Winter 2013 News and Views

7/30/2019 Winter 2013 News and Views

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Inspirations

VACI relieves eating disorderby Hope12, as posted on the SMART Message Boards

One of the many things I have learnedthrough SMART is there are alterna-tive ways to escape pain. Something

that has helped me is the cultivation ofa VACI Vital Absorbing CreativeInterest to ward off addictive feel-ings. Soon after I joined SMART, Idecided to involve myself in a VACI.In the past couple of days, I have usedVACI again, and it has helped me getback on course with avoiding triggerfoods to numb some holiday pain. I

Bringing Science and Reason to Self-Help with Addictive Behavior Volume 19, Issue 1

Winter 2013A. Thomas Horvath, PhD, President Rosemary Almond, Editor

(Continued on page 2)

he SMART Recovery(Self-Management AndRecovery Training)

program helps individualsgain independence fromaddictive behavior.

Our efforts are based on

scientific knowledge and evolve

as scientific knowledge evolves.

The program offers specific tools andtechniques for each of the program points:

Point #1: Building and MaintainingMotivation

Point #2: Coping with Urges

Point #3: Managing Thoughts, Feelings,and Behaviors

Point #4: Living a Balanced Life

T

The SMART Recovery4-Point Program

I think ANY activity that is enjoyableand absorbing at the same time is effec-tive. I can testify to this.

I decided to take up crochet. And Ilove it. Its really, really easy (easier than

knitting, I feel). If you mess up, its

Inside:Inspirations

VACI relieves eating disorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

4-Point Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A note of encouragement to all (hopefully) . . . .2

People Power

A well earned thanks and a muchdeserved welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Its awesome being a facilitator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Faces & Voices of Recovery/ARCO ExecutiveDirectors Leadership Academy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

SMART Ideas

SMART Recovery: growing ourpresence in PA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Why should I??? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Matrix: oops! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Life In Recovery Survey.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

SMART Progress

2012 annual conference a great learningexper ience for al l ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Help us grow SMART Recovery!. . . . . . . . . . . .13

SMART Recovery Online update . . . . . . . . . . .14Court status update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

SMART events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Presidents Letter

Mutual help group parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Book Review

Almost Alcoholic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

International Development

SMART Recovery Australiacelebrates 10th anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

SMART Recovery Alberta update . . . . . . . . . . .19

want to tell you about my VACI. AndI would love to hear about yours!

A VACI is an activity that youenjoy doing, which absorbs your atten-tion, (diverting it away from addictive

thoughts). Examples are photography,painting, writing, playing an instru-ment, playing sports, and other hobbiesor recreational activities. After I joinedSMART and heard about the power ofa VACI, I decided to take up one. Ithought and thought and thought. Istarted to focus on a couple of things.My life included a lot of frequent travelto help take care of a parent withserious cancer. Also, most of my binge-eating occurred on the couch of myliving room. So I decided I wanted tobe able to engage in my VACI while Iwas traveling away from home, andwhile I was sitting on my couch.

Some people say a VACI needs to bea big-time creative activity, in whichyou write like Steinbeck or play a jazzinstrument like Miles Davis. I disagree.

Please note: Rosemary Almond, News & Views Editor extraordinaire, is currently focused on helping the Document Update Team complete anew and improved SMART Recovery Handbook. As a result, this issue of the News & Views has been loosely edited by staff. Please focus on the

excellent content, and if you encounter a grammatical error, typo, etc., please be reminded of how grateful we are for Rosemarys editing skills.


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Published by the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Self-Help Network, Inc. D.B.A. SMART Recovery

7304 Mentor Avenue, Suite F, Mentor, OH 44060 Phone: 440/951-5357 Fax: 440/951-5358 E-mail: [email protected]

SMART Recovery News & Views Volume 19, Issue 1 Winter 2013 Page

simple to fix. It does NOT take a lot ofcomplex thinking, which I CANNOTdo when I am upset and want to binge. Ilike to write. In fact, I am working on abook right now. When I am upset

enough to want to binge-eat, though, Icannot write like Steinbeck, believe me.Its hard for me to put two simplethoughts together in such challengingmoments. So I pick up my crochet!!!It keeps my hands busy. It absorbs myattention. And I feel better!! So Idont want to binge!! I think there maybe some science behind this. I readsomewhere that hobbies we enjoy causethe brain to release dopamine, a feel-good hormone.

