I had the pleasure on Thursday morning of attending and staffing a LifeRing exhibit table at the 13th Annual Northern California Tobacco, Alochol, Drug, School Wellness & Youth Development Conference for Educators, held at the Clark Kerr Conference Center of UC Berkeley.
The attendees were teachers, counselors, and community leaders from seven Northern California counties. All were concerned with prevention and treatment of the tobacco, alcohol, and other drug issue among young people, particularly teenagers.
The most frequent question to me was "Do you have meetings for teens?" Since, at the moment, none of our meetings is limited by age group, my answer had to be, "Our meetings are open to adolescents of all ages." That got a laugh.
There was a universally positive reaction to a secular option for sobriety support. A number of people volunteered that a lot of teens tended to resist the religious aspects of the 12-step groups.
The problem is how to convert the positive reception we get from educators working with teens into actual meetings -- or some other organized presence -- in the schools.
A few years ago the counseling staff at a local high school wanted to start a set of support groups, including LifeRing, on campus. The initiative was killed by the principal, not because of any animus toward LifeRing, but -- observers believed -- because the program would call attention to the campus drug problem and taint the school's reputation.
I had brought only 50 local meeting schedules to the conference, and these went quickly. This wasn't a book-buying crowd -- didn't sell one book -- but the schedules and brochures got into a lot of hands. Maybe some of them will trickle down into the hands of some wide-awake students.
The keynote speaker at the conference, Dr. Ken Winters of the U of Minnesota, presented a PowerPoint entitled "This is Your Brain on Adolescence." It featured MRI scans of brains lit up by cocaine and charts of dopamine levels -- the scenes a faire of addiction lectures. It carried a sound and important message about the lifetime dangers of early alcohol and other drug use. The adolescent brain is engaged in a major neural reorganization, a very bad time to be throwing addictive drugs into the works.
Still, the notion that teen behavior and attitudes generally, and the proclivity to do drugs in particular, are rooted in developmental brain anatomy, is overly broad and unfair. Only a minority of teens do drugs. Some teens are impulsive, others are cautious. Some take risks, others avoid them. For every teen who has impaired judgment, there is another who is wise beyond their years. We certainly see kids who do drugs and hide it from their parents, but we also see kids who fight hard to get their parents off drugs and into treatment. Bottom line: teens deserve as much respect as adults for their individuality, their wisdom, and the choices they make.
Just a quick note with some good news: The meeting we started at Kaiser CDRP in Walnut Creek [California] celebrated its first anniversary today.
The meeting is every Wednesday from 12:15 to 1:15 pm in Room 3D at 710 Broadway 3rd floor. It's still going strong and we had a nice large group of regulars and newcomers today.
I had made a commitment to convene this meeting for a year, and I am especially happy to be able to announce that I handed it over today to two very capable members of that meeting as the new convenors.
Way to go, Carola! Starting a new meeting and then passing on the convenor role to other members of the meeting is a shining model of how LifeRing takes root and expands.
Carola makes it sound so simple, as if there were nothing to it. But there's a lot to it. First, you have to get the room -- sometimes a battle of years with an entrenched and obscure administrative bureaucracy. Then, you have to create the positive LifeRing atmosphere in the room: safety, openness, honesty, freedom, humor, caring ... the environment that empowers the sober self, and keeps people coming back. It's only then that you get regulars who build up sober time and learn the ropes of the LifeRing process. And it's only when you begin to have such a core group that you have your pool of future convenors to whom you can hand the clipboard and the basket, give a friendly hug, and move on to start another meeting somewhere else.
The core message of the LifeRing convenor handbook (How Was Your Week) is "Pass it on!" The "it" here is the convenor role. When convenors remember that message and put it into practice, as Carola has done, then LifeRing thrives and grows. There are, unfortunately, also some negative examples. Last week at the monthly convenor workshop at the Service Center, I learned that a certain meeting that I had started fourteen years ago, and passed on long ago, was now without a convenor. People had gone to the room, sat and waited, and no convenor had showed up. So, I went and acted as pinch-hitter tonight. There were ten participants, and we had a great meeting. A member of the meeting told me that the regular convenor had convened this meeting for more than three years. No one knew what had happened to him, and we had only sketchy contact information for him in the database at the LifeRing Service Center. I enjoyed pinch hitting and I'll do it again next week; but I shouldn't have to. Convenors who fail to develop other convenors and pass the meeting on will eventually burn out, and risk taking the whole meeting down with them. That's not a recipe for a healthy, expanding organization.
So, congratulations and a shining gold star to Carola and the other convenors who "pass it on!"
I had the distinct pleasure this afternoon of speaking about LifeRing to a group of interns in San Francisco. These were all students at different colleges, ranging from trade schools and community colleges to UC Berkeley and even an Ivy League school or two. Some were undergraduates, some were working on a Psy.D. degree or M.F.T. certificate. They were all interning at New Leaf, the major center for counseling services to the LGBT community in San Francisco and the region, and they were a bright lot; you could feel the electricity from their brains crackling in the air.
Just one problem: almost none of them had heard of LifeRing before. You'd think, wouldn't you, that their teachers somewhere along the line would have mentioned to them that there are other approaches to substance abuse besides 12-step, and named some names?
