Alchohol/Drug Addiction Help
December 13, 2010 11:39 PM Subscribe
Are there any alternatives to Alcohol Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous organizations that help people addicted to drugs and/or alcohol?
I'm seriously considering doing a Very Long Bike Race and while training, fund raise for an organization that helps people with alcohol/drug addiction problems. I've chosen this for personal, autobiographical reasons. The idea isn't new - I would like to fund raise for the race itself, as well as a good cause and in the process raise awareness for both.
The bike race has no entry fee and no prize money, but the metaphor of a difficult journey, completed with perseverance and selfless help from near strangers seems just about right for those facing a life with drug addiction. The bike race itself would take around a month to complete. Most of the participants do not finish. I give myself a 1 in 3 change of finishing, given my current physical shape.
Before I basically "throw my hat" onto the project of training for such an insane race, I'd like to do some reason on various organizations that fit this bill.
I'm very much interested in being involved in the organization locally. If they have meetings, I'd like to go to them. If they have a mentor program, I would like to be one. In this way, I'm actually involved in the organization, instead of just bucking some money to them and using their name for my own selfish purposes.
The reason I'd like to find an alternative to AA/NA is also personal and I don't want my question to turn into what your opinion of AA/NA is. I am not interested in abstinence-only prevention programs, which are bullshit. Remember D.A.R.E.? That type of program isn't helpful.
Thanks!
I'm seriously considering doing a Very Long Bike Race and while training, fund raise for an organization that helps people with alcohol/drug addiction problems. I've chosen this for personal, autobiographical reasons. The idea isn't new - I would like to fund raise for the race itself, as well as a good cause and in the process raise awareness for both.
The bike race has no entry fee and no prize money, but the metaphor of a difficult journey, completed with perseverance and selfless help from near strangers seems just about right for those facing a life with drug addiction. The bike race itself would take around a month to complete. Most of the participants do not finish. I give myself a 1 in 3 change of finishing, given my current physical shape.
Before I basically "throw my hat" onto the project of training for such an insane race, I'd like to do some reason on various organizations that fit this bill.
I'm very much interested in being involved in the organization locally. If they have meetings, I'd like to go to them. If they have a mentor program, I would like to be one. In this way, I'm actually involved in the organization, instead of just bucking some money to them and using their name for my own selfish purposes.
The reason I'd like to find an alternative to AA/NA is also personal and I don't want my question to turn into what your opinion of AA/NA is. I am not interested in abstinence-only prevention programs, which are bullshit. Remember D.A.R.E.? That type of program isn't helpful.
Thanks!
Another program I like is called Moderation Management. Sadly, it isn't nearly as active as it could be but it does serve as an alternative model with a very different perspective on addiction.
posted by Mz Martini at 12:01 AM on December 14, 2010
posted by Mz Martini at 12:01 AM on December 14, 2010
Most any detox/rehab hospital and/or treatment center would be glad to get any money you can give them. I'm talking the non-profit outfits, I'm not talking the Arizona movie-star treatment centers that are awash in cash but rather the little place on the outskirts of town, with people huddled outside the doors smoking their cigarettes.
And I'd think that there'd be a way you could give of yourself there, whether it's answering phones or the lending of your story to some scared, sick, broken drunk or addict -- hope is worth more than gold in those places. And to watch someones face light up when you say hello to them and remember their name, ask them how they are today -- no one has asked them how they are in a long, long time, much less remembered their name, unless it's an ER doc or a cop. Or a cop in an ER maybe.
These places are on a shoe-string budget, and someone has to answer phones, someone has to arrange clothing donations for the people right off the street, someone has to hand them a hamburger at lunch-time, look them in the eye and give them respect, not back off if they in their fear give you their addict song-and-dance about how tough they are, blah blah blah. You can explain to their family, on family day, you can explain in a way that no cop or doc or therapist can explain, you can do it from the inside out.
It's a broken bunch of people you're wanting to help, and not everyone can understand them, it doesn't have to be 12 step to get one to one with someone who is where you've been, that knowing look eye to eye transcends anything and everything else. Thank you for looking to do what you're looking to do, I hope you find your way to it.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:38 AM on December 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
And I'd think that there'd be a way you could give of yourself there, whether it's answering phones or the lending of your story to some scared, sick, broken drunk or addict -- hope is worth more than gold in those places. And to watch someones face light up when you say hello to them and remember their name, ask them how they are today -- no one has asked them how they are in a long, long time, much less remembered their name, unless it's an ER doc or a cop. Or a cop in an ER maybe.
These places are on a shoe-string budget, and someone has to answer phones, someone has to arrange clothing donations for the people right off the street, someone has to hand them a hamburger at lunch-time, look them in the eye and give them respect, not back off if they in their fear give you their addict song-and-dance about how tough they are, blah blah blah. You can explain to their family, on family day, you can explain in a way that no cop or doc or therapist can explain, you can do it from the inside out.