What do I crochet? you may ask. Istarted out with small things, your basiccrocheted dishrags (we have all probablyseen our grandmothers make these). Theyare simple, and finish quickly, so you havesomething nice to show soon for yourefforts: a quick reward another feel-good benefit. I decided to make these andgive them away. People loved them. Itwas fun picking out the colors of yarn togo with my friends kitchens, then giving

them to those grateful friends.Now I make afghans, big, beautiful

ones. I dont care how long they take tofinish, because I love the process. Insteadof horrible memories of binges, I have thisbig, beautiful thing to show for my time. Ilove planning the colors, changing outyarns to make stripes of new colors. I feelso relaxed when I pick it up and work onit. I have noticed that even my husbandfeels relaxed when I am working on it. Iuse a simple stitch, and create a pattern

just by starting a different color yarn occa-sionally. My husband told me last nightthat I am a crochartist.

When I am involved in my VACI,food thoughts disappear, including those

sad, scared, angry, and irritable ones. TheVACI was so helpful for handling diffi-cult feelings that I used to carry it intothe waiting rooms of doctors offices withmy mother while she had cancer. She

saw the benefits, and she started doing it,too. While we waited to hear the resultsof her cancer tests, we crocheted away!Other patients watched intently, and Ithink they may have thought, Thats agood idea to calm your nerves outside ofa doctors office. My mother made abeautiful baby afghan for her newborngrandson. He loves it to this day and willsomeday understand the story behind it.

Keeping my hands busy is just gener-ally good for my eating disorder.

Do you have a VACI? What is it? Iinvite you to post about yours. It will behelpful to everyone to learn some newways to get away from unhealthy addic-tive thoughts.

A note of encouragementto all (hopefully)by 1plowman, SMART Message Board Volunteer

For me, telling my story, is very

strengthening and empowering. WhenI first joined SMART (Nov. 2011)however, like many, I wanted toremain anonymous (thats why theusername Plowman; I plow snow fora living in the winter). I guess theres acertain amount of guilt or shame thatcomes when you realize you have anaddictive behavior that YOU cantcontrol. Well, the encouraging part ofthis story is, SMART has helped me tochange ALL of that.

Like many teens in the 60s (I amnow 62), I had the choice of usingdrugs, alcohol, or both. My DOC (drugof choice) was alcohol. So, for 45+years alcohol was a part of my life.

(BTW, my high school sweetheart isstill my wife after 43 years, and shenever has used alcohol). However, inthe last 5 or maybe 10 years, I noticedmy increasing use and focus around

alcohol. I guess you could say it was anatural progression after so many yearsof drinking. My wife noticed it too. Oneday she made the statement Im tiredof living with a drunkard. Funny, Inever saw myself that way . But,she was right, and fortunately for me, Idecided to quit (although I had quitmany times before). After a Googlesearch, I chose to look into SMARTRecovery (it was the first one I noticedthat was free).

Well, fast forward 6+ months Irecently completed the FAST DistanceTraining (which I would recommend foreveryone). I now spend quite a lot of timeon the Message Board as a volunteer. Theprimary tools that have been helpful arethe CBA (Cost/Benefit Analysis), HOV(Hierarchy of Values), playing the tapeforward, and urge surfing.

BUT, for me, it has been the peoplehere at SMART who have really empow-

ered me on my journey. I wont mentionany names or usernames (you know whoyou are) so as not to embarrass anyone.Every time I go to SROL (SMARTRecovery On-Line), I find something thatencourages me to continue to abstainfrom alcohol. Usually it is a post from oneof you, from the newbie who is juststarting out, to the seasoned veteran.

Occasionally, I get to join a meeting,either text or voice, and am continuallyimpressed by those who facilitate thesemeetings. Your value here cannot beover-stated. So, I could go on, and on,and on, and on but youre probablygetting the idea anyway. I think its prob-ably a good time to end this post.

Inspirations Continued
mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=http://www.smartrecovery.org/http://www.smartrecovery.org/mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=


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Before I go, THANK YOU ALL,from my wife and children and grand-sons (3), but mostly from me. YOUSMART people are the greatest. LetsALL keep up this fine work, OK?

Hoping you have a great day.

