Speaker 1SubDogs, if you've ever thought to yourself, I need help, I want to join a group, but I fucking hate AA, this video is for you. You know, since I've come into recovery, I've come across, sorry, let me rephrase that. Since I've started going online with my recovery, I've noticed there's a lot of pushback, 12 step based, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, today I'm going to talk about the different types of groups and how AA doesn't have a monopoly on sobriety, right? You don't have to go to AA to get sober. The 12 steps works for a lot of people. And trust me, I'm not going to go on a huge rant here about why everybody should do 12 steps. Everyone's recovery is different. You need to choose your own path. I'm just going to give you all the answers of different, answers is the wrong word. I'm going to give you all the different types of recovery groups that you can attend, recovery meetings. And then you make an informed decision. When I went to rehab, they preached 12 steps. I joined in and I love it. I honestly love it. And I'm not just talking about going to a few meetings here and there. I'm talking about actually working the steps with a sponsor. If you're the type of person that says AA is bad and 12 steps don't work and you've been to like three meetings, that is the fucking equivalent of you saying sushi sucks and you've never tried sushi. Don't be that guy. If you've been to a few meetings and haven't worked the steps. Don't hate on it and tell other people that doesn't work. You're spreading misinformation just because the meetings in your area sucked or there was predators there, or there were people that were behaving poorly does not mean you get to call all of Alcoholics Anonymous bad and it doesn't work. 12 steps are not for everybody. I understand that. And I've accepted that. I'm okay with it. I'm going to give you all the options to find your recovery because that's what I'm here for. I'm here to give you all the options so that you can make an informed decision. So in this video today, by the way, I'm Anthony. I'm an alcoholic and an addict. I've been in recovery for 10 years, relapse after eight years sober, and I'm coming up to a year again. I've learned a lot in this time. And my goal with all of this is to give you a new perspective on recovery, to help you get through those tough days, because all this information that I'm giving you has been given freely to me and I enjoy passing it down to you. So if you like. These videos, please subscribe, follow, rate the podcast, send it to a friend and, uh, send me a message and what you want to want me to talk about next, because, uh, I love new ideas and I love new perspectives. So I'm willing to talk about it in depth. So in this video today, we're going to walk through the different recovery groups and the different modalities of recovery. And then, like I said, you make an informed decision. Again, I'm not here to preach 12 step. I'm not here to tell you have to do one way. There's. Many. Many paths up the recovery mountain. You get to choose. So if you're completely overwhelmed and confused with all the different recovery groups, NAA, smart recovery, recovery, Dharma, what the fuck does it all mean? This video is for you. I'm going to explain them all one by one. And I want you to know it's totally normal to be overwhelmed. And like I said, there's a difference between attending meetings and actually working the program, whatever that program is. So give it an honest try. Don't just go to one or two and say it all sucks. Please. You're doing yourself a disservice, honestly. So before I get into the list, here's why recovery groups matter. Here's why we need them. Here's what they do for me and you possibly. So as a lot of us know, recovery is not just stop drinking and your life becomes better. If anything, it gets harder because you've removed your solution to your problem. Alcohol alcohol was helping me cope with my life. Drugs were helping me turn down the noise of my head. As I always say, how do I cope with stress? Who do I call when I want to drink or use drugs? How do I rebuild my life? So I'm not white knuckling it anymore. And I'm not when more importantly, I'm not alone during this process. You can't do recovery alone. Honestly, don't try. So the different groups and modalities provide structure, community language. So words for shit that you've been feeling, how to identify your feelings and accountability. So somebody that calls you out on your bullshit when you don't show up to a meeting, somebody that calls you to check how you're doing all important stuff. So different people click with different methods. Some need the scientific approach. Others like myself need the spiritual. The spiritual approach where I am not God and I don't understand God, but there is a power greater than me that I need to follow because my will, my ego, my thinking, my great ideas got me alone in hotel rooms, partying all night, hating my life. So first up, we have 12 step groups. Okay. That's alcoholics, anonymous, narcotics, anonymous, cocaine, anonymous. I went to a meth anonymous meeting in Utah when I was there for rehab. The fucking stories in that place. Wild. Good. Recovery though. There was good recovery there. Yeah. Utah was great. So the positives about 12 step meetings is they're everywhere or in a lot of cities. They're online as