The Albuquerque Model

Cell division is a basic growth process in biology, and we're seeing a great example of it in Albuquerque.  Justin S writes:

I have been attending the Albuquerque, NM LifeRing Wednesday evening meetings for about a year.  This chapter/meeting was  originally founded by Mary S., who is still the primary convenor.  I have been co-convening and benefitting from Mary's counsel since last June.  Since our attendance has been good (and sometimes too large), we've decided to start a new meeting on Monday nights in the same location. 

Here are the details:

• Time:          Monday 6:00 PM
• Location:     Albuquerque, Anna Kaseman (Presbyterian) Hospital
• Address:      8300 Constitution Ave NE        Main Entrance to Conf Rm B
• Focus:        How was your week?
• Map:          Map Link
• Wheelchair Accessible:  Yes
• Contact:      Justin S.
• Phone:        505-249-6366
• Email:        justin320@flash.net

Justin concludes by asking that the info be posted on the lifering.org meetings page. Done!  Congratulations Albuquerque LifeRing, congratulations Mary and Justin for a job well done.  This is a model to emulate.

At the risk of over-analyzing, let's take a look.  Mary, who started the meeting, has been doing two things right.  One, she has created a safe, supportive atmosphere that makes people want to come back, and that generates good word-of-mouth to attract new people.  Two, she has encouraged regular participants, such as Justin, to step into the convenor role.  She's done it in part by creating opportunities for Justin to be the backup convenor and co-convenor in the existing meeting.  This has given Justin the confidence and the skills to go out "on his own," as it were, and start a new meeting.

As a result, newly recovering people in Albuquerque who are considering their support group options now have twice as many reasons to select LifeRing as they had before.  And treatment professionals considering their referral options have twice as many reasons to refer clients to LifeRing.

Just imagine if every LifeRing meeting in the world followed the Albuquerque model.  After about a year or so, the number of LifeRing meetings would double.  And in another year, double again ... The mind boggles.  Of course, circumstances vary, and nothing is ever so simple.  Still, there are important lessons here.  The convenor's goal is two-fold.  One: create a safe and supportive environment where people can empower their sober selves.  Two: help and encourage regular participants to become convenors, so that the LifeRing network can "live long and prosper."  If you're a convenor, do you have both of these goals firmly in your view?

Wants Meeting in Bend OR

This message from Chuck H. in Bend, OR arrived at the Service Center yesterday:

There are only 12-step meetings in Central Oregon - no secular approaches.  We are interested in starting a secularly-oriented group and would appreciate any assistance that can be offered. The treatment centers here are all 12-step focused.  -- Thanks!

Chuck:
Thanks for your message.  As with similar requests that come in to the LifeRing Service Center, we will be happy to help you with an initial supply of brochures and some other materials that you can use to spread the word about your planned new meeting.  And when you have a room and a date and time that can be posted on the online meeting list, we will send you display copies of each LifeRing Press publication on invoice. 

Do not hesitate to approach the 12-step treatment centers about your project and to ask their assistance.  The 12-step world is not a monolith.  There are "my-way-or-the-highway" types, to be sure, but there's also the "whatever-works" types.  In every treatment center there are clients who are willing to do recovery but don't find the 12-step approach a good fit for them.  In many treatment centers there are professionals who see it as part of their ethical responsibility to offer the client choices and to help the client find an approach that works for them, whatever it may be.  Like any new approach, you will probably find doors slammed in your face at first, and you will need persistence and tenacity to prevail. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

Note also that there are now others in Oregon working on starting LifeRing meetings.  Please get in touch with the persons starting LifeRing in Eugene and in Portland, and share your experiences and resources.

Letter from Tampa

From Tampa, Florida, reader D.L. writes today:

I would like to start a meeting in the Tampa area.  I have been to meetings in Pinellas Park on Friday evenings and enjoyed them.  I also have read the book by Nicolaus and as a physician I agree with many things he has said.  It was also nice to read about the work of one of my psychiatry professors at UCSD School of Medicine, Dr. Mark Schuckit.

