Access addiction recovery support from home
-Dolores Cloward, SMART Recovery® Volunteer
If you are looking for help with addiction recovery, whether it’s addiction to substances or addiction to behaviors, SMART Recovery Online is a wonderful place to start. The program is science-based and evidence-based, incorporating scientific best practices in psychology today. Here, you can find community. SMART Recovery also offers practical tools to help you think your way through what you want and how to go about it. And, like other addiction recovery programs, SMART Recovery is free and accessible from home. It may be the only resource you need!
The SMART Recovery 4-Point Program® offers tools and techniques for:
- 1. Building and maintaining motivation to address addiction related issues
2. Coping with urges
3. Managing thoughts, feelings and behaviors
4. Living a balanced life
What is SMART Recovery?
SMART Recovery is a non-profit organization that offers tools for addiction recovery based on the latest scientific research. The SMART Recovery website is an international community which includes free, self-empowering, science-based mutual help groups in online forums and meetings.
How do I get involved?
Inform yourself – From the main web page, you can watch an introductory video, and feel free to browse around! There are links to tools, articles, local meetings, online meetings, and podcasts, as well as links to SMART international and regional websites. Last but not least, please visit SMART’s vibrant online community.
Join the Online Community – To join our online community, just click on Online Meetings & Activities, select the link to the SMART Recovery Message Board and follow the directions to register. You must register to join because we take our members’ privacy and confidentiality seriously. Once registered you will be taken to the main page where you will see a number of different forums. There is a Welcome area, a main Discussions area, Tool areas, Specialized and Support forums, and Social forums (Opinions and Creative Endeavors), all featuring thoughtful, encouraging and lively conversation. There are no rules about where to go, but if you introduce yourself in the Welcome area, volunteers and members can easily find you and will respond with lots of useful information, links, and welcoming words to help you get started.
Attend online meetings – If you would like to attend online meetings, check the top of any page on the Message Board for a list of “Today’s Meetings” and a link to the Meeting Schedule for the entire week. You can access the meeting rooms from any message board page. Look for the blue bar titled “SMART Meetings and Chat,” on the top left of the page. Once you click through, you will be presented with a list of rooms you can enter. The meeting rooms are opened shortly before each meeting starts and are not accessible at other times. The meetings follow the SMART Recovery meeting format. Attendance verification is provided upon request. The meetings are lively and informative and run by trained facilitators. There is focused practice with helpful tools as well as loads of room for discussion and feedback. We think this is peer support at its best – open, yet guided.
Chat room – If you like the idea of hanging out and chatting with others who all are working toward the same goal – choosing what’s best for their lives join us in the 24/7 SMART Chat Room to make some casual friends, find camaraderie, and enjoy the benefits of readily available caring support. The Chat Room is accessed via the Message Board following the instructions above for accessing the meeting rooms.
SMART tools – There are many other resources available, but let’s not forget the most important one! All SMART Tools can be found in the cheerful Purple Toolbox at the top of every message board screen. These tools form the core of what SMART Recovery offers people so they can help themselves to work on addiction recovery.
In sum, SMART Online offers a full complement of tools, venues and friendly, supportive people, all in one place. It is entirely your choice how you would like to put together these and other resources to create a solid recovery directly tailored for you. We hope you will join us and “Discover the Power of Choice”.
Source: AddictionBlog.org
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My fiance, and father of my child, and I have a very strong relationship. However, there are a few “habits” that make me question his maturity and and responsibility level.
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hi looked at your main page and would like to go into or know more about it. i have tried aa didn’t think it was me. look forward to hear from you.
Thanks for the good article. Makes sense to me.
I am currently a volunteer for Recovery Network Inc. in Charlotte Michigan and a facilitator in training for the SMART Recovery meetings. I am strong supporter of the program and believe whole heartedly in the in the mission and principles of the program. I feel the cognitive approach, the support and the tools the program offers is an excellent alternative to the 12 Step programs. I feel it empowers people and provides them with an excellent opportunity for success.
I am currently attending the State of Michigan Drug Court Conference and have had great feedback from the current courts acceptance of the program and a great deal of interest from courts looking for other options for recovery and to utilize the Smart Recovery program.
I have found many court officers are questioning how one is to verify the attendance of a probationer or parolee to an online meeting?
I would appreciate any information you can provide me with regarding this issue.
Thank you,
Jill C.
Recovery Network Inc.
Hi Jill:
Online facilitators provide verification of attendance via email, sent within 24 hours of the meeting close.
Verifications are provided upon request from the participants, who send an email to the facilitator identifying their online name and their real name.