well. Pretty easily accessible in my experience. So it's based around the 12 steps and 12 traditions. It's free. There is no cost and it's peer led. So there's no leaders. There's no one in charge, right? People take over service positions and lead the meeting and they change it up every week. You can get a sponsor. And that's somebody that's done the 12 steps usually that can guide you through the 12 steps so that you can pass it on to somebody else. It's a, you know, 12 step programs are kind of like the pyramid scheme without the scheme. Honestly, there's no catch. The only catch really is that the person helping you is actually probably getting helped more than you are. You have to experience it to understand what I just said there. All right. My favorite common myths and fears. I'm not going to go into it, but when you have some time, just Google the definition of a cult. Okay. It is not a cult whatsoever. Even if it is, it's a cult that helps millions of people around the world every day. I'm fucking sign me up. So again, this goes back to some meetings are different than others, right? Just because one group, the people talk to each other. They talk about God a lot. There's secular meetings all over the place, right? Find one that maybe doesn't talk about higher power aspects too much. I don't really do well with those ones because I identify as with spirituality. I'm a spiritual person. I'm happy to be a spiritual person. I don't go to church. I'm not religious. I'm not God. Really? It's simple as that. So my suggestion, try different meetings. Don't just go to one and say it's all bad and you hate it and it doesn't work. And some guy hit on me. That's a bad meeting. Not a bad program. Focus on the similarities instead of the differences, right? So when you hear someone talk, stop comparing yourself to them. Compare yourself to the similarities. Look for the similarities. Look for the feelings, how you felt when you heard it, when you walked out, the feelings that people talk about, right? Just because, you know, you didn't flip a car on the highway yet, or you didn't get 60 UIs like buddy that shared over there. Doesn't mean that you didn't feel the same about drinking. You didn't feel the same. You don't feel the same about alcohol. So main emphasis is take what you need, leave what you don't. And you're allowed to move on. If it's not your fit. All right. Smart recovery and other secular program, the probably the second biggest recovery group recovery community out there is smart recovery. So it focuses on self-management and recovery training. It uses science-based evidence-based tools like CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing and other evidence-based approaches. We talk more about triggers, thoughts, behaviors, instead of character defects, which I don't, to be honest with you, I don't know what's wrong with character word, character defect. Like we all have character defects, fucking suck it up. Face it. You're not perfect. Anyways. I promise I wouldn't rant about this. I just feel very strongly about people that hate on other recovery groups, period. Really? Like, I don't care if you haven't tried it or just why are you hating on a thing that works for so many people, right? It's like, it's like hate. It's like hating on the local hospital for the way that they deliver chemo to their patients because you don't agree with the way they deliver their chemo. Shut the fuck up. Thanks. Live and let live. So meetings can be in person or online and it's with, it's led by a trained facilitator. Instead of working the steps, you use practical tools that are cognitive CBT based, cognitive behavioral therapy based, so challenging unhelpful thoughts such as I deserve a drink, or I can just have one. So building motivation and coping strategies, plans for high risk situations. So very practical, right? Very science-based. There's also other secular organizations such as, and I've never heard of these ones. Life ring recovery, life ring, secular recovery, and, or SOS secular organizations of sobriety for sobriety. Sorry. So I guess like, you know, all this to say that if the spiritual stuff really bothers you. Not much, and you can't wrap your head around it, or you really struggle with this. Not being the center of the universe thing. You're very, I don't know, logical science-based analytical person. These groups can be great for you. It's more like skills training, you know? All right. Third up, we have mindfulness and Buddhist based recovery practices such as refuge recovery and Dharma recovery, recovery, sorry, recovery Dharma. So they use a beaut Buddhist approach and look at addiction as. A cause for suffering, sorry, cause a cause of suffering in a bigger system of suffering. They focus on spiritual practices such as meditation, mindfulness, compassion, and ethical living. People who vibe with these groups often say things like, I needed something spiritual but not religious. Meditation helped me sit through cravings. So if you're open to meditation, interested in Eastern philosophy, or if you notice anxiety, shame, and trauma are huge triggers, this might be for you. And then there's therapy and clinical modalities, which I think could be used in conjunction with one of the other groups I mentioned, right? So cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, EMDR, it's eye movement, desensitization, eye movement, desensitization, and reprocessing, EMDR. Motivational interviewing and the therapy can be one-on-one, right? Go to psychology today and find a therapist that specializes in trauma or addiction or whatever you're looking for. They can be group-based, they can be in-person and online. There's tons of therapists out there that lead groups as well as one-on-one therapy. This is a great tool to have in the toolbox for sure. Somebody that you can really unload your shit to and trust for outside perspective. So I'll explain quickly CBT, what it is. