HALT Recovery Central's Addiction Blog

From Buddy T on About.com: If you are trying to maintain abstinence from drugs or alcohol, it is very important that you develop positive, healthy relationships to support you during your recovery process. For most people who go through a professional rehab program, that can mean having to make an entire set of new friends.

Avoiding your former drinking buddies or drug-using friends is a key step in maintaining your recovery, but it doesn’t stop there. Developing new positive friendships with people who can support your recovery efforts can be even more important.

Avoiding Toxic Relationships

If you are like many alcoholics or addicts, you probably progressed to the point that your primary relationship was with your drug of choice. As your addiction deepened, your behavioral repertoire began to narrow so that you spent more of your time and effort with drug- or alcohol-related activities.

If you had any friends left, they were more than likely those you associated with to obtain your drug, maintain your supply or those you simply drank or used drugs with. For someone trying to maintain recovery, relationships with those former associates can be extremely toxic.

Codependent Relationships

It is possible that during the development of your addiction you also formed relationships with others who were codependent, perhaps a spouse, friend or even an employer. The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) defines codependents as individuals who have “learned to believe that love, acceptance, security, and approval are contingent upon taking care of the addict in the way the addict wishes.”

The danger involved in having a relationship with someone who exhibits this type of excessive caregiving behavior is it can promote even greater dependency on your part. Codependents have allowed you to define their reality, and if you are an alcoholic or addict, your “reality” was highly distorted during your drinking or drugging days.

Enabling Relationships

Many times codependents exhibit enabling behavior by either directly or indirectly encouraging you to continue drinking or doing drugs. Enabling can take many forms. Enabling behavior can range from making excuses, lying and covering up for you – protecting you from the consequences of your actions – to outright furnishing you with money for drugs or alcohol.

Of course, those “friends” with whom you formerly drank, who supplied you with drugs or who used drugs with you, are your primary enablers. These two types of unhealthy behavior, codependency and enabling behavior, can contribute to you deciding to go back to drinking or doing drugs, research shows.

Developing Healthy Relationships

If you are in follow-up care with your professional rehab program, your counselor will try to help you identify any damaging or unhealthy relationships in your life that could cause you to relapse. The counselor will help you work toward changing those relationships and your involvement in them.

Your counselor or caseworker will also try to help you identify any positive, healthy family or social relationships that you have that can be a support to you in your recovery. If you have no relationships with people who don’t drink or use drugs, your counselor will strongly recommend that you begin to develop new relationships.

Making New Friends

Many times these new, healthy relationships are formed through participation in mutual support groups – in fellowships such as Alcoholic Anonymous. Your counselor will also encourage you to find new relationships within any religious organizations you may be associated with or even recreational organizations.

Finding new friends in recovery is described in 12-step support groups as “sticking with the winners,” a slogan that emphasizes the importance of healthy relationships in trying to maintain abstinence.

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We hope you have a Happy, Safe and Sober Thanksgiving!

H.A.L.T. is an independent 12-Step Substance Abuse Meeting for Alcoholics and Addicts following the format of AA that meets at Noon Monday through Saturday at Solutions, 2975 South Rainbow Blvd. Suite J, Las Vegas, Nevada 89146

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From Buddy T’s Blog:

The holiday season, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in the United States, is the most dangerous season of the year for those trying to maintain sobriety and anyone driving on the public highways.

There are more alcohol-related traffic fatalities during the Holiday season than any other time during the year in the United States.

Use a Designated Driver

If you, or someone you know, is planning on celebrating the holidays by drinking alcoholic beverages, using a designated driver is a smart move. If you are hosting a holiday party, you might consider having a safe holiday party to protect your guests.

To raise the awareness of the problem of drinking and driving during the holiday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have established a Tie One on for Safety ribbon program to encourage the public to become actively involved in the fight against drunk driving.

Staying Sober During the Holidays

For many, the problem during the holidays is not to avoid drinking and driving, it’s to avoid drinking at all. The holiday season, between Thanksgiving and News Year’s Day can be the most difficult time for alcoholics and their families.

Hamish White, a certified alcoholism and drug dependency counselor, who has his own addiction practice called Recovery Counseling Services in North Toronto, offers these tips for maintaining sobriety during the holidays. Gregg C., another counselor at the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, West Indies, offers suggestions for dealing with the holidays for those new to recovery.

Holiday Tips from Others

Visitors to the Alcoholism site at About.com over the years have shared their personal tips on dealing with the pressures of the Holiday Season. Click on their names to read their suggestions. More holiday ideas are listed in Part II.

Have Fun!

The holidays are a time to have fun, and that can be accomplished without alcohol. There are many ways to have fun without drinkingand have a safe and sober holiday.

For those you know who are in recovery – to encourage them through the holidays – there are many online recovery gift shops available where you can find that special gift for that special person.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

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(From Buddy T’s Blog) If you find yourself facing court-mandated attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meetings, you probably have questions about what is going to happen next, especially if you have never been to A.A. before.

You may be wondering what exactly takes place at an A.A. meeting, how the meetings work and how you are going to prove that you attended if it’s an anonymous program. Hopefully, this article will answer some of those questions.

Court-Ordered Into A.A.