In a recent New Yorker article, the writer tried to find out whether professors of economics in the universities had updated their theories in light of the recent economic crash. The answer was mostly negative. Most of them got their minds cast in cement a couple of decades ago. Could it be that something like that is going on with the professors of addiction studies?
I can think of some honorable exceptions: teachers who regularly send their students to check out support group meetings, including LifeRing. But clearly, judging by the experience of these interns, we have work to do. We need to educate some educators.
If you are a student in addiction studies and related fields and you have a teacher who has never heard of LifeRing, please forward their contact information to service@lifering.org, and we will undertake to send them some educational materials. Or, if you prefer, we'll send you the material and you can hand deliver it -- the best way.
And if your class would like to have a live LifeRing lecture, we can probably arrange that, too. Get in touch with the LifeRing Service Center, service@lifering.org or 1-800-811-4142.
P.S. Pietro Carnini, the New Leaf staff counselor who set up the gig, sent a very nice follow-up letter saying:
The interns found your presentation to be very informative, and they were pleased to hear about an alternative self-help program for those struggling with addiction. Their knowledge regarding this topic has been increased, and I believe that this is a result of your excellent presentation. I would welcome you to return next year to provide training on this topic.
And thank you, Pietro, for the invitation. I look forward to doing it again.
This message came to the Service Center this week from Brian P., convenor of the LifeRing in Vacaville CA. Vacaville is a town of about 100,000 located halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. The LifeRing meeting in Vacaville was started originally by one of LifeRing's founding members, Bill Somers, at the church to which he and his wife Anita B. belonged. After Bill's death, the meeting dwindled away. LifeRing convenors Ken K. and John D. restarted it at the Vacaville Kaiser facility (photo), but for many months it barely hung to life. So when an email arrived at the Service Center with the subject "LifeRing in Vacaville" I was prepared for the worst. What a sweet surprise:
I just wanted to check in regarding the Thursday Vacaville meeting which I have been convening for about 18 months or so. If you will recall, I picked up the meeting from the individual who had originally started it. I must confess, it was extremely slow to start. I originally worked with Ken and John D. Often, I would often be the only one in attendance. I am happy to report that we have finally have turned the corner and developed a core constituency of about seven people ranging in age from 71 to 24. While it still is a bit tenuous, having an established base is helping to enlarge that group.
Kaiser continues to be very good to work with and they have been good with program referrals. Kaiser, recently finished construction and opened their full care Vacaville hospital. Even through the construction chaos they always strived to insure that we had a meeting room. From time to time, I entertained the notion of trying a different night for our LifeRing meeting but Kaiser indicated they would be limited on meeting space until after the construction was finished. Now that construction is finished, Kaiser has offered us the opportunity for an additional meeting on Monday nights from 7-8PM. After polling the existing group as well as asking others, it would seem that there is a need for Monday meetings.
Accordingly, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity and add the second meeting to the schedule. Another individual, Robert M., has expressed in interest in convening the Monday meeting for at least six months. Rob has been attending my meeting as well as the LifeRing Monday meeting at Kasier Vallejo for the past nine months. I have also given him (and he has read) the LifeRing convenor handbook and related materials. He like myself, also participates in Kaiser's long term CDRP initiative, Phase III. I have offered to assist Rob with this program insuring that I can attend his meetings regularly for the first several months to try and insure a smooth start. [...]
Also, one area that I have been remiss in is in passing the proverbial green envelope. I have been reluctant to do so for fear of frightening someone away. I have made personal contributions through the Vallejo meeting in lieu of passing the envelope, but starting with the first January meeting I will start passing the envelope and remit the proceeds to the "home office" monthly. If you would kindly advise as to where I should send this it would be appreciated. I will see that Rob does so as well.
As a personal aside, I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your book, Empowering Your Sober Self. It is a great read and it offers some of the most refreshing perspectives on addiction that I have read to date. I can also tell you that you made John D's day by including his vignette. He has every reason to be proud of his recovery and as you know, he has given much of himself to help others in need. It is great to give credit where credit is due. [...]
Congratulations to Brian and Rob and the other regulars of the Vacaville LifeRing for this achievement. In a follow-up email, Brian comments on the fact that getting a new meeting started, especially in a new location, may take an extraordinary amount of tenacity. He writes:
I read a book sometime back about Fred Smith, who founded Fed Ex, entitled Overnight Success. The name of the book always stuck with me because it was deceptively accurate. While it is true that he became success in the overnight business his journey to achieve that success was anything but overnight. I think there was a lesson there for me.
Dr. B. J. Davis and I had a good day Saturday Nov. 21 in Sacramento CA, teaching a group of addiction counselors about LifeRing and Choice Theory. LifeRing convenor Robert O. in Sacramento deserves major kudos for getting the event on the calendar and getting every detail, including ample refreshments, in place on the day of the event. Two leading members of CAADAC (the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors), namely regional director Pete Nielsen and regional vice-president Karl Hexberg, arranged for Continuing Education Units, email-blasted the regional membership, and prepared the paperwork, and Karl sat through the entire session.
We started at 9 am, and I began my 200-slide PowerPoint about half an hour later. I covered basic facts about LifeRing, such as where the meetings were located and typical characteristics of our membership, and then outlined the 3-S philosophy. I got to the end of the second S by lunch time. It was a good interactive session with just about everyone in the room getting into the discussion and nobody falling asleep.
