#12 steps of narcotics anonymous

[dickinabox]

Student Survey on Alcoholism & Demographic Disparities

Hey everyone! I'm researching an important topic that doesn’t get enough attention: alcoholism and how it impacts different communities.

I'm conducting a survey to better understand the demographic disparities surrounding alcoholism—because let’s be real, this issue doesn’t affect everyone equally. Whether it’s race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or cultural background, these factors can play a huge role in how people experience and cope with alcohol dependency.

📝 Take the survey here: https://montclair.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3QnYK5p85a49fds ⏰ It only takes about 10-15 minutes, and it’s completely anonymous.

The data collected in this survey will be analyzed and presented in a research paper at the end of this semester.

Why should you care?

-🧠 Alcoholism is a complex issue that’s often misunderstood.

-🌈 Marginalized communities face unique challenges that are often overlooked.

-💪 Your input can help shape better resources and policies for those who need them most.

P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol dependency, please reach out to local resources or hotlines. You’re not alone, and help is out there. 💛

[keepitinthebottle]

[deelitefulrecovery]

Just For Today Narcotics Anonymous recovery bracelet, redline jasper gemstones, garnet gemstones, and silver spacers. sterling silver Lobster clasp

#jasperjewelry, #garnetbracelet, #narcoticsanonymous, #alcoholicsanonymous, #sobrietygifts, #sponsorgifts, #justfortoday, #addictionrecovery, #najewelry, #aabracelet, #12steprecovery, #serenityprayer, #onedayatatime #wedorecover #healingjewelry #basictext #handmadejewelry #etsyshop

[zendeedesigns]

(via "Sober AF - Sober Anniversary, Sober Birthday, Soberversary" Essential T-Shirt for Sale by ZenDee)

[hiabiscus]

Keeping it in the dark=....

Isolation

Secrets

Self Will

Negative Results

Missed Opportunity

Hindered Growth

BRINGING IT INTO THE LIGHT =

Open Discussion

Relationship

Healing

Growth

Strength

Power

Self Control

Positive Results

Fulfilled Opportunities

Happiness

Love

Respect

Peace

Serenity

Self Respect

Honor

What will you do with your Thoughts Feelings and Emotions....?

[spread-your-wings-love]

Good morning human beings,

Today I am feeling so grateful for the support network and treatment team I have. Yesterday I got to spend time with my sponsor and our chosen family for movie night. Each Friday night I go over to the house for family movie night. Last night we watched a movie based on the true story of a restaurant on the east coast that hires grandmas instead of professional chefs. I am not sure if it is each week or each month but the grandmas come in and they cook their family recipes from there own country of origin. Prior to watching the movie last night I had known about the restaurant and I think it is one of the coolest ideas. I have not been to movie night in a hot second so it was really nice to be able to see everyone. This week though my sponsor and I got to meet up multiple days this week so we are getting back into the habit of not allowing me to isolate when I am struggling which for me is really difficult. When I struggle wether that is with eating disorder thoughts, urges to use or with C-PTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms my automatic thought is that I am weak or I should be over this already which then causes me to feel shame and because of that I isolate from the people who I care for the most. So this week I worked on not isolating and it feels good to know that I can get myself out of funky moods without engaging in negative coping skills. I am also grateful for today because I get to spend time with my sponsor later today. I am very excited because having connection is something that really improves my quality of life, strengthens my program, and helps me stay recovery minded. My theme for this year is healing through connection and positive action and by spending time with my sponsor and our family I am actively engaging in the theme for this year and for that I am truly grateful. I love being in recovery because even when I have bad moments during a day I can still see the positive impact staying clean has had on me because I am able to have bad moments instead of bad days. Today I am thinking a lot about my recovery and the growth I have experienced not only in recovery from anorexia and substance abuse but the growth I have experienced in life in general. Since being clean I have been able to realign myself with my values and I have been able to implement the spiritual principles of Narcotic Anonymous like honesty, hope, and willingness just to name a few in my daily life and not just recovery. So overall today has been a great day so far and its going to get even better because I get to go to an online Narcotics Anonymous for a  LGBTQIA+  speakers meeting so I am feeling very excited to go to the meeting and take a positive action step to implement more of a balance in my life between NA meetings and the rest of my life.  Thank you for reading my post I know they are long but most the time I feel like I have to explain in detail things because thats how I am able to process things so I do it because someone else may need the same amount of explanation. 