The way most people find themselves court-mandated to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is by getting a drunk-driving conviction. In addition, A.A. is ordered for other alcohol-related convictions and in some domestic violence situations.
If you have been convicted of an alcohol-related offense, the court will sometimes offer you an alternative to going to jail. Because of jail overcrowding and the costs of keeping an offender incarcerated, many jurisdictions offer some kind of alternate or diversion program, such as A.A.

A.A. Not the Only Choice

Under these alternative sentencing programs, offenders are usually given several program options they can complete instead of going to jail. These include: entering a professional drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, undergoing professional counseling or therapy, or attending A.A. or an alternative support group program.
Many offenders end up in Alcoholics Anonymous simply because it’s the only option that is free and is usually the most available of the options, with meetings in virtually every city and town. But for those who object to going to A.A., the other, more expensive options are available along with secular support groups in some areas.

Evaluation of Your Drinking

In most states, the court itself does not send people directly to Alcoholics Anonymous. Typically, you are first sent to a probation officer, counselor or a caseworker who will oversee your participation in the alternative sentencing program. One of the first things the caseworker will do is give you an alcohol screening test to evaluate your drinking patterns. The tests usually don’t ask directly how much you drink – because most everyone downplays their alcohol consumption – but rather asks about the results of your drinking (such as, have you ever missed any work because of alcohol).

Number of A.A. Meetings Required

The officer of the court will look at the results of your screening tests and try to determine the level of your drinking. He or she may decide that you don’t have a drinking problem at all, that you just made a mistake; or they could decide that you are a full-blown alcoholic or anywhere in between.

The number of meetings you will be ordered to attend will be based on their evaluation. You could be ordered to attend as few as one meeting or you could be ordered to attend 90 meetings in 90 days; in cases of repeat offenders, you could be ordered to attend even more meetings.

Getting Your Slip Signed

After telling you how many meetings you will need to attend to meet your court obligation, the caseworker will provide you a card or piece of paper on which you will list the days of meetings you attended, and the times and places. There will also be a space for a signature from someone at the meeting to confirm that you actually attended.

You will carry that card, sometimes called a slip, to the meeting. After the meeting, you will take it to the person in charge of the meeting (chairperson) or to the group’s secretary and ask if they will sign it.

Attending Your First Meeting

Remember, A.A. is anonymous. You will not have to give your full name to anyone, and you will not be required to say anything at the meeting at all, if you choose not to do so. A.A. is a mutual support group. There are no professionals, counselors or therapists there to question or interview you.

For one member’s perspective on their first meeting, see What Can I Expect at a 12-Step Meeting? For another viewpoint, watch the video What to Expect at a First A.A. Meeting.

Not All Meetings Sign Slips

Occasionally, you will find a meeting that does not sign slips. The practice of signing slips is a bit controversial inside A.A. groups. Some members feel it violates the group’s traditions against promoting itself with outside entities.

But the main reason many groups vote not to sign slips is because they simply do not want people in their meetings who were forced to be there. Rather, they want people who have a desire to be there. It might be helpful, therefore, to ask someone before the meeting if their group signs slips.

Most meetings marked on the local “where-and-when” schedule as “open” meetings will sign slips.

Attending Online A.A. Meetings

If you have disabilities, transportation restrictions or other reasons that may keep you from getting to a meeting, some jurisdictions will allow you to participate in online A.A. meetings to meet at least some of your court-ordered obligation. Not all jurisdiction do this, so make sure you check first before attending an online meeting. There are some online meetings sites that will email you a confirmation of attendance after you attend the meeting and fill out a form providing details of the meeting. You can then print out the email with all of the meeting’s details, including time, place, topic, comments, etc.

Turning in Your Slips

Once you have attended the number of A.A. meetings that you were ordered to attend, and you have your signed slip to prove your attendance, you will turn the slip into your probation officer or caseworker for validation. Typically, there will be other requirements you will need to meet before completing your court obligation, but you will have finished the “rehab” component of the sentence.

Some offenders look upon court-ordered A.A. attendance as just another chore they must complete, and they just go through the motions. But many others have found that the experience changed their lives, even if they were resistant initially. Many have found long-term sobriety and a completely different lifestyle because they were once court-ordered to go to A.A.

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Most research shows that when the economy takes a downturn, overall excessive drinking and alcohol abuse decreases simply because people who do not have jobs do not have the money to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as heavy alcohol consumption. However, a new five-year study has found just the opposite to be true.

Problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption increase as economic conditions deteriorate, the researchers found.

Health economists at the University of Miami and the University of Colorado looked at data from 2001 to 2005 to determine rates of binge drinking, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. They compared these rates with the rates of unemployment in the state.

The study is the first to show that risky drinking increases even when incomes decline during an economic downturn.

The researchers found that as state unemployment rates rise, drinkers are:

• Likely to have more binge drinking days.
• More likely to drive while intoxicated.
• More likely to engage in problematic drinking

Surprisingly, the researchers found that this increase in drinking held true for employees who still had their jobs.
“The way we explain this is even though employed individuals have a job, they could be affected psychologically (e.g., fear of losing their job) from an economic downturn, leading them to have more drinking days and driving under the influence episodes as the State-level unemployment rate increases,” says lead researcher Michael T. French.

Other findings of the study include:

• The increase in drinking was true for all population groups.
• Blacks and those aged 18 to 24 showed the greatest increases in binge drinking.
• People who were married and had children were less likely to increase drinking.
• Those with higher education levels and income levels were more likely to binge drink.

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