After lunch I finished the third S, and then Dr. Davis talked for about 45 minutes about Choice Theory and his research into Quality of Life in recovery. Then I picked it up again and covered the LifeRing meeting format and the Recovery by Choice workbook. I had to cut it short as we ran out of time but certainly the main points got across. The audience were attentive the whole time. There was lots of crosstalk, all of it positive. Even though a number of folks present identified themselves as 12-step, there was no tension or animosity on either side.
Both Dr. Davis and I got a lot of thanks at the end, and I got a couple of inquiries about giving the LifeRing talk in other towns. There were people from Vallejo, Petaluma, Yuba City, and other towns plus local Sacramento folks at the session. Our only regrets were that not more people from social services agencies in the city attended, because apparently they were not included on the email lists. We're talking about repeating this training in the spring, this time with broader advance publicity.
This message came in today from David F., LifeRing convenor in San Rafael CA:
I got an e-mail yesterday from a guy who wanted to know if he could "drop in" on tonight's LifeRing meeting. We exchanged e-mail a couple more times to be sure he got the directions, etc. Tonight, he showed up and, when it came time for him to talk, he said he'd gotten sober on his own for a while, then began drinking and it was affecting his marriage. He didn't now where to turn for help. One day, in the Self-Help section of a bookstore, he saw your book. It looked interesting so he bought it, read it, liked the way it was written and what it said very much, got on the web site and found our meeting and here he was tonight! I think he gelled very well with LifeRing and we'll see him again real soon and for a long time!
So, hey man.....Congratulations! -- David
Thank you David. This is the kind of thing that makes an author's long lonely hours of research and writing and rewriting worthwhile. The book was designed to bring people to LifeRing meetings and it looks like it's working.
Following up on the well-reviewed Sept. 19 LifeRing training in Oakland, I'll be co-presenting a new LifeRing training for treatment professionals in Sacramento on Saturday, Nov. 21. This'll be in part a replay of the Sept. 19 presentation in Oakland, and in part an entirely new and exciting event, with the addition of my co-presenter, Dr. B.J. Davis of Strategies for Change. Dr. Davis is, of course, the author of the new DVD, What is Recovery? A Quality of Life Analysis (available from LifeRing Press), and a frequent and dynamic presenter at professional conferences. Here's an online flyer with the information about the event. As in Oakland, there'll be 6 (six) CEUs available for treatment professionals. Even better than Oakland, which cost $10, this event is FREE. LifeRing convenors and other participants are, of course, invited to sit in.
Today is my seventeenth anniversary clean and sober. I woke up at 5 am and by a quarter to six was on the road from my home in Berkeley to Sacramento to staff the LifeRing table at the annual conference of CAADAC, the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors. Here's a snapshot of the Sacramento skyline from my car window at dawn.
Shortly after 7 am I landed in the LifeRing meeting in the Rose Room of the Marriott. This was the first LifeRing meeting ever at the annual CAADAC event. When I arrived, the CAADAC organizers were still setting up and there was no lobby sign directing people to the meeting, but the nice person unpacking at the registration desk immediately answered my request for directions to the LifeRing meeting. And lo! There were familiar LifeRing signs in the hallway and outside the door, and inside, Sacramento convenor Bob O. had assembled a pioneer bunch of LifeRing participants to make the meeting real. We didn't have all that many CAADAC people in the room at that hour, but the fact that the meeting was on the schedule helped a great deal with name recognition as I sat at the LifeRing exhibit table this morning.
We had a good table just inside the entry door of the exhibit room -- a considerable improvement over last year when we were packed like sardines -- and CAADAC CEO Rhonda Messamore came over and delivered a friendly welcome early in the morning. Later in the day I had a few minutes of chat with CAADAC President Joe Aragon, and gave him the sixty-second version of how LifeRing works. I also had a chance to pick up copies of the new October issue of Counselor, the magazine for addiction professionals, containing on p. 40 my article, "Choice of Support Groups-- It's the Law!" This mag goes to all CAADAC members as part of their membership, and a stack of copies was on the next table over.
Of the dozens who stopped at the table to look and chat, just one person walked away in a pout when told this was a way to get clean and sober other than via the 12 steps. Everyone else perked up in interest. Every counselor I talked to knew that client resistance to 12-step is a reality, and most understood that professionalism means offering the client options. It was particularly rewarding to talk with the many chemical dependency students who were attending the conference. Almost without exception, they were being taught that there are multiple roads to recovery and that they need to understand and provide options to their clients.
The future is bright.
But there's a way to go. The theme of this year's CAADAC event was "Moving Beyond Tolerance: Creating a Multiculturally competent workforce." You would think then that the keynote plenary address would take off on this theme and feature -- dare we hope -- a speaker from some culture other than Wonder Bread? Wrong. There was no greater cultural diversity among the plenary speakers this year than in past years. One of the few speakers on the program who has genuine credentials of birth, scientific competence and clinical experience in this subject -- Dr. B.J. Davis of Strategies for Change -- was marginalized to an afternoon breakout in competition with four other speakers. Davis would have been the logical plenary keynoter for a conference with this theme, if the Association meant "development of a multiculturally competent workforce" as more than window dressing.