People Power

A well earned thanks and a muchdeserved welcome

John Boren, PhD has well served theSMART Recovery Board of Directors for16 years. Dr. Boren now lives in NorthCarolina and has decided that it is time

to retire and welcome new faces to theSMART Board. Before he concludes histenure, we want to publicly recognize hismany faithful years of service. Johnbegan his activities with SMART as aVolunteer Advisor in the Washington,DC area, and hehas mentoredmany newmeeting facilita-tors over theyears. Due to hisscientific perspec-tive and caringattitude aboutaddiction issues atboth the nationaland internationallevel (working at

NIDA the

National Instituteon Drug Abuse)John has beeninvaluable to the SMART Boardand staff.

For many years, John served onSMARTs Finance Committee where hehelped SMART Recovery determinewhere best to invest funds, once the orga-nization reached a point whereinvestments were feasible. Through hisguidance and leadership, SMART

Recovery was able to avert more than onefinancial crisis. But thats not the wholestory, for Dr. Boren also provided a signifi-cant number of personal donations overthe years. It is difficult to say whether wewould have survived these crises withouthis personal dedication and financialcontributions. Thank you, John!

Never afraid to be a lone voice ofdissent on any given issue, John has keptthe board focused and contemplative on

all issues. Perhaps his greatest gift hasbeen the time and energy he has givenin a selfless manner to make SMARTRecovery what it is today financiallystrong, growing rapidly and enjoyingsignificant respect throughout the

recovery community. And, while Johncontinues to stay active on the locallevel, we simply want to say John,thank you for your wisdom, your dedica-tion, your mentorship, and your financialsupport. We could not have reached this

level of successwithout you.

In with the newWere pleased toannounce a new addi-tion to the Board ofDirectors, PatrickGarnett of Chicago.Heres what some ofthose who nominatedPatrick for the Boardhad to say:

Patrick has showngreat leadership andguidance for the

Chicago recovery community. He under-stands and lives the program. Hismeetings and presentations to groupsand students create energy and excite-ment. Patricks not just able to spreadthe message, hes able to get peopleinvolved and motivate them to make adifference. He shares his personal storyand hope with so many.

As a lecturer at NorthwesternUniversitys School of Education andSocial Policy (SESP), I invited Patrick topresent quarterly to my undergraduatestudents. Patrick offers an honest accountof his experiences with addiction that ledhim to his involvement with SMARTRecovery. In addition to sharing anec-dotes, he provides a comprehensiveoverview of the values and principles atthe heart of SMART Recovery, includingcritiques of the SMART Recovery

program and its benefits compared toother recovery programs. My studentshave the opportunity to ask him questionsand challenge his ideas. I have knownPatrick for eight years now. In all thistime, I have never seen him as focused

Patrick receiving the 2012 Outreach Champion of the Year Award fromSMART Recovery Executive Director, Shari Allwood

Inspirations Continued


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and passionate as he has been workingwith SMART Recovery in Chicago. It isextremely clear to me that Patrick cares agreat deal about the SMART Recoverymovement. He will be an asset to your

Board of Directors. I have no doubt thathe will bring to your team his energy, hisinsights, his creativity, his patience, andhis kind nature.

Having been a SMART facilitatorsince 2006, when I met Patrick I wasimmediately impressed with his motiva-tion and dedication to, and knowledge of,the SMART program. I continue to beimpressed with his unflagging efforts tohelp communities, clinicians and individ-

uals become aware of SMART Recovery.He has a broad perspective on peer grouprecovery that I believe will make him agenuine asset to the Board of Directors.

Welcome, Patrick! You are a greataddition to our team.

Its awesome being a facilitatorby Elke, Facilitator Sandy Hill Community Health Center,

Ottawa, Canada

When I was asked whether Id be inter-

ested in writing a short article about myexperiences facilitating SMART groups,I was thrilled. One of the main reasonsfor this is that this request has given methe perfect opportunity to take sometime to reflect on what has made facili-tation so rewarding. With a busyschedule, I find it can be challenging tosometimes remember (and make it apriority!) to pause long enough toreflect on things. So now is my chance thank you for the opportunity!

There are three main things, whichstand out for me, in terms of what makesSMART facilitation so special: (1) thevariety and efficacy of the tools, (2) thechance to co-facilitate with other like-minded and inspirational people, as well

as (3) the groupdynamics which canbe fostered within aSMART group.