Howver, driving to Pinellas is not an option for me any more.  I started working Friday evenings.  I would be willing to search for a meeting place for starting a meeting here in Tampa.  There are at least five people who would like to come to the meetings initially.  Also, I want to go to the treatment centers (12-step based) to ask them if they would be willing to pass information to the people about LifeRing.  I would need information about how to start a meeting and also any supplies that you find necessary for the start.  If I find a place for rent, could I count on you to help me out at least initially with it?

Dear D.L.:  I salute you on your initiative to start another LifeRing meeting in the Tampa Bay area.  The area is certainly large enough to support more than the single meeting that now exists there, the Friday night group at Pinellas Park.  To put it more strongly, a city of that size needs to have a multiplicity of LifeRing meetings in order for the LifeRing concept to become established and to replicate.  Many people in recovery, particularly in early days, want and need more support than one meeting a week.  LifeRing may not appear like a viable support option to them until they have three or more LifeRing meetings per week within driving range.  Treatment professionals who do referrals see it the same way.  We've heard it time after time: I can't be referring clients to a group that has only one meeting.  (Of course, there would be more meetings if they made more referrals; but that's another topic.)  And so, a LifeRing meeting that's the only one of its kind in an area leads a difficult existence, and it takes extraordinary dedication, tenacity and hard work on the part of its core group regulars to keep it alive in the long haul.  When there are more meetings, all of them benefit and all of them can prosper.

That being said, the topic is how to proceed.  Your best guide is to read the book, "How Was Your Week," available from LifeRing Press.  A key chapter is available free online here.  You should definitely approach the treatment centers, no matter how 12-step they are, and ask for meeting space, bulletin board space, and referrals.  Some of our oldest and best meetings are at 12-step treatment centers; they need us there.  If you are able to get meeting space at a treatment center, there is rarely any rent to pay, as you are providing a service to the clients.  The LifeRing Service Center does not have the resources to subsidize room rentals for meetings, even at the beginning.  What the Service Center can and will do is to send you brochures and other literature to help you get started; and as soon as you have a meeting room and a time that can be posted on the online meeting list, then we can send you display copies of LifeRing Press books on invoice.

It is excellent that you know of a group of five or six people who are ready to attend the new meeting once it finds a home.  It would be good if you could enroll all of them as a search committee to speed the process.  Please also enroll yourself in the LifeRing convenor email list, and read and comment on this convenor blog.  Break a leg!

Wants LifeRing Inside

Arden M. wrote the LifeRing Service Center, in a letter received today:

I am currently incarcerated on a non-violent drug offense at the _________ in _______, New York.  I am the inmate coordinator of the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Treatment (DART) program, where I help to provide drug and alcohol counseling to inmates who request placement in the program or are mandated by the Court.

I have a copy of the book Empowering Your Sober Self, that talks about the LifeRing approach to recovery, and am interested in knowing if you could send me some of your resources.  I am seeking donations of books and other material that I can use in the program.  Although the program is administered by social workers and counselors, it is mostly facilitated by inmate facilitators.  We are in need of any resources that could help us in presenting a better program.  I hope you can help in our endeavor.  I would like to set up a LifeRing group in this facility. [...] Sincerely, Arden M.

As with other similar requests, the Service Center can and will send a sampler of our brochures and a copy of the Presenting LifeRing magazine.  In some cases we send a copy of the How Was Your Week handbook.  Our church mouse budget (the only way in which we are 'religious') doesn't allow us to send more, particularly to a prison setting where the meeting can't pass the basket.

If any of the readers of this blog would like to contribute to a Prisoner Literature Fund, we will dedicate your donation to sending LifeRing literature to convenors like Arden for use of LifeRing participants on the inside.

You can make a donation by clicking the yellow "Donate Now" button on this page, which will take you to a charitable donation site (Just Give) which will send you an official acknowledgement for tax purposes.  There you can dedicate your gift to the Prisoner Literature Fund.  Thank you in advance.

We Need to Teach the Teachers

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.