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Most conversations about how to stay sober focus on the first ninety days. The research community has been paying more attention lately to a different problem, which is that the skills required to hold on to sobriety at year two are not the same ones that got you through week two.
A federally funded trial now running out of the University of New Mexico is built around exactly that gap.
The trial is called THRIVE, and it is testing whether a structured mindfulness program delivered over video calls helps people sustain recovery from alcohol use disorder over three years.
What the Trial Is Testing
Researchers at the Center on Alcohol, Substance Use, and Addictions at the University of New Mexico randomized 470 adults into two groups.
One group joins mindfulness-based relapse prevention groups by video call. The other receives an orientation and referral to online mutual support, including online AA, SMART Recovery, and InTheRooms.
Everyone in the study is followed for three years, with check-ins every six months. Participants provide dried blood spot samples at the start and at the three-year mark, which gives researchers a biological measure of alcohol use alongside self-report.
Recruitment ran from September 2023 through March 2025. Six-month follow-up is complete, with 86 percent of participants who stayed in the study completing it.
The work is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and Katie Witkiewitz is the principal investigator.
Results are not in yet. This is a study in progress, and the researchers state their hypothesis rather than a finding.
Nothing here says mindfulness works better than mutual support. What is notable now is the design, and the fact that the program being tested is offered at no cost.
How This Supports Long-Term Sobriety
The trial is built on an idea most people in addiction recovery recognize from experience. The researchers quote a line from the relapse prevention literature describing how quitting is not nearly as difficult as staying quit.
Treatment is usually delivered in discrete episodes, a stretch of inpatient or outpatient care that ends on a specific date. Continuing care is what comes after, and for alcohol use disorder it has largely meant referral to mutual support groups.
Mindfulness-based relapse prevention was originally developed as an aftercare program, and the research team notes that its largest effects have shown up when it is delivered that way.
The version being tested runs as a rolling group, meaning you can join at any point and attend as many sessions as you want for as long as you want. The content cycles through eight sessions and then repeats.
The researchers note that people in their community groups have kept attending well past the full eight, and that having members at different stages of recovery in the same room makes the discussion richer.
Skills the Program Teaches
The eight sessions build a small set of concrete practices. Two are worth knowing about whether or not you ever join a group like this.
The first is urge surfing. Rather than fighting a craving or trying to distract yourself out of it, you turn toward it, notice the physical sensations and thoughts that come with it, and stay with them.
The point is direct observation of something most people already know intellectually, which is that an urge rises, peaks, and passes on its own without you doing anything about it.
The second is the SOBER breathing space, which stands for stop, observe, breathe, expand, and respond.
It is a short practice designed to be used in the moment, when stress or craving hits, and it creates a gap between the trigger and whatever you do next. The program frames this as the opposite of running on autopilot, which is where a lot of relapse risk lives.
Other sessions cover mindfulness of thoughts, mindful movement, a body scan, kindness practice, and acceptance of difficult emotions.
The program also targets broader life functioning rather than drinking alone, including quality of life, sense of purpose, and social connection.
Where AA and Mutual Support Fit
Nothing in this trial positions mindfulness as a replacement for the 12-step path. The researchers are explicit that Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs have been shown to be highly effective in supporting abstinence, that decades of research support them across a range of populations, and that they work through several mechanisms including spiritual, cognitive, and social support.
They also point to accessibility and low or no cost as major advantages. The argument the researchers make is about having more than one option available.
Mutual support groups work substantially through building social network support, and the team notes that some people need additional tools for emotion regulation on top of that.
Their aim is to add a free, widely available option to the menu, not to move anyone off one that is working.
That is the practical takeaway. If AA is your foundation, mindfulness skills sit alongside it rather than against it. Many people in long-term recovery already use both.
How to Stay Sober With Practical Tools
The habits that hold up over years tend to be small and repeatable. Attend meetings consistently rather than only when things get hard.
Build a practice you can use in ninety seconds when stress hits, whether that is the SOBER breathing space or something else that works for you. Protect your sleep. Stay connected to people who know where you have been.
Tracking helps more than people expect. The free Sober App logs your streak and milestones and shows what you have saved in time and money, which turns an abstract stretch of days into something you can actually see.
Finding AA Meetings and Support
Sober.com’s directory covers AA meetings in all 50 states with city-level pages and filters for online meetings, Big Book meetings, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions meetings, beginners meetings, and meetings for specific communities.
You can find a meeting near you tonight or join one online from home. Call
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Nikki Wisher is an Atlanta-based content writer with over a decade of experience. She specializes in creating content related to health and wellness, with topics ranging from addiction recovery to fitness to skin care. She also enjoys creating content in many other areas like photography, beauty, and marketing. Her passion project is her inclusive running blog, forallrunners.com.
View ProfileEric Owens is a writer and editor with a bachelor degree in Philosophy, which has helped him with presenting complex information in a simple way that all audiences can understand. He specializes in the mental health and addiction recovery space. He’s also passionate about the environment and has extensive experience in creating content related to sustainability issues
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