An Outline for Workbook Study

Lloyd E., who just began a Tuesday night workbook study group at the Kaiser CDRP (Chemical Dependency Recovery Program) in Oakland, has drafted a short study outline that I want to pass along, below.  The Recovery by Choice workbook was written mainly for individual study, and the convenor who leads a group through the text needs to select a few issues out of the many that the book contains, or -- experience shows -- it may take a group several years to complete the book.  There are several outlines in existence, and more will probably be created.  Lloyd's outline is short, but it touches on every chapter in the book.  He's based it on a review exercise in the Relapse chapter.  Here it is:

Recovery by Choice

Weekly Topics of Conversation

1.  Decision:          Do we remember why we originally wanted to get clean and sober?  Have we found additional reasons?  How do we make sobriety our priority?

2.  Body:                 Can we make progress in addressing concerns about our bodies and our mental health?

3.  Exposure:        Have we done the best we can to minimize our exposure?  Or are we being reckless about getting into trigger situations and neglecting our reminders?

4.  Activities:         Can we make progress in learning to do life’s activities clean and sober, and in starting up new activities that interest us?  Or are we barely functional or doing very little different from when we were drinking/using?

5.  People:             Have we worked out who are the friends and who are the opponents of our recovery, and can we make progress in improving our relationships?  Or are we spending too much time with people who are a drag on our recovery, and not enough with people who care for us as sober persons?

6.  Feelings:          Can we succeed in building more clean and sober pleasure into our lives.  Can we identify and deal with our trigger feelings, and do we feel better about our emotional lives?  Or are we treating recovery as a punishment or retreating into numbness?

7.  Lifestyle:          Can we pinpoint our major lifestyle issues and can we make progress in repairing damage that addiction did to our lifestyle?  Or have we resigned ourselves to the way things were and given up trying to solve real-life problems?

8:  History:             Have we reviewed our personal history and come to an understanding of what part of our life was us, and what part was our addiction?  Do we have a clearer sense of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

9.  Culture:            Can we recognize the sources of support and the problems areas for our recovery within our culture, and have we begun to figure out our roles in it?

10. Treatment:    Have we made the necessary decisions about treatment and support groups, and do we know how to get what we need from these resources.

11.  Relapse:         Do we understand the structures of relapse and do we recognize what might undermine our recovery?  Do we have a better sense of ourselves, .and do we monitor ourselves frequently for early warning signs.   Have we prepared ourselves to eject immediately in case of relapse?

12.  Plans:              How do we develop our Personal Recovery Plans for the short and long term?

My only quibble with this outline is that it has 12 -- count them -- 12 points.  Inevitably people will start to refer to this as the "12 Steps of LifeRing."  (Sigh and groan.)  Apart from that, I think it's a great starting point for a workbook study group.  Initial reviews of the opening session were raves.  It took more than five years of nudging and begging to get a room at this facility for a workbook study meeting, and this one looks like it's going to be a big success story.  Congratulations, Lloyd!

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

Intro to Workbook Study (Short Format)

The Recovery by Choice workbook is written mainly for individual home study (“bibliotherapy”). The new Short Format Study Outline is an effort to adapt the book for use in group study.

In theory, groups could work the book in the same way that an individual might: by considering each item, line by line, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, with group discussion of each point of interest. In practice, groups working the book in this fashion march so slowly – approximately a page or two per hour – that it might take three to five years to complete the volume.

The new Short-Format Study Outline provides a framework for completing the workbook in thirteen weekly sessions lasting one hour or less. The thirteen-week format allows four complete cycles of book study in a calendar year. It also approximately matches the fourteen chapters in the workbook.

As you will see as you track the outline through the book, a great deal of material had to be skipped or touched on lightly. One substantial chapter (Ch. 10) is omitted entirely. Study group members may want to work the omitted material on their own as “homework” between study meetings.

Each session in the Study Outline has a more or less set format.

• Opening Statement, setting out general purpose of the study
• A review question based on the material covered the previous week
• A short introductory statement for today’s topic
• References to worksheets or other exercises from the book, exploring the topic
• Reference to a closing exercise, usually for writing a plan that addresses the topic.
• A closing remark that points ahead to next week’s topic.

This format has been tested with an initial group of about 6 people, more or less, for one complete cycle of sessions each lasting 45 minutes. A 45-minute format respects the fact that most of the content is fairly intense and requires considerable concentration and effort. At this level of intensity, a full hour may be too long.

People who have done 12-step study groups may find the LifeRing study group format disconcerting at first. People tell me that the 12-step groups mainly do recitation (reading aloud) from the text, much like Bible study. The group leader may provide authoritative interpretation. The role of the average participant is to recite when called upon and otherwise be still and listen.

Here, the over-all purpose of the study is for each participant to build their Personal Recovery Program. Each person’s P.R.P. will be more or less unique, based on their personality and circumstances. Accordingly, it is important that each person participate actively in the group discussion, to get their issue out and get feedback. Although there is an occasional patch of recitation in the outline, and you may once or twice assert your superior factual knowledge, the main process is participatory and interactive. The nearest parallel is a graduate seminar in which each student is pursuing a personal research project.

Part of the convenor’s art in any meeting is keeping track of time. When convening a study group, you may find yourself constantly balancing between the imperative of group participation and the demands of the clock. It’s important to make time for the closing exercise, if the chapter has one, because the final (13th) session begins by pulling these closing exercises together, so as to make a master plan.

Working any workbook requires literacy. Many of the exercises in this outline call for writing. If some of your group members have difficulty in this area, one solution is to have them buddy up with people who are more fluent.

Access to a whiteboard or its equivalent can be useful in several sessions, particularly Ch. 1 (My Decision). You could write the session outline on the board before the start. You can jot key points of the discussion on the board to help the group focus and track the issues.

Nothing about this outline should be treated as if it were cast in stone. Some of the selections reflect nothing more than my hunch about what would work best with the particular group present. On the next go-round with a different group, I might [and did (Note added May 12)] select different material from the book. You should feel free to do the same.

The attached outline is a rough first draft. It reflects actual experience in a first study cycle, and is far from a polished final product. You may be confused at first which lines are meant as a suggested script for the convenor to present to the group, and which lines are editorial asides to the convenor. In future drafts the presentation should gradually rise to a clearer format and higher polish.

Your experiences in leading workbook study groups is valuable. This is a pioneer venture -- really an adventure -- in recovery self-education, and other people can benefit greatly from knowing about the trail you have blazed. Please post your experience in this blog and become a member of the LifeRing convenors’ email group (if you are not already) and post your experiences there, in as much detail as possible, for the benefit of others who will follow behind you.

View the Short Format Study Outline (PDF)