A counselor in private practice from Berkeley CA. She says she has clients who will not do AA and is glad to get the information that there is an alternative. Gave her the local meeting schedule together with brochures.
A professor from State University of New York at Rochester. He teaches the substance abuse course. He said he would have their library order our books, and he will work LifeRing into his lectures. He has students who are looking for an alternative to AA.
The executive director of a recovery program in Alberta. He took literature and said this would be interesting to his staff.
A Ph.D. on the staff of a residential program in Sonoma, CA. He told me about a client who has been through a 12-step program twice and is not improving. What did we do that was different? I explained the basics of our approach to him in a few words. He said that sounds interesting, and bought a workbook.
A young man who does audiovisual hookups for the convention center stopped by to say he has a brother who goes to LifeRing in San Francisco and likes it a .lot better than AA.
Another counselor from St. Petersburg FL said this looks very interesting and took some literature.
Tom Horvath, the president of SMART Recovery, stopped by and we shook hands. I had corresponded with him via email on several occasions but we had never met. We had a friendly chat.
A young woman, probably a student, stopped by to say she has a friend who is considering starting Alcoholics Anonymous. She took some of our literature to give her friend a choice.
A young man from Florida said he is a Universalist Unitarian and was attracted by our “secular” name.
A teacher from a community college in Galveston said she was very happy to see that there was a secular organization. Where she is, in the Galveston and Houston area, there is nothing but AA and that was not a good situation – it was terrible – and an alternative is badly needed.
A counselor from Oakland CA said he is often sending clients to recovery groups and had heard of us but had not seen our literature. He took some.
A counselor from an Air Force mental health program in San Antonio stopped. I asked her whether her people were interested in a secular alternative. She said that actually the Air Force is “highly religious” but that the clients need something different, and she took the literature.
A teacher at a medical school in Oregon, who teaches the substance abuse section to medical students, said with a giggle that there were “a lot of atheists” in Oregon. She said an alternative to AA was very strongly needed there. She said she would build LifeRing into her lectures and make sure students knew about it.
A counselor with a marriage and family practice in Tinsley IL took our literature, saying she “certainly” has clients looking for an alternative to the 12-step approach, and took our literature. She says 12-step works for some people but not for others.
A man wearing the badge of International President of the APA, from
Ireland, said addiction was not his area but he would take the literature and bring it back to his colleagues.
[Across the way from our booth is a booth for an eating disorders program. They are giving away unlimited supplies of little chocolate bars. I kidded the operator: Giving away chocolate bars at an eating disorder booth is like our booth giving out airline bottles of vodka. He said, maybe, but it works better than green apples in getting people to the booth. LOL. ]
A professor from the U. Mass in Boston who teaches psychology, including addictions, took our literature and said, yes, she does have people looking for alternatives there.
People from Glendale AZ, Berkeley CA, and Morganton NC and a couple of others whose badges I couldn’t see came in a bunch and took our literature.
Two counselors from the Seattle area. One of them knows LifeRing and uses our workbook in one of the programs she works for: Catherine Trestrail’s Positive Alternative. Catherine was our keynote speaker at a recent LifeRing Congress.
Dr. Fred Rotgers stopped by and introduced himself. He is a well-known author of moderationist books and a godfather of Moderation Management. He told me that Audrey Kishline, the founder of MM, had been released from prison and had befriended the mother and wife of the girl and father Kishline had killed while driving in a drunken blackout a few years ago. Kishline was now lecturing on the evils of drunk driving, and no longer kept in touch with MM people. I told Rotgers that LifeRing was a hard core abstinence group, which he knew. We chatted cordially for a few minutes.
A counselor from Warrensburg MO says that even in this small town she constantly runs into people wanting a secular alternative to AA.
A counselor from Memphis TN. She says it’s “the buckle on the Bible Belt.” She works for a hospital that’s 12-step and so she has to do what she’s told, but she can see that there are people looking for alternatives and she’s very glad to find us.
A Ph.D. from Raleigh NC who says he works with teenagers. Some of them did not relate to the 12 step programs at all. Took our literature. Wondered when we were going to start a meeting there.
Counselor in solo practice from Austin TX. Told her we have two LifeRing meetings there and told her how to find the details on the web site. She was very glad to find there was something beside AA and said she would refer people to our Austin meetings.
Three folks from Anchorage AL. One of them works with the U.S. Army. They were very interested and scarfed up piles of our literature.
A counselor from Tucson AZ took our literature. I told him we would have a meeting in Tucson very soon. He said he would watch for it on the website.
A counselor in private practice from San Francisco. She said she’d include LifeRing in her referrals and took literature.
A counselor from a mental hospital in North Carolina who does dual diagnosis. She was very interested to hear our supportive attitude toward prescribed medications for mental illness, and took our literature.
A woman from Union County NJ, a licensed drug and alcohol counselor, who showed interest and took our literature.
A professor from University of California in San Francisco who wanted our current meeting schedule and took other literature.
The head of a group practice in Wilmington DE who says “12-step does not work for everyone, each person needs to find their own way.” He’s interested in what we’re doing.
A teacher at Argosy University in Dublin CA who is also a counselor at a federal pen near there. She had heard of us but didn’t know we had a meeting in Livermore (near Dublin) and took our literature.
A counselor from Reno NV who says they have serious addiction issues there that are not being met, and took our literature.
A substance abuse counselor at Regis U in Denver was happy to hear we had meetings in Denver, and took our literature.
A psych student from Vermont who had just presented a poster session. She wasn’t sure what she was going to specialize in and was interested to hear that there something else in substance abuse besides 12-step.
A woman from Westwood NJ who says her husband does addiction recovery, and took our literature.