In terms of the

tools, I appreciatehow many there arebecause this allowsfor a wider selectionof choices for a largevariety of tastes andissues. Since one sizereally cant fit all, Isay, The more thebetter. I also enjoythe fact that thereare a few thera-

peutic traditionsrepresented in thearray of tools andnot just one or two.As much as I verymuch value CBT

and REBT, I also believe in the healingpower of, for example, focusing on valuesand meaning-making, such as we do withthe Hierarchy of Values. For me, thiscombination of tools and traditions makes

for the possibility of a deeper (and poten-tially more healing) connection with theself and, by extension, with others.

In terms of co-facilitation, I realize thatnot all SMART support groups mighthave this as a part of how they work, butsince Ive found it to be so rewarding, Ithought Id at least briefly mention ithere. Having someone else in the roomrunning things with me has helped me tobroaden my way of working with groupsand since we also have some important

shared values and attitudes (like strivingto meet people where theyre at), theseaspects have helped to make the wholeexperience very rewarding and inspiring.Furthermore, since my co-facilitatorsalways bring their unique personalitiesand perspectives into the room as well,the opportunities for mutual learning areendless. Meeting attendees have alsocommented on how they enjoy the waywe tend to complement one another withour different strengths, along with ourlittle quirks.

And finally, group dynamics: Ivesaved the best for last. My favorite partof facilitation has been having thehonor and privilege of watchingstrangers, from all walks of life, cometogether to mutually inspire and supportone another on their paths. Theamount of genuine sharing and encour-agement Ive witnessed has been anincredible inspiration. I attribute this

first and foremost to the amazing peoplewho come to our support group meet-ings. Having said that, I also firmlybelieve that the non-shaming, open,non-judgmental environment providedby the SMART framework also plays an

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People Power Continued


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important part, and participants regu-larly tell us how comfortable and safethey feel when they attend our meet-ings. I firmly believe that this type ofmeeting environment allows and

encourages participants to talk abouttheir struggles (blips, slips, unhealthythoughts/urges, relapses, etc.).Accordingly, this attitude fosters greatertrust and ease for participants to movebeyond their current challenges inmuch more positive and life-enhancingways. How can true change happenwithout an open, non-judgmental envi-ronment? I think that thats a tough setof criteria to beat.

Thank you for the opportunity toshare and wishing you all much successand joy with your own SMART groups.

Warm regards and happy holidays.

Faces & Voices of Recovery/ARCO Executive DirectorsLeadership Academyby Shari Allwood, Executive Director, SMART Recovery

For several years, SMART has been

familiar with and supportive of Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR)as they strive to share andpromote the positive impact ofpeople in recovery. In 2012, weapplied for membership in theirAssociation of RecoveryCommunity Organizations(ARCO). While SMART hasmeetings in a growing number ofcommunities throughout the US,were a bit on the fringe when

it comes to those organizationsfully operating from within acommunity. In comparison,SMART impacts communities,but isnt centered in one.Regardless, our membership

application was approved by ARCO. Asa result, on November 29 December1st, I had an amazing experienceattending the 2nd Annual ARCOExecutive Directors Leadership

Academy. I attended anticipating not allinformationwould be 100%applicable to me/SMART, andthey readilyaccepted myparticipationwith the fringefactor in place. Iwas delighted,but unsure of the

outcome of myparticipation.

It was one ofthe most amazingexperiences inmy 18 years withSMART. I wentinto the confer-ence fullyrealizing thatmost of the organizations would be

12-step. And thats good by me, as theyprovide an amazing array of serviceshousing, job training, employment, etc.

And, yes, the attendees were mostly12-step. But, FAVOR embraces manypathways to recovery. Perfect.

One of the speakers was PatrickKennedy (as if he requires an intro).

Hes an amazing advocate for people inrecovery. I washonored to be ina room with him.But, by the thirdday, I was equallyastonished by somany of theattending execu-tive directors.Their passion,dedication andenthusiasm atvery least matchPatrick Kennedys and mine.And theyinspired me somuch!

