10.4 – Alternative Recovery Programs other than AA or NA

Like I said in the last section, there are other recovery programs besides AA or NA. Many alcoholics and addicts do not adhere to traditional religions or beliefs of any kind. Most will never  be converted either. Don’t let the faith thing be a barrier to your sobriety. I know recovery can be had by anyone regardless of beliefs.

You just need to seek out alternatives. Your addicted mind will protest and try to use this as an excuse to quit, though! That’s why it’s important to know there are options for yourself or someone else that might need it. There are even 12 step groups that are not based on higher powers or that use psychological techniques of healing. Here’s some of them.

Secular AA Meetings: you can find a lot of them on Zoom or Youtube. They have more open and accepting language, removing “God” or “higher power” from the meetings, but are still based on an edited form of the 12 steps. There are actually many different 12 steps out there. Growing communities include AA Agnostica and Secular NA, but there are plenty of other secular recovery websites to explore.

SMART Recovery: stands for Self-Management And Recovery Training. They are support groups based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). They apply research from psychology to address cravings, behavior, thoughts, and life in general to avoid addictions.

LifeRing Secular Recovery: based on the interesting idea that we have a sober self and an addictive self. This program is based on self-help and experimenting with techniques for the individual to embody their sober self.

Moderation Management: a program focused on reducing drinking. It might be worth a try for chronic relapsers that find it impossible to abstain completely.

Those are the most popular alternatives to faith based 12 step programs. Many more are popping up, so keep searching. One tactic I have used is to seek out lists of alternative 12 steps, see which ones resonate the most, and dive deeper on those.

Your recovery may even fold in a few different programs and areas of research. For example, I still go to AA meetings, but like to study psychology and Eastern philosophies, meditate, and follow some of the secular 12 step content online.

The point is to stay sober and clean. So, if you are feeling stuck or turned off by one avenue, look into others until you find what relates to you. It might take you several directions of attack to defeat your addiction.