Things were slower in the exhibit hall on the second day and I had a chance to chat at some length with Bob O., the LifeRing convenor in Sacramento whose quiet energy has a lot to do with the fact that we now have seven -- count them -- seven LifeRing meetings in the Sacramento area. The work that Bob has been doing exemplifies in my mind the role of area convenor (or "regional coordinator") that we are developing as part of the LifeRing expansion project. Sitting with me at the table all day Saturday, Bob had a chance to meet some of the CAADAC bigwigs and, perhaps more importantly, local area treatment providers and students.
It was also a pleasure to get a message from Jo Marie G., the pioneer convenor who started the first LifeRing meeting in Sacramento not so very long ago. Her job kept her away but she is doing fine and keeps in touch.
I also had the chance to meet the newest LifeRing convenor in Sacramento, Dan F. Dan is a counseling student and started the new Friday afternoon meeting in south City.
During dull moments in the exhibit hall Bob and I chatted with several people who took turns staffing the NA table. One of them told us that some judges in Marin County discriminated against NA and would only refer people to AA. That surprised me, but then it's not news that some judges need educating.
Speaking of educating, one of the people who stopped by the LifeRing table was a Washington lobbyist who represents counseling professionals. He said that his biggest headache is persuading legislators that addiction is a disease on a par with other mental health illnesses. They think it's a spiritual maladjustment or a character defect. But once he has them convinced it's a disease, he has to do a 180 degree turn and convince them that you don't need medical qualifications to treat it.
Just a few days before the conference, CAADAC sent out an emergency appeal to call the governor and tell him to veto a bill on his desk that would require addiction professionals to have the same educational background as other mental health treatment providers, namely a Master's degree at a minimum. This would throw the huge majority of California treatment professionals out of work. In this state you can provide front line treatment for the disease of addiction without having a high school diploma. Disaster was averted by amendment at the last minute.
My lobbyist friend was fully aware of the irony. Addiction professionals demand parity in funding but reject parity in qualifications. It's an Alice-in-Wonderland world.
In this regard, Bob O. asked why LifeRing spends the money (around $700) to put an exhibit table in this conference. Shouldn't the conference be paying us to be here? Certainly we don't make the money back in book sales. This is not, on the whole, a book buying crowd; counselors are notoriously underpaid. The answer, if there is a good one, is name recognition. We are still widely unknown in the profession, and it costs money to fix that. We're buying space in the "aha" region of the addiction professional's brain. If our name comes up, it sounds familiar to them, instead of strange. And that translates, over time, into referrals to LifeRing meetings. That's what we're paying for. It is, in my opinion, money well spent. Although really, for the price, the conference should throw in lunch.
The turnout of treatment professionals for my full day LifeRing training yesterday surpassed expectations. More than 25 people squeezed into the conference room next to the Service Center in Oakland. Some had come from as far as Sacramento for the six-hour session. All except three, who were LifeRing convenors, were working in the addiction treatment field.
Peg Miller, a Vice-President of CAADAC and responsible for organizing trainings in CAADAC Region 4, which includes the Bay Area, organized the event, handled logistics, and awarded people their certificates of completion at the end. LifeRing CFO Robert Stump organized coffee and pastries in the morning and helped set up the room. Service Center volunteer Lou A. assisted with room setup the previous day.
The program took six hours, not counting an hour for lunch. During five of those hours, I presented a slide show of exactly 200 slides. Here's my outline:
LifeRing
An Introduction for Addiction Professionals
By Martin Nicolaus MA JD
CAADAC Region 4 Training
Sept. 19, 2009
Objectives
• To understand basic facts about LifeRing
• To get how LifeRing works
• To pick up tools that can be used with clients
• To facilitate client involvement with LifeRing
Hour 1: Basic facts about LifeRing
• What is LifeRing?
• Where is LifeRing?
• Who goes to LifeRing?
• How is LifeRing organized?
Hour 2: The Three-S Philosophy
• Sobriety
• Secularity
• Self-Help
Hour 3: How LifeRing Works
• Empower Your Sober Self: A short overview
• In more depth:
o The Divided Self
o Horizontal Synergy
o Confrontation v. Support Strategies
Hour 4: The LifeRing Meeting Format
• Circle seating
• “How was your week?”
• Crosstalk
• Limits
• Aim: Living Room atmosphere
• Closing ritual: Round of applause
• Peer leadership
• Signup sheet -- basket
Hour 5: How people build Personal Recovery Programs (PRP)
Two Pathways to PRP
Through the “How Was Your Week” Meeting Format
“Random access”
Through the Recovery by Choice workbook
• Nine Domains (Work Areas)
• My Decision
o The A-S T-chart
• Domain 1: My Body
• Domain 4: My People
• Relapse Chapter
• Pulling the PRP Together
Result: Diversity of Programs
Pros and Cons of PRP
Closing Thoughts
• LifeRing is a Strength-Based Approach
• The Aim of LifeRing is Choice
o We need more pathways
o Choice should not be controversial
What can providers do?
