Helping addicts without AA/NA
November 12, 2009 1:20 AM   Subscribe

How can I help people struggling with addicition (in London) without having to deal with AA/NA?

Since I've stopped drinking ten years ago and have gotten my life back together more or less (it can take a while ...), I think I'm ready and want to help others experiencing similar trouble. My problem is that for various reasons I reject AA/NA and in fact find their approach to some extent counter-productive and harmful. Yet, I am aware that some institutional structure is needed to connect and help people with addiction problems, so my question is: are there groups in London one can join, that are not based on the ideological framework of NA/AA or similar, but effective in helping people?

I know that the first port of call for addicts seeking help will always be AA/NA, so that I would only be able to help people who for some reason or other reject it as well, but I am unable to change this and if I can help a few of those, that would be good enough for me. Also, please don't turn this into a big debate about AA/NA, they have been fought elsewhere and my mind is made up in this regard.

Cheers
posted by RabbitRun to Health & Fitness (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Hi,

I've had good experiences with the 12-step program, and I'm not in London so I may be of no use to you :)

There are other institutional structures / programs that are designed quite differently than AA and such. I don't know anything about them, but wasn't one called SANE? Perhaps searching for the ideology / organization first and then looking for it in London will net you something.

Just to get a feel for what you're thinking: Would you be willing to start a new group based on some movement or ideology that isn't available in London?

And I understand you don't want to debate about AA/NA! Also just to get a feel for what you're thinking, if you don't mind the question, is it the God stuff and the "doomed alcoholic" idea that you want to avoid? (Only asking this to try to figure out what you're aiming at, not to try to make you like something you don't like.)

Good luck with your work, and here's respect from me.
posted by krilli at 2:43 AM on November 12, 2009


Hi there. How about joining Samaritans? While they are not focused on addiction, a lot of the people that contact them for help do have addiction problems.

Samaritans does not have anything like a prescriptive 12-step programme. It primarily (IMHO) seeks to provide a safe space where people can discuss their feelings and situation, without the pressure to think about answers or specific advice.

However, one thing that you probably wouldn't be able to do is to talk to callers about your own past, for seveal reasons -- for example, because Samaritans rejects the notion that you have to have direct experience of "x" in order to support someone dealing with "x", and also because the conversation is really meant to be about the caller rather than the volunteer.

(I volunteered there myself for a while, and found it very rewarding. I stopped a couple of years ago, though, so my apologies if anything I've said is out of date.)
posted by laumry at 3:05 AM on November 12, 2009


My younger brother loathed AA (actually, his wife loathed AA, as her father was in AA and he -- her father -- somehow did something that got her -- younger brothers wife -- undies in a bundle, and my younger brother didn't want a fussy woman in his life as he tried to pull it out of the ditch) and he found real help in Recovery Inc, started by a shrink in the 1950s I think. They're nowhere near as prevalent as AA/NA/et all but if they are there you might find that a good place to lend a hand, helps many who for whatever reason don't or can't do the AA/NA deal, helps many who ARE doing that deal, too, but they leave that part of their recovery outside the door when walking into a Recovery Inc meeting or whatever it's called.
posted by dancestoblue at 7:08 AM on November 12, 2009


Response by poster: Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.

krilli: I could never start a new group, since I'm not the type and also incredibly busy. As for AA, movements and ideologies, other than a very general and inclusive humanism, I don't think people wanting to help addicts should promote anything and rather spend all their time focussing on the individual cases they are presented with. I find any attempt to smuggle in some sort of belief system revolting, since we are dealing with people at their weakest. I have studied philosophy for quite some time and can smell ideology from a mile a way (reading Hegel was good for something after all, lol.)

I think I'll check out the Samaritans, since I've been struggling with depression for a long periods in my life and know what it feels like to be suicidal and also have managed to overcome such feelings. I don't really feel the need to talk about my past, but it might be helpful as background knowledge.

Thanks again, all.
posted by RabbitRun at 3:59 PM on November 12, 2009


Have you checked out organisations such as SMART Recovery?
posted by Weng at 8:14 PM on November 12, 2009


Response by poster: Hi Weng, that looks very interesting, thanks. I personally didn't have much success with rational-emotive therapy: my depression was to a large part endogenous, a fact that wasn't taken seriously enough by the therapist and that put me in a bit of a bad spot for quite some time, because I was incapable of even taken the most basic steps (apart from stopping the drinking, which actually wasn't a big problem for me) and thus I got even more frustrated. But I do recognize it as a very valid approach in general. Cheers
posted by RabbitRun at 1:03 AM on November 13, 2009


I understand. I can fully relate to you being against ideologies as in "this is how you should think and feel" - maybe I was using the word incorrectly but I meant ideology as in "this is a generally good and humanistic approach to helping people in need and keeping things running smoothly". I think this is a good thing to employ, if only to avoid reinventing wheels and discovering organizational issues too late. (Samaritans and SMART are direct examples of what I'm thinking - pending that I know nothing about their approach.)

Good luck and please do keep us posted! It's a beautiful and worthy subject that needs dedication. Again, respect.
posted by krilli at 3:44 AM on November 14, 2009


« Older Roaming across the same network in different...   |   Online banking screenshots Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.