Self Help
Self Help Groups
Group Therapy Works
If you have made a commitment to give up drugs and alcohol it can be an intimidating, if not frightening proposition. However, you don’t have to fight this battle alone. There is a broad spectrum of self-help and support groups out there, offering invaluable information and advice. They offer the guidance and care you need to overcome your addiction.
A self-help group is a community of people with first-hand experience of a health problem or an issue in life, such as battling an addiction. They may have gone through a dependency to drugs or alcohol themselves or have seen it happen to someone close to them but are now sharing their stories to help others. It can be easier to talk about a problem with someone who has been there and knows what it’s like.
A support group sees members with similar issues working together to create a sharing coping strategy. Offering a safe place to recount your personal experiences with people who have been there, which can prove invaluable in your recovery from drugs and alcohol.
Anonymous Fellowships and 12 Steps
Various illustrious self-help and support groups help people struggling with addiction, and one of the most famous is the internationally renowned Alcoholics Anonymous or AA. The non-professional, self-supporting organisation, formed in the US in 1935, dedicated to enabling its members stay sober through its famous 12 Steps Program.
Alcoholics Anonymous
From its very inception, AA was a place where men and women with a drinking problem gather hope and strength from one another, to resolve their issues with alcoholism. You do not have to pay any dues or fees to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. The only requirement is the wish to stop drinking. AA is part of what is known as the Anonymous Fellowships, organisations thriving on the anonymity of its members, letting then discuss and work through their problems in privacy.
Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous
If you have been living with drug addiction and would like to get clean, you could attend NA or Narcotics Anonymous. A collective of recovering addicts who regularly meet to help each other abstain from drugs through a simple to follow treatment program. Millions of people come to NA every year, where they can receive the counselling and support, they need from fellow users, to stop taking drugs.
CA or Cocaine Anonymous also employs a twelve-step program to aid people attempting to conquer their drug addiction. Many CA members may have developed a dependency on cocaine, crack and other comparable substances. However, the support group is not exclusively for those with a cocaine habit but have issues with all types of narcotic.
The organisation follows the model of Alcoholics Anonymous, although it is not affiliated with AA. It was formed in LA in the early eighties by a long-term AA member, who took the Alcoholics Anonymous book as its foundation, as well as incorporating the noted AA publication Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. However, CA also branched out with its own volume the CA Storybook, Hope, Faith and Courage: Stories from the Fellowship of Cocaine Anonymous. The tome, amongst others, which CA follows to aid users dealing with the specific problems associated with cocaine addiction. However, with the backing of trained counsellors and fellow addicts, you could find the key to overcoming your issues with cocaine.
SMART Recovery
Many people fighting addiction may also turn to the noted non-profit support group SMART recovery to help them combat their dependency. SMART, which stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training is a secular organisation employing science-based and therapy techniques, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and non-confrontational motivational methods to encourage abstinence. SMART recovery is noted for its 4-point programme; encompassing building and maintaining motivation to change, coping with urges, managing thoughts, feelings and behaviour and living a balanced life, leading to the path to recovery.
There are many different types of self-help and support groups which could show you how to live a clean life, free of drug or alcohol addiction. You can learn all about the support they deliver by visiting their web site, and reading blog posts and testimonials from members, who can tell you about the help they received and how self-help and support groups changed their lives for the better. They could do the same for you.