LifeRing

1. LifeRing An Introduction for Addiction Professionals By Martin Nicolaus MA JD CAADAC Region 4 Training Sept. 19, 2009

2. Objectives • To understand basic facts about LifeRing • To get how LifeRing works • To pick up tools that can be used with clients • To facilitate client involvement with LifeRing

3. Outline • Hour 1: Basic Facts About LifeRing • Hour 2: The Three-S Philosophy • Hour 3: How LifeRing Works • Hour 4: The Meeting Format • Hour 5: How To Build Personal Recovery Programs • Conclusion: It’s Time for Choices in Recovery

4. Hour 1 • Basic facts about LifeRing • What is LifeRing? • Where is LifeRing? • Who goes to LifeRing?

5. What is LifeRing? • LifeRing is a network of recovery support groups • LifeRing is not a treatment program or a treatment protocol • LifeRing is compatible with any abstinence-based treatment approach

6. Where are LifeRing meetings? • There are more than 50 LifeRing meetings in Northern California • More than 12 in Canada • 2 each in Ireland and Sweden • Growing

7. Where are LifeRing meetings (2) • Locally, LifeRing meetings are at: • Kaiser CDRPs (Oakland, Union City, Vallejo …) • Herrick Hospital • Merritt Peralta Institute • Mills Peninsula Hospital • Center for Recovery (Concord) • Mandana Community Recovery Center

8. Where are LifeRing meetings (3) • Mary Isaak Center (Petaluma) • Bayside Marin (San Rafael) • Sierra Council (Roseville) • Strategies for Change (Sacramento) • The Effort (Sacramento) • Veterans’ Administration Clinic (Ft. Miley)

9. Where are LifeRing meetings? (4) • LGBT Center (SF), Pacific Center (Berkeley) • Alano Club (San Francisco) • Sutter Medical Center (Santa Rosa) • Home of Truth Spiritual Center (Alameda) • St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (Benicia) • First Presbyterian Church (Livermore) • St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church (San Ramon) • Unitarian-Universalist Church (Walnut Creek)

10. Where are LifeRing Meetings (5) • Greenwich Hospital (CT) • St. Patrick’s Hospital (Dublin, Ireland)

11. Also: Meetings Online • http://lifering.org(a/k/a http://unhooked.com) • Chat room • Email lists • Forum • Social network

12. LifeRing comes recommended “LifeRing has been extremely popular with our clients, and we offer it every Wednesday evening. MPI would recommend LifeRing with enthusiasm and full support to any other drug treatment program.”

13. LifeRing comes recommended (2) “Our treatment team believes that there are many viable paths to recovery, LifeRing being one very positive adjunct to our traditional offerings. The LifeRing meeting is a bright spot in the patients’ week, and staff find that participation in the meeting enhances patients’ motivation to get well.”

14. LifeRing comes recommended (3) “I am happy to state that LifeRing has always been able to coexist harmoniously with other support meetings. Patients report being satisfied with the format and some say they attend LifeRing and 12-step support meetings. I am happy to recommend LifeRing to any drug treatment program.”

15. Who goes to LifeRing? • According to 2005 membership survey (n = 401): • 37 % were referred to LifeRing by a counselor • 34% found it on the Internet

16. Who goes to LifeRing (2) “What parts of your LifeRing experience gives you the greatest satisfaction?” 56%: Absence of religious content 56%: The atmosphere is positive, empowering 53%: Building personal recovery programs 52%: Crosstalk is encouraged

17. Who goes to LifeRing (3) “Will you recommend LifeRing to your friends?” Yes: 98 %

18. Who goes to LifeRing (4) “Have you participated in other recovery groups?” 83% participated in 12-step groups in the past 14 % participated in no other groups before Currently: 45 % do LifeRing only 36% do both LifeRing and 12-step groups

19. Who goes to LifeRing (5) Average length of sobriety: 2.74 years Average age: 47.8 Gender: 58 % male, 42% female High school graduates: 97% College degrees: 24% Professional-technical: 40% Blue-collar: 15%

20. Who goes to LifeRing (6) Raised in religion as a child: 38% Protestant 25% Catholic 4% Jewish 8% Other religion 24% Not raised in a religion

21. Who goes to LifeRing (7) In the past year, attended church (or other house of worship) at least once: 41 % Every week: 10% About once a month: 9% Did not attend during past year: 59% (National averages: Every week= ~20 % Not during past year = ~ 40%) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#Church_attendance

22. Who goes to LifeRing (8) In the past year, received some type of professional counseling for substance use issues: 47% In past year, received diagnosis for co-occurring disorder: 45 % 33 % Depression 17 % Anxiety Details at http://lifering.org/survey/2005_lifering_participant_survey.htm

23. Who Goes to LifeRing: Summary • A fairly average cross section of recovery • Above average educational levels • Below-average religious involvement • High level of involvement in treatment

24. How is LifeRing Organized? • LifeRing is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation • Annual Congress of meeting delegates • 9-member Board of Directors • All officers and directors are volunteers • Bylaws