It's a broken bunch of people you're wanting to help, and not everyone can understand them, it doesn't have to be 12 step to get one to one with someone who is where you've been, that knowing look eye to eye transcends anything and everything else. Thank you for looking to do what you're looking to do, I hope you find your way to it.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:38 AM on December 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Nice words, @dancestoblue.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:48 AM on December 14, 2010
posted by alex_skazat at 12:48 AM on December 14, 2010
Well your question and additional info is full of generalities so its hard to suggest a "local" organization when we don't know where "local" is. I don't want to make too many assumptions about your "autobiographical reasons" so let me make a suggestion based on mine. I was an IV drug user for five years in the Dallas area and I can tell you the number 1 problem besides the actual drug use is no access to clean needles. And I don't mean because it sucks using a barbed needle because if I wanted to get high I was gonna get high one way or the other. The problem is with people sharing needles, I am sure I don't need to go into the problems. I lost friends to the "bug:" I lost my mom to the "bug." In most places in the states needle exchanges and even selling needles to folks without a letter from a doctor is illegal. I would just do a google search for needle exchange programs in your local area. They need money, support, and they need exposure. They are in the business of saving lives in the strictest sense of the word.
posted by holdkris99 at 6:22 AM on December 14, 2010
posted by holdkris99 at 6:22 AM on December 14, 2010
I would actually cosign the idea of supporting needle exchange to meet your goals of helping people addicted to drugs and alcohol. Needle exchange is a fundamental gateway to treatment for addicts--most importantly, it keeps people alive and healthy (in at least a few important ways) until they do get to treatment. It also has always come under significant attack politically--despite the fact that needle exchanges are significantly effective harm reduction programs.
In Denver (where your profile puts you), as in many other locations, the local needle exchange has been forced underground, due to misguided health policy and legislation. I'm sure they could use both the help and the attention.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 7:25 AM on December 14, 2010
In Denver (where your profile puts you), as in many other locations, the local needle exchange has been forced underground, due to misguided health policy and legislation. I'm sure they could use both the help and the attention.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 7:25 AM on December 14, 2010
If you're looking for an ideological counterweight, you could find a local org that provides free mental health counseling with a psych professional to the homeless or other needy populations. You may also have a local organization that deals with ex-offenders, many of whom are coming out of prison for drug problems and need stable social supports to keep from relapsing.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:29 AM on December 14, 2010
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:29 AM on December 14, 2010
One outfit to avoid is Narconon. It's just a front group for Scientology. They're sneaky like that.
posted by scalefree at 10:51 AM on December 14, 2010
posted by scalefree at 10:51 AM on December 14, 2010
Check out the Rational and Secular Programs Guide to recovery groups.
posted by xenophile at 12:11 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by xenophile at 12:11 PM on December 14, 2010
Actually, if you're in Denver, things are looking up, thanks to the work of Lisa Raville and the Harm Reduction Action Center. They're working hard to make syringe access legal and available in Colorado. They got a bill passed and signed this year, authorizing legal exchanges in Colorado. I would encourage you to learn more about their programs and think about supporting them. I've met Lisa, and work on similar issues in another state, but don't have any direct connection to them.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:34 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by gingerbeer at 2:34 PM on December 14, 2010
Local to Denver? Deals with helping the addicted? How about Step 13 . I am sure they'd be glad to show you their program.
posted by CodeMonkey at 4:02 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by CodeMonkey at 4:02 PM on December 14, 2010
Response by poster: This has nothing to do with anything, but I support fully need exchange programs and have helped with fund-raising events in the recent past for them. I would have to disagree that access to clean needles encourages the use of I.V. drugs. That... just doesn't add up. I know close friends who have benefited directly from the (yes, illegal) needle exchange programs here in Denver.
I would go one step farther and say that I would be for clinical trials of giving I.V. drug users drugs in an effort to ultimately help them get off them.
One of the things I'm not sure I agree with AA is abstinence. Being one who enjoys a beer now and again, it doesn't sit right. I'm also not sure what I think of calling all alcoholics diseased, and an incurable one, at that. Saying all that, these are heated topics, I'm not sure I want to get into them, until I'm doing some Good for some people who are in devastatingly different circumstances than I am.
My relationship with drug abuse and rehabilitation isn't direct - but I've been impacted by it from people close to me. It's devastating enough even from this perspective.
Thanks for all the comments so far - it will take me a little while to go through some of the ideas. And sorry for not listing where I am. My (probably incorrect) idea was that national programs are the best and that national programs have local chapters. That's not always the case. Step 13 is local - very local, they are located a block away from where I used to live.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:30 AM on December 15, 2010
I would go one step farther and say that I would be for clinical trials of giving I.V. drug users drugs in an effort to ultimately help them get off them.
One of the things I'm not sure I agree with AA is abstinence. Being one who enjoys a beer now and again, it doesn't sit right. I'm also not sure what I think of calling all alcoholics diseased, and an incurable one, at that. Saying all that, these are heated topics, I'm not sure I want to get into them, until I'm doing some Good for some people who are in devastatingly different circumstances than I am.
My relationship with drug abuse and rehabilitation isn't direct - but I've been impacted by it from people close to me. It's devastating enough even from this perspective.
Thanks for all the comments so far - it will take me a little while to go through some of the ideas. And sorry for not listing where I am. My (probably incorrect) idea was that national programs are the best and that national programs have local chapters. That's not always the case. Step 13 is local - very local, they are located a block away from where I used to live.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:30 AM on December 15, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:50 PM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]