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps you notice and change the thoughts and beliefs that drive your urges and behaviors, right? So you're challenging these negative thought patterns. DBT, dialectical behavioral therapy, focuses on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and relationships. So this is great if you feel impulsive or intense emotions. EMDR, it's often used for trauma and it helps you process experiences that keep your nervous system stuck and in fight, flight, or freeze. And then motivational interviewing is pretty much basic talk therapy, right? Like somebody asking you deeper questions about how you feel about things and getting you to open up about them. Very effective. So all this to say that if you don't have a lot of money, you don't need to have money to get sober. One of the biggest things that drives me crazy is when people say, well, I don't have enough money for things. I think there's a lot of free groups out there. There's a lot of people that are willing to help. Get out of your own way. Stop making excuses. Go and get help. If AA is not for you, stop, yelling at people and telling them not to go because it's, you went to one or two bad meetings in your area. Leave it alone. Not for you. Go and do something else. All right. Quick, but important section, harm reduction. It's okay. Not everybody goes from a hundred percent sober to completely abstinent overnight, right? This might be a good step in the direction of abstinence. So you could work with a doctor and get on medication that help with cravings or withdrawal. If you're in Ontario, go to Ram Clinics, R-A-A-M, Rapid Access Addiction Medicine, it's covered by OHIP. They give out great resources and medication as well. If you want to quit drinking and using, you can get on opiate agonist treatment. So methadone, buprenorphine, suboxone, right? For people that use opiates. All right. So I'll wrap up with this. How do I choose one of them? Well, you got to try, right? Try, talk to people that have been there. You can do more than one program at once to get your sort of feet in the, in the door, foot in the door. My recommendation, when you go to these meetings, talk to somebody that looks happy and looks comfortable and ask them how they did it, how they got sober. Say you're new, right? If you're a woman, go up to an older woman. If you're a man, go up to a man and say, Hey, I'm new here. What do I do? Hey, I'm new here. This is my first time. What do I do? Most people will help you feel, make you feel like you're in the right place. If you don't like going in person, there's, they're all available online. Start online, then maybe go in person. Let me know in the comments, which program, you use and try and your experience with getting sober. All right. Again, there's not one right way to get sober. You have to find the way for you. For me, I came in here beaten. I couldn't really trust myself to make any decisions. So I had to turn my will and my life over to the care of an addictions counselor, a professional that knew what they were talking about. I did everything they told me to do. I went to rehab, told me to stay an extra 30 days in rehab. Didn't want to 30 days in rehab. I had eight years. Don't you know, I'm ready to go back to my, my life listened anyways, right? These are the things that are going to keep you sober. If you do things you don't necessarily want to do, but someone else is telling you that it worked for them or a professional is telling you it might change your life, right? Recovery is not supposed to be easy. It's simple. Follow the direction, do what other people have done and pass it on to somebody else. Try different recovery groups, try different modalities, explore, get out there and then try and help someone else that's struggling, right? Service is so important in my opinion. I, you know, in my opinion, and I'll close with this, you need three things. I need three things to stay sober. I need community of like-minded people that are also sober. I need to do service. I need to be of service to people. So especially the new person coming in, I need to sit down with them and ask them how they're doing and help them through their shit. And I need a spiritual solution, right? I need a program of action where I can pray, I can meditate, I can journal, and I can make decisions not in self-will, not to please Anthony, because that's what I was doing in the past. That's what I do in my addiction. I please Anthony all the time. I need to follow some sort of direction, principles, honesty, hope, faith, love, service, to name a few. That's just me. Everyone's different. Tell me what works for you. Thanks for listening again, guys. Have a great day. Recovery is not easy. but it is simple.
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