Adolescents of All Ages

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.  

LifeRing at the National Association of Addiction Professionals' Conference

From Andy Ross, who represented LifeRing at the annual meeting of the National Addiction Professionals' Association (NAADAC) in Kansas City:

I'm back in Wichita from the National Conference of NAADAC, the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors; combined with the annual conference of KAAP, the Kansas Association of Addiction Counselors; and NALGAP, the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Addiction Professional, which was held last weekend in Overland Park, Kansas. I do not have a count of how many attended though it seemed to me to be not a great many more than attended the last KAAP conference I went to a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the increased cost of travel, the date being the Labor Day holiday weekend or the fact that somehow Overland Park has escaped the world's notice as a premier "destination" city contributed to a turnout that was a bit lower than I expected. Nonetheless, there were several hundred attendees, many from Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and nearby states but also representatives from all of the regional centers in the nation and a few international members.

I arrived at the Overland Sheraton Wednesday, August 27th, around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. and found the exhibit hall about half full of exhibitors booths already set up or being set up and, with a little fumbling on my part, was able to get the LifeRing booth set up properly.  There were perhaps 40 - 45 other exhibitors, ranging from SAMHSA, NIDA and a few other government agency reps; to a Narcotics Anonymous booth, Hazelden (the Minnesota based treatment program and publishing house), providers of urinalysis and drug testing kits, nutritionists, meditation music and literature providers; really, a whole gamut of services.  The government booths, especially,  provided a plethora of free literature and information. 

The exhibitor's hall was open Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and just about everyone attending hit the hall each morning bright and early as that was also where the free continental breakfast, juice and coffee were served each day prior to the beginning of workshops and plenary sessions.  Again, as to the total number of attendees, I can only make a guess but the most I saw, based on a quick guesstimate-headcount at a plenary session, was about 175.  I believe quite a few attendees, especially from Kansas and Missouri, came for only a part of the conference and returned home and they were coming and going throughout the weekend.

Our booth was at a junction of two aisles of exhibitors and directly across from the coffee tables so we had excellent traffic flow past the booth and many people stopped and chatted with me about LifeRing's philosophy and about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of how we operate.  The one pamphlet I wish now I had thought to request more of, specifically, was the LSR Online booklet.  Because the majority of attendees were from the middle of the country, where LifeRing has few face-to-face meetings, our online presence particularly interested many. 

Attendance in the exhibitors' hall was pretty spotty and sparse whenever workshops and meetings were in session which gave me time to browse the other booths and to attend some workshops myself.  LifeRing got an unexpected and unsolicited plug at the workshop of Gary Blanchard, MA, LADC1, whose presentation focused on his book, Success Centered Addiction Recovery Facilitation.  Mr. Blanchard had been by the booth and picked up pamphlets and spoken to me and he was very impressed with LifeRing's approach, which neatly dovetailed with his own "non-traditional" philosophy of addiction treatment. He urged everyone at the workshop to check out our booth and I spoke with most of those in his workshop later in the day as they came by to see what we were about.

Thursday was the busiest day at the booth and Friday morning was a continuation of that but the traffic tapered off by late afternoon.  Saturday, by contrast, was quite light and by early afternoon a number of the other exhibitors were already breaking down their booths or leaving them largely unattended.  In retrospect I wish I had kept a log of how many came by and perhaps taken notes as Marty did in Nashville.  I'll know to do so in the future!  Trusting to memory proved to be a less than adequate method of tracking contacts.   Everyone I met expressed  interest in alternatives to traditional recovery support and also acknowledged the very great desirability of such alternatives. 

Just from memory I did meet with counselors from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, W. Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Vermont, New Hampshire and Minnesota as well as a man from Kenya and three counselors from Reykjavic, Iceland.  It was an exhausting weekend from which I am still not quite feeling fully recovered; but tremendously rewarding and well worth the time and effort.  I encourage anyone who has the chance to attend similar events to do so and represent LifeRing to the people best placed to refer newcomers to recovery to our philosophy and support!

LifeRing at the APA in Boston

From Kathleen Gargan, who represented LifeRing at the American Psychological Association Conference in Boston:

I'm back from the 2008 American Psychological Association Conference in Boston. This was a fascinating, if exhausting, experience. The exhibition Hall was open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and from 9;00 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

On Thursday and Friday, I handed out 317 "Welcome to LifeRing" pamphlets, and repeated my "In a Nutshell" description of LifeRing: "Can I tell you about LifeRing? LifeRing is a non-profit, secular alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous for people who don't relate to the spiritual or religious focus of the 12 step approach."

