Is God keeping you from getting help?
"I'd go to AA but I don't believe in God and I don't want to spend two hours talking about it."
Is this a familiar quote? It is a common refrain from many people who need help maintaining their sobriety. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous dedicated to this very cause. Below is a list with links.
Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Inspired Path to Recovery from Addiction
From their website: "Refuge Recovery is a Buddhist-oriented path to freedom from addiction. This is an approach to recovery that understands: “All individuals have the power and potential to free themselves from the suffering that is caused by addiction.” We feel confident in the power of the Dharma, if applied, to relieve suffering of all kinds, including the suffering of addiction. This is a process that cultivates a path of awakening, the path of recovering from the addictions and delusions that have created so much suffering in our lives and in this world."
SMART Recovery: Self-Help Addiction Recovery
From their website: SMART Recovery is an international organization headquartered in Mentor, Ohio. SMART Recovery is about learning to manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to reduce unwanted behaviors. They offer no-fee, self-empowering, science-based, face-to-face and online support groups for abstaining from any substance or activity addiction.
Northwest Buddhist Recovery
From their website: Northwest Buddhist Recovery is dedicated to providing resources for those seeking support with their recovery from addictive behaviors using traditional Buddhist meditation techniques and study of Buddhist teachings
https://nwbuddhistrecovery.org
SKIP: Knowledge is Power
From their website: SKIP is one of the only non-doctrinal support groups available where rather than being provided “The Answer” individuals are encouraged to come up with their own – answers that make sense to them. Members are motivated to educate themselves about addiction in order to fully understand the nature of their own individual problem and how best to overcome it. This is accomplished through thoughtful, open discussion, reading and sharing books, newspaper and magazine articles, listening to audiotapes, viewing DVDs/ videotapes, and occasionally listening and discussing specific topics with scheduled speakers.
LSR: LifeRing Secular Recovery
From their website: LifeRing Secular Recovery support groups are based on the “Three-S philosophy: Sobriety (meaning abstinence), Secularity, and Self-Help. Their slogan is “I don’t use, no matter what.” LSR provides a safe, supportive, resource- rich environment where participants design and build their own recovery programs, in accordance with their personality, culture, gender, lifestyle, and history.
Children of the Wilderness
From their website: Children of the Wilderness is a safe, community space for free spirited folks in recovery. Children of the Wilderness is a peer lead alternative and supplement to step based addiction recovery. We understand that recovery access and addiction is complicated by and interconnected with racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, ableism, isolationism, xenophobia and other forms of oppression.
https://www.facebook.com/Children-of-the-Wilderness-475193959520202/