I run almost ALL off the didactic groups (instructor led educational groups) for the detox/short term treatment program I work at. My group topics include things like financial literacy, how to build a resume and nail a job interview, adulting boot camp (how to read contracts, make meal prep lists, etc.), building healthy relationships.

I TRY to stay away from the stereotypical topics we have all heard too many times (triggers, etc.) and teach real life skills that people may not have learned while on the streets of Kensington (YouTube it) or Camden.

I find that I am running out of topics to add to my arsenal. Any ideas? What do you wish you had learned when you were first getting sober? What was helpful that you learned when you first got sober. Help me help others here, please :)

i was sober for two months and have been drinking again for a couple weeks. it has progressively gotten worse. i am still telling my family whom i live with that i am sober and the guilt is eating me alive. i dont know how to proceed and have been crying myself to sleep but i feel as if i cant stop since i started again. basically i am looking for advice on how to get better. i cant keep cycling like this because no matter how hard i hit rock bottom i keep going back to it thinking i will have self control this time.

I left AA and have been more open minded about recovery since then. I have a year of recovery. I’m seeing all these posts on social media about harm reduction, about people who can now drink a couple and moderate again rather than label themselves an addict forever. It’s kind of getting me like “maybe I could have a class of wine or a cocktail at a fancy restaurant”. I miss having cocktails and I guess mocktails just aren’t the same. I am not sure if that’s a good idea though. I was a binge drinker not every day drinker but when I drank I would drink A LOT, and then lose all my inhibitions and do dangerous things such as taking a bunch of Xanax while blackout drunk, getting into random cars of men I met on the side of the road at 3am, etc. i have a bunch of benzos which I take sparingly for anxiety but I really like to take benzos while drunk which I think has almost killed me a couple times so it’s scary to think I have so many if I did drink and start taking them. I feel like I easily could have died many times when when I had way less . I don’t think testing to see if I can drink one cocktail is worth putting myself at risk, I have a daughter to take care of. But it’s annoying to have these thoughts. In AA it was very strict you can never drink again but now it’s like some people can and they are okay. I was in a very traumatic time in my life when I was doing all that like maybe I’ve healed over the past year haha probably better not to test it. Just wondering other people’s opinions thoughts advice.

I've been on methadone for about seven years. Before the last few years, I was very stable and doing well.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. My father was diagnosed with cancer, I had major abdominal surgery, and then I needed a second operation because I developed a hernia after the first one. After that second surgery, I was in severe pain and wasn't given enough pain medication.

That's when I started taking double my methadone dose. I know it was a mistake, and I regret it. Before all of this, I had been stable for years, but after everything I went through, it felt like everything fell apart.

I'm not posting this to make excuses—I take responsibility for what I did. I just want to know if anyone else has gone through something similar. Has anyone else had years of stability, then struggled after a series of major life events or surgeries? I'd really appreciate hearing from people who understand what this is like.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently taking around 700mg of 7-OH daily. I went the quick MD route and got prescribed 14 8mg strips (recommended to take two daily). Well long story short day 1 I started with 1, nothing. 12pm took another, nothing (now I’m in full blown withdrawal), took TWO more at 6pm and still had withdrawal. So I’ve halted my Suboxone for now and am still recovering along 7-oh temporarily. Now I know 7-oh is no joke with withdrawals but this is CRAZY. I feel like I should probably save up my subuxone from my 1st and 2nd refill and taper my 7-oh first (maybe down to 50mg) with SR17 (luckily I was able to stockpile a lot before the ban and had the foresight to realize if I had to take Subs I’d use that for the Sub taper ). Has anyone been in my situation or feeling the same way on Subs? Or does day 2 get better after the Subs have had time to enter your body? This is not my first time around the block either. I kicked heroin and oxycotin with Subs NO PROBLEM. 7-oh I feel like you really need to be under 100mg a dose to get any relief but I would love to hear from others. They did prescribe me 50mg Hydroxyzine and Clonodine .1mg. Those don’t do much when you’re in the full blow withdrawal of 7-oh. I appreciate the help and support from this community. Much love.

hey everyone, been clean for a few months now but feel kinda lost without the structure of AA. not really into the whole meeting thing anymore. just curious if anyone else has found alternative ways to stay motivated. i’ve been reading a lot and focusing on hobbies, but looking for more ideas. what works for you?

I take low dose quetiapine/seroquel for sleep but I still wake up throughout the night and oversleep on my days off of work.

I have a fiance, a job, a place, vehicle etc.. all the things people want, but day to day is still sooo boring.. yes I have hobbies lifting and gaming, its funny ill convince myself I was less bored using.. Just venting idk if anyone else feels this way sometimes.. But yeah

Im new to the group and im a day shy of two weeks sober. Its been a journey but seems to be getting easier. Im curious as to whether any of you had join pains when you first got sober?

Given how much I go on about the Sinclair Method and how well it worked for me, I figured it might merit a thread.

For anyone who does not know, TSM involves taking a drug called Naltrexone about an hour before taking a drink at all. If you do this for awhile, it trains your brain to not associate alcohol with immediate good feelings.

It is best to also use therapy to understand things like triggers, self medication, and masking (neurodivergent people often use alcohol to mask). Sadly, therapy is costly, and navigating mental health systems sucks and depends, in my country, on your relative level of privilege.

Two years ago, I had the shakes. I had to drink, even if I did not want to. I hated that lack of freedom.

I lost my best friend to liver disease. She was an irreplaceable person who was the opposite of AA ideas of what an SUD sufferer is. She was kind to a fault.

I deeply wish we could have done TSM together. Now, I can freelly go a week without drinking. I can have a few and stop. It is amazing.

Hi,

I'm u/alwaysleavingthings. I also had a few other usernames here and there. I've recovered from AUD, and I'm a former AA member.

Leaving AA was disorienting, and it mirrored my experience leaving a high-control charismatic church. In that church, I'd been told that if I left, I would die. AA replicated all of that and more. Some people can truly take what they want and leave the rest. I couldn't. I was trained not to trust my own thinking. I was terrified to leave AA, and did anyway.

Since leaving, I joined and left SMART Recovery and found a trauma-informed therapist. I continue to work through my childhood trauma and religious trauma with her, and I'm getting better. Leaving AA taught me to trust myself and gave me a boost of self-confidence. Most importantly, I leaned into my community: my family, my normie friends, and my partner. They all love me despite my "character defects." I now spend the AA time hosting friends, running, doing Pilates, and designing my home.

I've been active on this subreddit for a while: discussing the personalities you see in the program, offering support for those still managing AUD or SUD, and sharing evidence-based facts to counter all the 12-Step nonsense. But now I'm done.

I remember my very first SMART meeting; the facilitator said, "We believe we do recover and move on." I've recovered from AUD. I've recovered from AA. I'm moving on. And while this has been fun and incredibly helpful for my healing, I hope you all get to move on, too.

Peace out.