Choice is good program policy
More choices = more recoveries
For more information:
www.lifering.org – LifeRing, the organization
www.lifering.com – LifeRing Press e-commerce store
LifeRing Service Center, 1440 Broadway, Ste. 312, Oakland 94612
service@lifering.org
1-800-811-4142
P.S. Today, Monday, Peg Miller kindly sent me the program evaluations (feedback sheets) filled out by participants at the end of the program. Namely:
WORKSHOP EVALUATION (scale is 0-below satisfactory to 5-above satisfactory)
Your overall rating of subject matter:
• 20 5's
• 2 4's Your overall rating of the trainer:
• 17 5's
• 5 4's Your overall rating of the materials'handouts:
• 15 5's
• 4 4's
• 1 2
• 1 0 with comment (needed handouts--powerpoint printouts)
• 1 not marked--"handouts" circled followed by comment: "sparse hard to follow" Your overall rating of the training/workshop:
• 16 5's
• 6 4's Your overall rating of the fees:
• 18 5's
• 3 4's
• 1 not marked and with comment: "two days I went to training in NAPA... cost $75...$10 is nice"
Comments on this page:
Very good TR...affordable in very hard times
Educational, motivational in terms of realizing the need for choice.
Helped solidify what I had gleaned from the web site and publications
It was great!!!
Uncomfortable room
Enjoyed this training...learned a lot
Very interesting!
Excellent presentation Very worthwhile
I am glad that I had a chance to learn more about the organization.
Most important point missed...we refer less to LR with clients because there are few, and we teach clients to stay connected to others, to stay sober.
I was surprised by how much I learned today.
Difficult to sit in these chairs in small room
Lots of good info... Some areas/topics were too lengthy--redundant. Good program--Glad to see it growing in availability.
POST TEST INFO:
What did you learn today from Martin A. Nicolaus about LifeRing?
• Three-S Recovery Philosophy; Strength-Based Sober Self Empowerment engine is positive practice of reinforcement; abstinence only is foundational; Personal Recovery Plans are highly individualized through support mtgs plus workbook; able to combine with variety of the models
• Choise is best...many different paths
• LifeRing is truly secular; LifeRing offers a choice other than faith based or 12 step; LifeRing emphasizes empowerment and positive reinforcement of the individual
• A lot. Ways I can improve the program I work for by LifeRing tech and beliefs.
• Many interesting things, among others personal recovery plan, that I found very powerful tool in recovery.
• The S & A model for recovery and how it works through reinforcement. That all "personalities" are equally capable to become addicted.
• It is focused on building on strengths of the individual--provides a choice--Personal Recovery Plan.
• Lots--the choice factor; the love--feeding the S; forgive me--I'm way too tired and burnt to say more, but I got so much out of it.
• Philosophy and history of LifeRing. I am a convenor.
• How to get treatment programs to mention LifeRing as a group option.
• That it mirrors my thinking about Treatment Approaches.
• We have another option
• Focus on individual treatment.
• The client is instrumental in his own recovery if given the opportunity.
• Secular spirituality--support sober self.
• There is an alternative approach to group support other than NA/AA.
• Friend.
• Lots! I knew nothing of LifeRing.
• The PRP program.
• Philosophy...mtg structure.
• It gives clients more of a choice.
How will you incorporate this information into your practice as a drug and alcohol counselor personally and in the agency you work in?
• Philosophy and concepts (client choice, strength based, flexible treatment and support options); Skills--workbook exercises--alt. HWYW support mtg formats.
• Continue with MET, RET use LifeRing principles in class, educate staff, talk with LifeRing meetings as Option more.
• By A--facilitating myself with the visual and cognitive tools and use them in 1 on 1 sessions and groups; B--suggest to agency to use LifeRing possibily in continuing care program.
• Investigating L.R. for and in my own recovery. The applying LR to the program.
• I will use the point that the patient takes responsibility for his own recovery more than I did before. I would share todays experience with coworkers.
• The strengthening of each individual will be the focus. And shifting the focus from flaws to what they are capable of and what they find works for them.
• Help clients and staff understand the nature of building up the sober self through the interchange bewteen people--focusing on here and now
• I bought the work book--I'm sure I'll use it next week!
• My meetings will have an enriched meaning due to the workshop today.
• Refer
• I will introduce the information about LifeRing to my director.
• Gives me encouragement to do more research on the subject.
• Already do--offer as a choice of support group.
• I hope to start a group for teens.
• Present client with choices...give basic info about LifeRing.
• Working more with clients to focus on a personal service plan.
• Plan to discuss implementation of LifeRing on the approval by my Program Director.
• Consider choice.
• LifeRing used to do presentations at NCADA...can do again.
• Not in field.
• I am a convenor.
How can you contribute this material to your fellow counselors?
• Educate and consult re: LifeRing as resource; inputs to program policy and planning; follow ups to stay current on related research
• In community meeting; 1 on 1 discuss content
• Familiarizing myself with the materials and sharing them at staff mtgs.
• Word of mouth. Introducing things from work book into our program.
• Through LifeRing Website.
• Case conferencing, loaning my materials and discussing the information.
• Not sure yet.
• I will discuss the information with other convenors ASAP (any who were not present)
• Talk about it
• Sharing interaction. Communicating presentation ideas.
• Tell them to check it out.
• Already do.
• Do presentation.
• Share information, go to LifeRing meeting, go to web site; present it in Case Conference.
• Staff Meeting.
• Discuss this training with them.
• Shared information.
To your clients?
• Client info and materials re: LifeRing; use workbook exercises--ind, and group; Encourage ? families LifeRing
• Will use stuff from workbooks; agian, refer as much to LR as AA
• Sharing the ideas learned; by continually recognizing the sober person living inside my clients
• Introducing things from workbook into our program--word of mouth.
• Refer them to the closest meeting place and website.
• The strengthening of each individual will be the focus. And shifting the focus from flaws to what they are csapable of and what they find works for them.