25. History of LifeRing • Founded locally May 23 1999 in Albany CA • Founded nationally Feb 17 2001 in Brooksville FL

26. Hour Two Basic facts about LifeRing (continued): The Three-S Philosophy

27. The Three-S Philosophy (1) • Sobriety • Secularity • Self-Help

28. 1 Sobriety = Abstinence • Persons with the aim of moderating or controlling are referred elsewhere • Persons who have relapsed are welcomed and praised for coming back The key is intent

29. Sobriety (cont’d) • Grounds: • Personal experience that moderation or control do not work for us • Commitment to living with all senses clear • Urge to realize our best potentials + Drugs suck

30. Sobriety (cont’d) • Abstinence not only from alcohol but also from all other medically non-indicated drugs • For example, a person abstaining from alcohol but using marijuana is not “sober” by LifeRing standards • Background: • Modern trend: Poly-addiction  Poly-abstinence • Segregation by “drug of choice” obsolete • All together in the same room (“one-shop stopping”) • Same as integrated treatment model

31. Sobriety (cont’d) Nicotine: Not required but strongly encouraged to quit All meetings are non-smoking Support on quit anniversaries Education on web site (lifering.org)

32. Sobriety (cont’d) Nicotine (Background): • Nicotine kills more alcoholics than alcohol does • Negative example of AA founders • More successful outcomes if you quit both • Long-term goal: smoke-free LifeRing

33. Sobriety (cont’d) Medications (Typically: anti-depressants, anxiety meds) • Supported on two conditions: • Patient honest with physician • Physician competent in addictions • Medications = sobriety tools • LifeRing convenors are not physicians!

34. Sobriety (cont’d) • Medications (background) • Too many persons harmed by refusing medications • Too many physicians’ treatments undermined • Medications hold potential as recovery aids • (Ref: disease model)

35. Sobriety (cont’d) Methadone • Exhaustively tested as effective v. heroin • If used as prescribed, should be sobriety tool • But wide gap between ideal and reality Medical marijuana • Widespread abuse, “medical” scams • If used legitimately (e.g. cancer), should be OK • Not much experience to date

36. Secularity • Secularity = Inclusiveness in matters of belief or disbelief

37. Secularity (cont’d) Secular Ecumenical Protestant -- Catholic – Jew -- Muslim Unaffiliated

38. Secularity (cont’d) • NB ~ 40% of LifeRing participants say they attend church • But they prefer to perform their religious observances in church, not in recovery rooms • In the LifeRing meeting room, your belief or disbelief remains your private business.

39. Secularity (cont’d) • LifeRing not a religious organization • No prayers in meetings • Non-religious change agent (TBD) • Ref: Court decisions re First Amendment • Inouye v. Kemna, 504 F.3d 705 (9th Cir. 2007) • Parole officer should have known that coerced referral to 12-step groups violates Establishment Clause. • Coerced referral to 12-step liable for $$ damages • More: Brochure, Counselor article, CAADAC talk

40. Secularity (cont’d) • LifeRing not an atheist-agnostic organization • No atheist/agnostic advocacy in meetings • No attacks on religion in meetings • Peaceful Coexistence of all faiths and none • No attempt to modify client’s belief system • (e.g. God who observes v. God who controls) • Many believers prefer secular environment • Compare: family reunion

41. Secularity (cont’d) • Secularity lets people relax and be real • Absence of implied moral judgments • Be what you are • Safety and freedom in the atmosphere

42. Secularity (cont’d) • Secularity is science-friendly • E.g. animal research showing that addiction is the product of ingesting addictive substances; not of character attributes or moral qualities • E.g. human research showing that every personality type is equally liable to become addicted • E.g. research with pharmacological recovery tools

43. Secularity (cont’d) • Secular spirituality • (Not: supernatural spirituality) • LifeRing meetings are strong on • Empathy • Concern • Caring • Love • Respect • Other positive feelings •  TBD

44. Secularity (cont’d) • Participants who want to explore theological issues: • Refer to churches, synagogues, etc. • Refer to other qualified professionals • Our limits as LifeRing members: • Considerable experience with addiction & recovery • Not qualified to teach theology

45. (3) Self-Help • Personal responsibility for one’s own recovery • Cannot be delegated away (to God, physician, etc.) • Implies a capability to take the responsibility • Implies a duty to work and fight • Can be a shocking premise for recovering people

46. Self-Help (cont’d) Moment of Existential Panic: Two Outcomes • Energized • Stimulated • Takes Charge • Gets to Work • Paralyzed • Defeated • Passive • Waits for recovery to happen Important for treatment providers to offer choices so that both can prevail

47. Self-Help (cont’d) • Personal Recovery Programs (PRP) • Universal element: Abstinence • All other elements: Individualized

48. Personal Recovery Programs • Abstinence Abstinence

49. Self-Help (cont’d) • Rationale for Personal Recovery Programs: • "1.  No single treatment is appropriate for all individuals. Matching treatment settings, interventions, and services to each individual's particular problems and needs is critical to his or her ultimate success in returning to productive functioning in the family, workplace, and society."-- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),  Principles of Drug Abuse Treatment -- A Research-Based Guide  (1999)

50. Self-Help (cont’d) • "The roads to recovery are many."-- AA Cofounder Bill W., The AA Grapevine, Sept. 1944, Vol. 1 No. 4.