[shedoesrecover]

How I’m spending my evening in recovery tonight. Life is good, God is better. 💜

[faezrblazr]

From This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom by Martin Hägglund

This is going to be good.

[dorianmathay]

Home | Similes

Hey mom..happy Mothers'Day!

[deelitefulrecovery]

Surviving the Holidays in Recovery: A Guided Workbook for Self-Reflection, Relapse Prevention, and Emotional Resilience, Addiction recovery https://deelitefulrecovery.etsy.com/listing/1806322154/surviving-the-holidays-in-recovery-a . . . . . . . . . . #HolidayRecovery #soberholidays #addictionworkbook #relapseprevention #recoveryworkbook #SoberCommunity #sobriety #HolidayStressRelief #addictionjournal #soberlivingstyle #mentalhealth #therapistworksheets #addictioncounselor #peersupport

[moneyheist13]

[hiabiscus]

Grow Grow Grow...#Love yous

[sophie-frm-mars]

What's the difference between mutual aid and toxic codependency? Is relying on others an okay thing to do, or does it simply make one a burden to others? I ask because, as socialists, we talk a great deal about community and solidarity and argue against Reaganite/Thatcherite notions of "rugged individualism" and "self-reliance". But is it possible to take it too far in the other direction, where we focus too much on people supporting each other and too little on individual initiative?

Codependent was a concept developed in the 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous for relationships where people don't want to recover from addiction because it gives them emotional security to be enabling. The concept has spread around a lot since then into quite inappropriate usage, like you'll see Instagram posts that are like "never say I need you to your partner that's abuse" and like no it's not actually.

Nobody engaging in mutual aid is helping each other because they don't want the other person/people to get better.

Of course social structures have the potential to be cliquey or even culty if left unchecked, but that's why you organise into explicit democratic structures rather than just letting charismatic leaders take you for a ride

[scotianostra]

James Patrick Kinnon, commonly known as Jimmy K was born on April 5th 1911 in Paisley. Jimmy was the founder Narcotics Anonymous.

During his lifetime, he was usually referred to as "Jimmy K." due to NA's principle of personal anonymity on the public level. He never referred to himself as the founder of NA, although the record clearly shows that he played a founding role.

When Kinnon was seven years old he befriended a local alcoholic whom he referred to as Mr. Crookshank. Kinnon would often find him drunk and beaten. One day he found Crookshank badly beaten up and unresponsive. Kinnon ran for help. Over the following weeks Kinnon did not see Crookshank and, after numerous inquiries, his mother took him to see his friend. They went to an institution of which Crookshank was now a resident. He was wheelchair-bound and incoherent. Upon leaving the facility, Kinnon told his mother that when he grew up he was going to help people like Mr. Crookshank.

He and his parents moved to the United States in the 1920s settling in Philidelphia, while there he went to private school and had plans of entering the priesthood. He began using alcohol and pills which started his years of addiction until he got clean in 1950. He never followed through with his goal of becoming a priest. Kinnon stopped using all mood and mind-altering substances on 2 February 1950. He began attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

Jimmy K. met others members in AA had struggled with drug addiction in the past. He and other members started putting together their own meetings to address drug addiction. They of course, were not yet called Narcotic Anonymous. But Jimmy and the other members wanted to start a fellowship for drug addiction as many people suffered from it.

In 1953, they were given permission by the Alcoholics Anonymous organization to use the 12 steps and 12 traditions for their own fellowship. It is then that Narcotics Anonymous was formed officially. Jimmy K. continued to help people with drug addiction which also helped them stay sober. He stayed focused on his goal of creating this fellowship even through the rough times.

Most of Narcotics Anonymous early literature was written by Jimmy Kinnon and is still used worldwide today in over 62,800 NA meetings. Jimmy stayed clean and worked with the organization for the next thirty five years, he died of lung cancer in 1985.