I learned quickly how important it was to get the word "nonprofit" out of my mouth as soon as possible, since most of the other booths were there to sell something. On Saturday and Sunday, traffic was much lighter and I gave out 75 pamphlets and visited exhibit booths of treatment centers, as well as academics who were giving papers on addiction related topics.

I also visited the AA and NA booths and was received cordially in each case. By far, most of the people I talked to were very positive about LifeRing. No one wanted to argue about The One True Way to get clean and sober.

One man asked if AA was "threatened" by our group. I told him that it certainly doesn't need to be, and asked him what made him ask such an interesting question. He laughed and said something about territoriality.

Even people I interrupted as they walked by very quickly with the "my destination is more important than anything you could possibly tell me" vibe thanked me for stopping them when they heard about LifeRing.

Several people wanted to know if we had studies to show the effectiveness of LifeRing; some asked if we were related to Rational Recovery, and many people expressed surprise to hear that such a thing as a secular recovery program could exist!

Therapists from Oregon, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Massachusetts and Utah wanted to know if there were face-to-face meetings in their area. Psychologists and students from Kuwait, Egypt, Spain, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico now know about LifeRing.

I collected cards from several people who want more info One author from Pennsylvania expressed interest in doing an article about non 12 step recovery programs for the state Psychologists' journal. I plan to follow up with an email to each one. It was wonderful to hear so many people say that there is a great need for a secular alternative to 12 step programs.

It seems to me that having a presence at this event automatically gave LifeRing a certain gravity; as if we should be taken seriously as a resource for recovery. There were no representatives from Women for Sobriety, Smart Recovery or S.O.S. Likely this is because it is expensive to participate. (I learned when I arrived that we were

required to rent 10 square ft of carpet, $218.00 for 3 & 1/2 days,

and if we wanted a table and chair, we would need to rent them as well, and for equally appalling amounts)

I also feel that it would be helpful to have more than one person "personning" the booth. Sometimes as I was talking to someone, I noticed 4 more people walking by. Also, as time went on, I found I had less energy to approach people. I would have helped to have had at least one other person there to reach more people and to trade off with. Of course this will not always be possible, but it's something to think about for future conferences.

All in all, I'm very glad I got to do this gig, and I recommend to all!

I'm sure there is pertinent information I am leaving out. Please ask me questions if you want to know more!

-- Kathleen

The Recovery Skills Format

As noted on the bulletin board, the Ontario (Canada) based group Addictions are Us recently affiliated with LifeRing. Addictions are Us brings their own "Recovery Stills" format where meetings consist of three parts, an open discussion (much like How Was Your Week), a directed topical discussion (like one section of a Recovery By Choice Workbook group), and a carry-over of a past discussion. The group's new brochure describes the format in more detail. Take a look at it here.

What may be of most interest to LifeRing convenors is the rotating topics list for the second section. Most are topics that appear in Recovery by Choice. Some are not. Some convenors may have a list like this – plus topics of local interest – handy for times when their group wants to do something a little different.

Cravings & Triggers
Daily Program
Trust – Using it and re-building it.
Dreams About Using
Setting Goals
How to Handle New Free Time
Expectations
Communication
Importance of Diet
Importance of Exercise
Problem Solving
Small Steps – Large Changes
Journalizing
Anger Management
Identifying Feelings
Allowing for Change in Yourself
Alternative Sources of Support
Cycles in Mood
Stress Management
Helpful Criticism – How to deal with it.
Substitute compulsions / addictions
Dealing with loss
Holidays – Extra plan for handling those special functions
Post Acute Withdrawal symptoms

Convenors seeking to make their own brochures may also find Southern Ontario example illustrative.

Draft of new brochure, for comment

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.

Literature Racks Can Offer the Person in Treatment a Choice of Support Groups

On any given day an estimated 900,000 people in the U.S. are in treatment programs for substance abuse. Most of those treatment facilities have literature racks for their patients/clients. Most of those literature racks carry only one kind of literature -- the 12-Step kind. It doesn't have to be so. Literature racks in treatment programs can offer the person in recovery a choice, and can bring people to our LifeRing meetings who would otherwise never have known about us.