• Plan to start a LifeRing group and turn it over to a group member eventually.
• Pamphlets of where meetings are and the workbook.
• NA
• None yet.
• Continue letting them know there is no one road or treatment towards recovery.
• Give them another option.
• Give them choice at intake.
• Do a presentation.
• Incorporate LifeRing materials to practice.
• One on one sessions.
• Paroles/State prison
• Consider choice.
• Shared info.
P.S. 9/28/09: I've posted the PowerPoint at http://www.unhooked.com/trxpro/CAADAC workshop.ppt -- just the slides, no sound track. When I get time I hope to create a sound track and make a Flash video (or a series of them) based on this presentation. -- MN
Merritt Peralta Institute is the oldest adult residential addiction treatment facility on the West Coast. If you had any doubts about its treatment philosophy, the wall-size framed poster of the 12 steps, with letters 3 inches high, opposite the reception desk, removed them. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 21st century, in March 2000, after three LifeRing presentations to staff and patients, and a prolonged soul-searching, the facility allowed the first LifeRing meeting onto its premises. I had the honor of being one of the founding convenors, and this was my regular Wednesday night meeting for about three years.
MPI was also the second treatment program where patients got a choice between the LifeRing meeting and a 12-step meeting on site in the same time slot (Kaiser Oakland was the first). At the appointed hour, a counselor takes to the PA system and advises clients that they have a choice of AA in Room x and LifeRing in Room y. The LifeRing meeting usually holds up very well in that setting. When I was the convenor, there were a couple of nights when no one came, but quite a few nights when everyone came, either because the AA speaker failed to show up or because the clients had quite enough of AA for the day, thank you. On the average, the LifeRing meeting drew about a third to a half of the program's census when I was present. I hear from John D., who has been convening this meeting for some time now, with help from Rick K., that the attendance has picked up from that ratio, and that the room is usually pretty full now. So I should not have been surprised to get a call from one of the staff counselors two weeks ago asking for a second LifeRing meeting to be established at MPI, please.
This is the new reality for LifeRing. Ten years ago we would knock and knock on the doors of treatment programs like MPI and the doors would get slammed in our faces. We had convenors ready to lead meetings, but no rooms or referral sources. Today, we get phone calls from treatment programs asking us to start a LifeRing meeting, or another LifeRing meeting, please.
Luckily, I quickly found not just one but two LifeRing regulars with the requisite six-months-or-more sober who are ready, willing and able to convene this new meeting. They are Rick B. and Jon M. We'll be launching the new Tuesday evening meeting at MPI this coming week, day after Labor Day, at 8:30 p.m.
Quite a few recovering people in various treatment programs have expressed the wish that LifeRing filled more than an hour in their week. The desire for "more LifeRing" is especially strongly felt in programs where the other hours consist of heavy-duty 12-step lectures and meetings.
Of course, there is no such thing as a LifeRing treatment program, and there probably oughtn't to be. We are a peer-to-peer support group, and should always remain that. So much of our fundamental approach is premised on horizontal support dynamics that the introduction of vertical relationships -- inevitable in today's insurance-dominated treatment settings -- would bring about wrenching distortions. Still, wouldn't it be liberating if today's treatment professionals saw their role as not only facilitating 12-step involvement but also facilitating LifeRing involvement? Whatever works best for the client?
For treatment professionals in Northern California, an opportunity to learn the basics of LifeRing is coming on Saturday, Sept. 19. Thanks to sponsorship by CAADAC, the California association of addiction professionals, I'll be presenting an all-day workshop at the LifeRing Service Center in downtown Oakland. I'll be selecting material from Empowering Your Sober Self (my new book), from the Recovery by Choice workbook, from How Was Your Week (our convenor handbook) and from other sources. This six-hour program is aimed at treatment professionals, and six hours of Continuing Education credit, plus an hour of Professional Development credit, are offered. However, space permitting, any interested person, including of course any LifeRing participant, is welcome to take part. It only costs $10.
Here's a page with details about the venue, parking, meals, etc. Hope to see you there!
For the first time ever, the annual conference of the California Association of Addiction Professionals (CAADAC) will include a LifeRing meeting. The group's annual conferences traditionally have featured 12-step meetings at the start or end of the day. This year a LifeRing meeting will also be offered, namely on Friday, October 2. The time: 7 a.m. The place: The Rancho Cordova Marriott in Rancho Cordova, suburb of Sacramento, California. You do not have to be registered for the conference to participate in this meeting.
A LifeRing exhibit table (paid for by supporters of LifeRing) will be at the conference also during meeting hours, 8:30 am to about 6 pm.
Convenor David F. in San Rafael California has been using Craigslist to get out the word about the LifeRing meetings in Marin County. Here is a PDF download of a recent item. Because Craigslist automatically deletes notices after seven days, you have to stay on top of it and repost the notice regularly.
Notice the introduction, describing what we do, what our basic philosophy is, key points of our meeting format, all in easy-to-understand language and in a few words. It concludes with links for the reader who wants to know more. Meeting locations are hyperlinked to maps for easy access.
This is a tool for helping meetings grow that can be used anywhere there's Craigslist. Does it work? Well, the meetings in Marin County have been growing. And it's free.
Kaye Rossi, PhD, was a psychologist and addiction counselor at the Center for Recovery at John Muir/Mt. Diablo Hospital in Concord. She passed away on June 16th. She was 52.
