Recovery Meetings

Do I need recovery meetings to stay sober?

Making the first step to attending a recovery meeting is no easy task. The anxiety that builds at the thought of joining a group full of strangers can be insurmountable. The reality of it all is that recovery is not achieved on an individual basis, the power of numbers is key and the only way to create healing as human connection is necessary to heal these wounds that brought us into addiction. As I work with individuals at the early stages of therapy, I strongly encourage meetings as it is a misnomer that attending weekly therapy is sufficient for sustainable recovery. The reality is that we need to build a culture of recovery around us, consisting of weekly meetings, daily recovery calls and connections as we walk the path together of healing. So back to the rather daunting task of attending your first meeting, as the questions run through your mind,; “what do I say?”, “should I turn my camera on?”, “do I just sit and listen?” are all viable thoughts that will run through your mind. The competing thoughts that often anticipate this process as you sit in front of your computer or tablet ready to click the “join meeting” button or link; “maybe I will start tomorrow”, “I think I will attend the meeting tonight instead” and before you know it another day goes by as the mountain keeps getting harder and harder to climb. Attending meetings takes strength and courage, it takes commitment and a willingness to take risks and be vulnerable. Whatever it is that gets people through the doors, or “logged in” is often a sheer miracle as it can be the beginning for the real miracle to occur. Remember how important you are and your story is to others, the power of sharing and making connections with others, you have the ability to provide a message to another who is struggling, being that light for them when they felt similar to the way you felt when you thought there was no hope. Recovery is possible, it happens in these meetings every second of every day, with virtually a meeting that is open to attend at any second of the day. To make this search process easier for you, I have done a bit of the “dirty work” for you of providing a list of meetings and platforms to utilize as you make this first step, remember, your path to healing starts here:

Virtual Recovery Meetings Platforms:

In The Rooms: A Global Recovery Community

SMART Recovery: Life Beyond Addiction

The Recovery Village

myRECOVERY.com: Sharing Experience, Strength & Hope

Recovery Dharma Global: Using Buddhist Practices and Principles to Recover from Addiction

Refuge Recovery World Services

LifeRing: Secularity-Sobreity-Self Help

“Many meetings, many chances; few meetings, few chances; no meetings, no chances“