Non 12 Step
There are many effective alternatives to traditional 12-step facilitation provided by most treatment centers. They are becoming more widely known and accepted as they offer many a chance at change, getting on a pathway that fits their needs, beliefs and level of willingness.
Let’s start with the five best known support groups:
SMART Recovery: Smart Management and Recovery Training focuses on empowering the individual to sustain recovery.
LifeRing is a secular group that provides a healthy network of peers focused on remaining abstinent from alcohol and drugs.
Women for Sobriety is a nonprofit, abstinence based program and is made of up of women supporting each other in recovery.
SOS stands for Secular Organizations for Sobriety. This is also a nonprofit network made up of secular recovery-based groups.
Moderation Management is not based on abstinence but instead on learning how to moderate and control problem drinking behaviors. Are these alternative support groups as effective as AA? We don’t know because-this may come as surprise- from a scientific perspective the effectiveness of AA is unknown. Perhaps the most important fact about recovery is that the majority of individuals who recover do so without attending a support group or treatment. It happens naturally. Through maturation, development and the recognition of adult responsibilities, people just stop. All we know for sure is given a group of 100 individuals, most will recover naturally. You could be one.