Kaye was pro-LifeRing and I actually first heard about Lifering through her. We once asked her to be on our Advisory Board. Some of you on this list may have known her, too.
I first met Kaye when I checked into the CFR alcohol recovery program 6 ½ years ago. She had a great impact on me and my recovery. I joined her after-care-group, however, I dropped out after a year since I thought I could recover on my own without any group support. I relapsed shortly after and called Kaye the very next day. “I’m glad you called…” she said and pointed me into the right direction – I rejoined her after-care-group and went to LifeRing meetings. Now, 5 ½ years later, I am a Board Member and lead weekly meetings where I often quote from Kaye’s insights. I would like to share this one:
In one of her group sessions, a young man who was going to go on a safari trip to Africa soon, expressed his concern about possibly being triggered to relapse when gathering around the campfire. “Use your cellphone and call somebody” was the advice he got from a group member and he replied: “At $3.00 per minute, that’s expensive!” Kaye simply asked him: “So, what’s it worth – your sobriety?” That stuck in my mind.
A couple of years later around dinner time, I got upset about my mother-in-law and while looking at our worn-out, hand-me-down rug under our dining room table that she had given us, I was seriously contemplating getting drunk. “What’s it worth – your sobriety?” I remembered and instead, I asked my daughter to come with me that evening to buy a new rug. We did.
I never buy on impulse, and this one cost me $450.00. Was it worth it? Absolutely, Kaye!
I will never forget her.
-Carola
Thank you, Carola. Outstanding treatment professionals like Kaye Rossi are priceless, and their loss is a blow to the whole community of recovering people. My sympathies to her family and to all her clients.
This email came to the Service Center last week. It reflects exactly the content of a long string of telephone calls we have received from other people in different parts of the country.
Hello
I live in the Livermore area. I am a wife of an alcoholic who is currently in recovery with our Kaiser health plan. They do offer a family night once a week which I have attended, but after 12 weeks it starts over again. Do you have a support program for the spouses? I was not impressed with the Al-A-Non speaker we had at our group night, even the program directors apologized....it was just so far out there. I am looking for a support group without a religious factor, where I can go and discuss and learn from other folks in the same situation, how to live with a recovering alcoholic.
-- C.
We have numerous requests like this. We desperately need a convenor -- really, a lot of convenors -- to bring the LifeRing Partners concept down from the clouds and make it a reality on the ground. Where are you, you pioneering, enterprising, tenacious, creative people? Come forward!
Dave R., a convenor who has been working to set up a LifeRing meeting at a Veterans Administration facility in San Francisco writes:
Before last week's meeting, [convenor] T__ and I had a 20-minute Q & A session with [program director] J__, a few VA staff members from departments connected with J__'s substance abuse program, and 2 resident interns.
All of these folks seemed genuinely interested in learning about LifeRing. T__ and I fielded a lot of questions about LifeRing as a whole, our approach to recovery, our meeting formats, and the similarities and differences between LifeRing and 12-step programs. Everyone seemed very engaged by what T__ and I had to say, and there wasn't a hint of (as AA puts it) "contempt prior to investigation".
The meeting itself went very well. The vets who attended (about 15 or so) were very enthusiastic about what LifeRing has to offer, to the point that they've already expressed the desire for a second weekly on-site meeting (J__ is also strongly supportive of this, and has already told me that she has a time slot or two where we could make that happen).
When I talked with J__ yesterday, she also said that one of the vets who attended our [VA facility meeting] had even made a point of getting himself over to one of our regular open S.F. meetings, liked what he found, and plans to go more often... and this guy is apparently a big 12-step advocate. Others had a lot of interest in the "outside" meetings as well; T__ and I will make sure to connect them with those resources.
One thing that became evident from the vets' questions, though: recovery plan-wise, they're probably looking for a bit more structure and guidance than the normal "how was your week" meeting format provides. Many of them wanted to know if we had anything similar to AA's Steps (and sponsorship), and in line with that, they expressed a lot of interest in what the workbook had to offer.
This might be one place where it would be helpful (if financially possible) to follow AA's lead and donate workbooks to the meeting. For one thing, most of these vets are essentially homeless and jobless, but the second consideration is that J__ did tell me that selling our workbooks in the [VA] facility may actually run afoul of some VA rules regarding "outside vendors".
And one final note: J__ said that she's planning to give a presentation on recovery options to one or more of the associated VA departments from which she gets treatment referrals. Her idea is to invite representatives from LifeRing, SMART, and AA, not as a debate type of thing, but rather an equal-time presentation of what each organization has to offer. ... In any event- that's the news from the front! It's actually time for me to prepare for our second meeting this afternoon; I'll keep you posted!
It isn't surprising that LifeRing is getting a good reception from veterans. Several counselors from VA substance abuse programs in different parts of the country, whom I met at one or another professional conference in the past few years, have told me that combat experience drives people in different directions. Some become more religious and immerse themselves in religion like a hermetically sealed bubble. Others want nothing more to do with God stuff and look for realistic solutions that make sense.
When a government-run program like the VA pushes people into God-based treatment programs, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Federal courts have ruled repeately that the 12-step approaches are religious, for purposes of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and that government agencies have to give clients a choice between religious and secular programs. More info.
