moderation in many other areas of their lives, one small step at a time.
The program agrees that no one solution is best for all people with drinking problems. There are many possible solutions available to each individual, and MM suggests that each person finds the best solution for him or her.
MM is a good place to begin to address a drinking problem. If MM proves ineffective, the individual is encouraged to progress to a more radical solution.
One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. ~Sigmund Freud
SHE RECOVERS® Foundation
We believe in a world where all women in or seeking recovery are celebrated, supported, and deemed essential to healthy communities. We accomplished this by inspiring hope, reducing stigma, and empowering women to increase their recovery capital, heal themselves, and help others do the same.
SHE RECOVERS® Sharing Circles provide supportive, non-judgmental spaces in communities across the world where women from diverse backgrounds can come together to learn and share about the practice of recovery. The Sharing Circles are led by SHE RECOVERS® Coaches.
We’re stronger together.
Have you tried any of these support groups? What other ones have helped you or your child?
This article was updated on June 26, 2023
Hi Cathy,
As you’ve said, it’s so important people understand there are options to fit their individual needs; that treatment for addiction is not “one size fits all.”
So true, Lisa. It’s a missed opportunity to not have support to meet different needs. It’s so important for families as well as the individual.
Thank you Cathy for these many options. I didn’t realize there were so many. Thank you for your on going expertise and support.
You are welcome, Carmel. I appreciate you stopping by.