Here are some photographs of literature racks in treatment facilities where LifeRing brochures are available. The rack at the right is a standard commercial 12-pocket plastic wall display, mounted in the dual diagnosis ward at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley CA. A small selection of the omnipresent AA literature is in the top row. The five main LifeRing handouts are in the bottom row. Do you recognize them by sight? They are from the left, the San Francisco Bay Area meeting schedule (ivory), the unhooked.com brochure (blue), and then the "3S" trilogy: Sobriety Is Our Priority (green), Secular Is Our Middle Name (gray), and Self-Help Is What We Do (pink). This rack has an empty pocket just waiting for our next brochure.

The next picture shows a custom-made wooden wall rack mounted in the Merritt-Peralta Institute, a 28-day inpatient program, on the 5th floor of Summit Hospital in Oakland, CA This rack was built for full-sheet (8 1/2 x 11) handouts, and standard trifold brochures like ours pretty much sink out of sight into its pockets. Staff assigned us the top rack, and our handouts were all but invisible until a clever friendly patient stuffed a towel into the bottom of the bin so that our pieces would be seen. There isn't enough room to display all the brochures, but it's better than nothing. As in most treatment facilities, the meeting schedules are the fastest-moving items. This rack generally presents a somewhat messy appearance, and I can proudly say that our own shelf usually gets tended to more often, and is more up to date, than that of many of the other organizations with whom we share the rack. Some of the other bins have literature three years out of date, and some have stood empty for months. When we run out of LifeRing meeting schedules in this rack, I usually hear about it immediately, and if I forget to bring a resupply some week, I get raised eyebrows.

The next rack is at the Chemical Dependency Recovery Program of the Kaiser Permanente HMO in Oakland. It's a clear plastic six-pocket commercial rack, available at office stores, that is designed to stand freely on a table. In this treatment facility, AA has a large wire literature rack with space for about 24 different brochures, but there is no place for that rack other than down on the floor, where it's hard to see and presents a trip hazard. For a while we stuffed our brochures into some of the empty pockets in that rack but this didn't seem right. Finally LifeRing member Syl S. hit on the solution of buying our own rack, the cost of which she generously donated. Syl originally obtained a wall rack similar to the first one shown above, but staff denied permission to mount anything on the walls, citing fire regulations. But staff had no problem with a table rack. The display is positioned on a side table within easy view and reach of patients seated in the waiting area near the reception booth of this outpatient facility. Syl made a bright neon label for the front. We use two pockets for meeting schedules here because of the heavy demand for that item. Having our own rack, and such a nice looking one in such a favorable position, is a very pleasing thing, and the literature in it moves at a steady clip into patients' hands.

Last is a single-pocket standup rack -- also a standard office supply store item -- that holds meeting schedules. A label on the rack tells what is in it and gives the Service Center phone number to call for refills and information. We are experimenting with placing these racks in churches, coffee houses, grocery stores and other appropriate sites, wherever someone volunteers to keep them refilled. If you want one of these racks and are willing to keep it supplied, call the Service Center at 510-763-0779.

Literature racks can reach people when you're not present. They never sleep and never go on holiday. They offer their freight of wisdom and support without commentary or attitude. But they are only as good as the hand that fills them and tends them. A literature rack reflects on the organization. A rack that long stands messy or empty bespeaks an organization that has stopped caring or has sunk into chaos. A rack that regularly gets tended and refilled testifies to an organization that has its act together and that cares about people and wants to be approached. Getting our literature into literature racks in treatment facilities is not always easy. In many cases, permission to stock literature comes along with permission to hold a meeting on the facility, and not before. Thus the literature in the rack helps bring people to the meeting, and the people in the meeting help resupply the rack. But in other cases, we can get literature into a facility before we have a meeting there, on the ground that the patients are looking for meetings anywhere in the community and have an interest in our area-wide meeting schedule. A number of patients in treatment facilities do not obtain any benefit from the traditional 12-Step approaches, and live in a state of frustration or despair because they are unaware that there are other roads to sobriety. A well-stocked literature rack with LifeRing handouts in it can be their first news that other choices exist. I know people who say that they are still clean and sober today because they found LifeRing from a handout in a literature rack. Getting LifeRing literature into treatment center literature racks presents many patients for the first time with a choice of recovery paths, and saves lives that might otherwise be lost.