Notwithstanding the constitutional prohibition, government agencies have purchased trainloads of 12-step books and given them out free to substance abuse treatment clients. To the clients, it may seem that AA is giving the books away, but it's really the taxpayer's dime. We aren't privileged to see the ledgers of the publishing arm of AA World Services, but it's a fair estimate that a very substantial proportion of its revenues are from government subsidies.
LifeRing Press is a shoestring operation by comparison. There's no way that we can afford to give away books in quantity; not only the Press but the LifeRing Service Center as a whole would soon be out of business.
The best we can do right now is to start a special fund, Books for Vets. If you go to JustGive.org and make a donation, earmark it "Books for Vets," we'll credit it to the Vets' Book Fund, and we'll give free LifeRing books to vets that want it. Deal?
The San Francisco facility isn't the only place where LifeRing is connecting with veterans. Convenor Kevin B. writes:
Our Thursday afternoon meeting at the VA in San Bruno has been going well. It's not a huge facility and our most highly attended meeting had 10 people - we barely fit in the room. On the other hand we've had some great meetings with just 4 or 5 people. Instead of how was your week, we talked more about the deeper reasons why we drank or used or gambled. Dave, I know what you mean about the Vets being homeless and jobless. Coming to a meeting requires them to take a long bus ride, and they can barely scrape together the money for the fare. I've been trying to bring in the current military. They're a bit hesitant. They're young, they don't see angry drunken shenanigans as a problem and they're wary of the stigma of going to a meeting. Usually they'll only attend if they have to. Anyway, I'm continuing to put the word out and we're happy to have a slot at the VA.
This is all very good news. A few years ago, at the request of some veterans down on the Peninsula, we applied to the powers that be to start a LifeRing meeting at the VA facility in Palo Alto. They stonewalled us. Wouldn't answer letters or phone calls. Now the doors have opened a crack.
Marin County, the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, has the highest per-capita income in California. Getting LifeRing started here has been a long, slow, pull. For years, we struggled to get and keep a foothold here.
Recently, something changed. Nobody really knows what. Maybe it's sunspots. In any event, this email came in from LifeRing convenor David F. last week:
Our three meetings have been getting larger and larger, so:
I have gotten another new meeting ready to start tomorrow and run on Tuesdays at the same location and time as our Wednesday meeting:
Kaiser Trailer 4 99 Montecillo Dr. San Rafael, CA Tuesdays 6:30 pm David Frey, convenor 415.457-6585 wheelchair accessible "How Was Your Week"
It's great news. Congratulations to the LifeRing convenors who have been facilitating the existing meetings. They must be doing something right. The word is spreading. Keep up the good work, folks!
The convenor of a LifeRing meeting at a nearby hospital called in a voice filled with anxiety:
"The facilities coordinator has kicked us out of our meeting room because we haven't filed an application to renew our room permission. I didn't even know we had to do that! Now they want a bunch of documents about LifeRing -- a mission statement, and a 501-c-3. What are they? Do we have that?"
Yes, we have that.
We have our Mission Statement in two formats. One is the Meeting Charter (every meeting should have one) that you can download from the website here. That's a simple, one-page statement in a decorative format suitable for posting, should you wish to. If that doesn't impress the facilities czar sufficiently, you can hand them a copy of the LifeRing corporate charter, downloadable from here. That's an official State of California document with the state seal, showing that we're chartered as a nonprofit public benefit corporation.
The "501-c-3" is a document from the federal tax people, the IRS, certifying that LifeRing is a charitable entity, so that donors who make gifts to LifeRing are entitled to deduct the gifts from their income taxes as charitable contributions. The document comes in the form of two letters from the IRS. The first is our initial determination letter, saying that we're classified as a charity provisionally for four years. The second is the renewal letter, saying that our charity classification is now permanent. You can download the first letter here, the second letter here.
In case you lose this blog post with its links, you can find this set of papers again easily by going to the home page of the LifeRing website, and in the menu on the left, click "About LifeRing" (near the bottom). On the "About" page submenu, click on "LifeRing Documents." Bingo!
This past week I've given LifeRing presentations to two groups of lawyers, one in Hayward and another one here in Oakland, today. At the Oakland talk a number of social workers were also in the audience. There were expressions of surprise both from the lawyers and from the social workers when I mentioned the recent federal court case that said 12-step groups are religious and that a government official cannot refer a client exclusively to 12-step groups. I was surprised they were surprised -- I kind of thought that maybe lawyers would know this stuff and that social workers would have been told by their employers. Am I naive, or what! Sooo, right after the noontime talk today I drafted up a new LifeRing brochure, called "Choice of Support Groups: It's the Law," and I would appreciate it if those of you concerned with this issue would have a look at it and give me the benefit of your comments on the brochure. The draft is posted for your download here. Please post comments on the brochure here.
The text of the brochure is drawn largely from my earlier blog post about this court case, there. Please post comments about the court decision there. Thank you.
CAADAC, one of the California addiction professionals' organizations, has released a membership survey showing, among other things, the highest educational level reached by its membership. It shows that 29 per cent, the largest single category, do not have a junior college certificate or college degree; they have completed unspecified drug/alcohol studies only. Another 18 per cent have a junior college degree. Twenty-eight per cent have a B.A. as their highest degree; 20 per cent have an M.A., and 5 per cent have a Ph.D. Altogether, 47 per cent don't have a college degree; 53 per cent do. The association's membership includes counselors and program administrators. Source.