A counselor from Holland OH says an approach other than AA would make some people she knew very happy. She took our literature.
A psychology student from San Francisco said she was very interested in a secular approach, and took our literature.
A professor from near Pittsburgh PA says there’s a lot of things about AA that turn people off and he’s very interested in alternatives. He had thought Rational Recovery was the only thing out there. He said he would include LifeRing in his lectures.
A guy who is on the board of California Consumer something-or-other, who leads continuing education classes for psychologists, took the literature.
A counselor from Orofino, ID, took our literature. She leads a program with 12 clients and says quite a few of them have trouble with the 12-step approach, particularly the “higher power thing.” She says her program doesn’t push AA but makes other programs available to the extent there are any. She was very happy to see our stuff.
A counselor in private practice in Atlanta stopped to chat. He is planning to take a SMART Recovery training and was very interested in LifeRing. He picked up the literature.
A social worker from San Diego says she “all the time” has people who can’t or won’t do the 12-steps and are looking for alternatives. Women for Sobriety has good meetings there but there’s nothing comparable for men. She took our literature and wants to be notified when we get a meeting going there.
A Norwegian man stopped by to say he is addicted to cod liver oil. He wants to convince American restaurants to carry it for putting in coffee. Norwegians have a great sense of humor.
Another person from Tucson AZ took our literature and perked up when I told him there would be a meeting there soon.
Two women working in a county drug treatment program in Santa Clara county (south of San Francisco) were interested in a non-step approach and took our literature.
A counselor from Tacoma WA says some of his clients have had bad experiences with AA. Some get freaked out by the “higher power – spirituality” component of AA. He finds it useful to have an alternative to offer. Took our literature.
A counselor who retired from a position heading up drug addiction programs in Davenport IA, still does referrals. Says without question there are a lot of people who do not get anything from the 12 steps and need an alternative. He says he has a room that he makes available to groups and if we wanted it we could have it. He took our literature.
A psychologist who does substance abuse work in the federal prisons stopped by. He says they have their own program but was very interested in ours and took our literature.
A counselor from Augusta GA took one of each our brochures and says AA works for some people but obviously doesn’t work for other people and she will let people know that something else exists.
A counselor in solo practice from San Francisco had heard of us but not met us or seen our literature. She took some.
A student from John F. Kennedy University said that she has “friends who have gone to both AA and LifeRing and LifeRing has the best rate of recovery in terms of both staying sober and preventing relapse.” She and her three friends took literature.
An elderly gent from the nearby AA booth stopped by, picked up a brochure, and said that AA was a secular organization. We had a little discussion about that and he walked off.
A couple from St. Petersburg Russia were fascinated with the Escher graphic on the cover of How Was Your Week?, and took some literature.
A woman from a group called Families Anonymous took our literature. She said her group did the 12 steps “sort of” but was open to other ideas.
A woman from the Wright Institute, a graduate psych school in Berkeley, said she was the guru of addictions at her school, and had heard of us and seen some of our literature, and took some more.
A counselor who works for the VA in Birmingham AL said she has a client who is very bright and very turned off to AA and she thought our approach might work for him. She took literature.
A staff member from a recovery program in Los Angeles had not heard of us but was glad to know we existed. I told him about our N. Hollywood meeting and he said he would let people know. He took literature.
A counselor from Louisville KY bought a workbook. [Quite a few other people expressed interest in the workbook but didn’t want to load up their convention bags with heavy stuff.]
A couple of students from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto CA were very interested, asked a lot of good questions, and took our literature.
A counselor from Anniston AL stopped by, chatted, and took literature.
A psych grad from UCLA who does neuroscience imaging was very interested and took literature.
A professor at a university in Memphis who teaches psychology, but not substance abuse, took our Presenting magazine to pass along to his colleague who teaches the substance abuse class.
A counselor from a VA clinic in downtown Oakland took our literature and said he would definitely put our meetings on the list for his clients to go to. He is going to have his library order our books. He has quite a few clients who say “I don’t like that god stuff, I don’t want to do that.”
A student with an internship at Pepperdine U says she doesn’t like integrating spirituality with recovery, and took our literature.
Another student from John F. Kennedy University chatted and took our literature.
A counselor in solo practice from Holmden NJ asked many questions, seemed very interested, and took literature.
A counselor from Raleigh, NC took our literature.
A senior APA member who is a Departmental Representative (whatever that is) said his wife went through Hazelden and didn’t like the god stuff and when she went to meetings they had more god stuff and it really bothered her and he knows she will be very glad to hear there is an alternative.
A young man from the Alcohol Research Group in Berkeley took our literature and said he will suggest to the librarian that they acquire our books and write something about them in their interlibrary newsletter.
A counselor from Seattle who does not have substance abuse clients but has friends who do, and this would be helpful to them.
A counselor from Arden NC who came by carrying an AA brochure left also carrying a LifeRing brochure.
A gentleman from Abu Dhabi asked questions, said it sounds very good, and took literature.
A woman from St Louis MO says she is doing AA because it’s the only show in town but she doesn’t like it. She bought a workbook. Her husband is a counselor with a Ph.D. who agreed that an alternative was needed. He said that the people who don’t like AA and don’t benefit from it often times are just beaten over the head with it. He will pass the word to see if something can’t be started by way of alternative.
A counselor in private practice from Pleasant Hill CA took our literature.
A counselor from Lafayette CA has a patient who is attending LifeRing and doing well, though it’s early on, wants to know more about our approach. Took literature.
At 9:05 a.m. Friday the LifeRing booth was exactly as I had left it on setup day yesterday. Convention participants were getting their first look at the Exhibit area. I wasn’t even half through my coffee before the first ones stopped at the booth. They were from 
No comments:
Post a Comment