[persephassax]

Roy Harper and Addiction Recovery Models

This is a bit of a weird one. I want to preface with: I have not ever been in addiction recovery. And I’m not here to judge what works for any given individual.

So Alcoholics Anonymous (and Narcotics Anonymous) is probably the most recognizable substance abuse recovery program, certainly in the United States, and possibly in the English-speaking world.

AA is also an abstinence focused recovery program (and as any discussion about abstinence only education regarding ANYTHING will reveal…. Abstinence has some serious limitations) with a heavily Christian background. It pioneered the 12-step program where the goal, to quote the Wikipedia article on AA, “is to effect enough change in the alcoholic's thinking "to bring about recovery from alcoholism" through "an entire psychic change," or spiritual awakening.”

All of this is to get to two main points:

The personal moral deficit implicit in the AA program

The concern about abstinence focused recovery programs

AA has helped people I know and if it has helped you or people you know, that’s awesome — I’m glad it did and I wish you and your loved ones continued health and happiness through whatever programs or choices best support those goals and outcomes.

I’m not sure AA would be the best choice for someone like Roy Harper. Also, I would be interested in seeing a wider range of substance abuse recovery models represented in popular media and/or fan fiction.

AA is based in a very Protestant mindset (the perceived personal moral deficit embedded in the philosophy of the program) where basically one has lost control over their alcohol intake. But if we look at less spiritual and more scientifically oriented views of substance abuse, we see it less of a “loss of control” as a personal failing and more as the result of a variety of factors—genetic, psychological, and bio-chemical. Regardless of which model you apply, the solution usually requires significant changes to lifestyle, habits, and personal conduct. But the method by which we understand and achieve those changes will differ.

Why the heck am I talking about this?

I read a fanfic where Roy had to reset his sobriety to “0” (per the 12-Step model) because he got dosed in fight with a mix of fear-toxin and heroin. The story wasn’t even about that, nor was it really about Roy following the AA program or his recovery or any of that. But I personally had to hit that back button and nope out of there because I was SO ANGRY on Roy’s behalf that he was trapped in a system that declared that the vile actions of OTHERS should set back his personal development.

The complete lack of distinction between “exposure” and “relapse” made me apoplectic.

Now, I imagine that, given that AA chapters are largely self-organized, the specifics of how the 12-Step program philosophy is applied varies a bit from group to group, this depiction of getting set back to “0” is not out of line with the fundamentals of the 12-Step process as I understand it.

(This is leaving aside the questions raised by what the neuro-chemical impact of mixing fear toxin with heroin would be.)

I think it could be really interesting to see a Roy whose heroin addiction recovery program includes the use of methadone. I think we could also spend some time looking into the differences between things like heroin dependency and alcohol dependency (shout out to the changes in N52 that everyone hated!!!) — in many ways alcohol dependence can be a much more dangerous habit to kick (going cold turkey from alcohol can be extremely dangerous in ways that going cold turkey from heroin isn’t. Fun fact!) But also alcohol has been a part of human culture since we first left a jar of fruit in the sun to ferment— and as a major part of the social culture is something that one might prefer to learn to manage or develop a new relationship with rather than simply cutting it out of one’s life completely. (I know some former alcoholics who don’t abstain completely, but I imagine there are certain things they don’t drink and certain context they don’t drink in.)

My point is: Roy Harper is an interesting guy, and I think he could be an avenue for us all to develop more nuanced and varied understandings of addiction and recovery. And I also, personally, don’t think that the AA model would be healthful for his psychology as I understand it.

That having been said, I will end this post on the Serenity Prayer written in the early 1930s and popularized via the YMCA and AA among other organizations. It is something I think of often:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, / Courage to change the things which should be changed / and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

(This version does not appear before 1951, but it’s the version I am most familiar with.)

Thank you for coming to my weird rant. Please, take it all with a grain of salt. And with the spirit it is intended, which is mostly to try and encourage people to expand the representations of addiction recovery models because I think that would be cool!

[faezrblazr]

From Just For Today NA

I've known for a long time that I'm an emotional well. I can get, on my own and through drugs and alcohol, extremely deep into my own misery.

The trick is to realize that misery isn't the only thing in the well. I have the capacity for great joy as well. I guess I just have to practice. And stay sober.