Im sharing aphoto of PatrickKennedy and my

guru of recovery advocacy, Pat Taylor,

Executive Director of FAVOR. But, howabout that photo of me and Darren,

recent grad of our distancetraining who four weeksprior started a meeting atthe Maine Alliance forAddiction Recovery inAugusta, Maine???(Pat should be jealous.) ;)

Then there was Lisa, anExecutive Director fromthe DC area who attendsand loves SMART meet-ings. Wow. And thegentleman who is begin-ning a recovery communityorganization who lamentedthat he and our SMART

Patrick Kennedy with Pat Taylor, Executive Director, FAVOR

Shari with Darren Ripley, Facilitator, Augusta, Maine SMART meeting, and Executive Director ofthe Maine Alliance for Addiction Recovery



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Hugh in Maryland havent connected,but he vows they will. Another favoriteMary Jo from Salt Lake City said Oh, Icant wait to tell Michael I met Sharifrom SMART. Michael, a volunteer at

Mary Jos facility, recently trained andstarted a SMART meeting, and she saidhe has leadership skills shining throughthat had previously been less evident, andshe continued by saying that hes anamazing front man for SMART andtheir facility. Then there was Gretchenfrom San Diego, who asked if I knew TomHorvath. Sounds vaguely familiar. ;) Shewants more info about our Family &Friends meetings online and in SanDiego. Id previously communicated with

Donna Conley, from Ohio CitizenAdvocates, and met her face to face!Well be in touch to determine how wecan be helpful to one another. Then therewas Tim, who hasnt gone a week withoutan AA meeting in 31 years. He likesAlbert Ellis, but feels lifetime meetingattendance is key. It is for him.Wouldnt try to convince him otherwiseafter he came through a massive heroinand alcohol addiction and now enjoys aproductive and rich life. Its working foryou? Stick with it whatever it is!

One of the really amazing thingswas where the event was hosted atPRO-ACTs Recovery Center. Day one

was hosted attheir jobtrainingcenter. Daytwo at theircommunitycenter, housedin the heart ofthe inner citywhere theneed is truly greatest. Their volunteers

rival ours enthusiastic, grateful fortheir recovery, and delighted to host abunch of executive directors fromaround the country. So proud to show

off their center. And the beauty of itis it IS their facility.

Many of these Recovery CommunityOrganizations focus on and bring inthe local community to plan and run

activities, much like we do withcommittees on the Central Officelevel, and many of our volunteers doon the local level. We joined thevolunteers and local center attendeesfor fun Friday. And fun, it truly was!Their two recent Recovery Idolwinners wowed us with some amazing

vocal talent (along with a great choir),

and Grammy award winner Bunny Siglerhad everyone singing and dancing!(Who said recovery cant be fun?)

Big thanks to FAVOR for allowingmy participation. Big thanks to the

Help yourself or a loved one.

The Life Process Program

is an 8-week residential Life skills/

cognitive behavior training program that offers an alternative

to 12-step drug rehab and alcoholism treatment programs.

Call toll free

888-778-5833

The Life Process Program is the most advanced addic-

tion-prevention program available in the U.S. today

Stanton Peele, PhD, JD

adve

rtisement

Fun Friday at PRO-ACT the choir of recovered participants, and Bunny Sigler provided outstanding entertainment!



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amazingly talented leaders of RecoveryCommunity Organizations for theirwarm welcome to me. And may we allcontinue to collectively move forwardto ensure people in need receive all

the services and programs they deserveto achieve recovery.

SMART Ideas

SMART Recovery: growing ourpresence in PAby Holly Hartman, Facilitator, [email protected]

In January of this year, my co-facilitator,Dennis Dougherty, and I started the firstand only open SMART Recoverymeeting in the state of Pennsylvania.Early on, one of questions new attendeesfrequently asked us, and often with great

emotion, was Why didnt anybody tellus you were here??? Clearly, there was aneed for outreach a need to let folksknow our group existed. So over themonths since then and now, Dennis andI have been working hard to make folksin our area aware that SMARTRecovery is an option available to themthrough our face-to-face weekly meet-ings and through on-line services.

Along the way, weve learned some

things that we thought might be helpfulto pass along. One of the biggest thingswe learned was about the existence ofsome very receptive target audiences. Aswe reached out to recovery serviceproviders (treatment centers, countyDrug & Alcohol Departments and ther-

apists) by mailing them invitations toattend a seminar about SMARTRecovery for providers, we found thatproviders of long-term replacement ther-apies for opioid dependence wereparticularly receptive to hearing aboutour program. They were very excited tohear about the availability of a recoveryprogram that has no objection to the useof psychotropic medications when theyare prescribed by professionals who maylegally prescribe them. Other providerswe contacted have also been receptive even those who didnt attend theseminar as evidenced by their referralsof clients to our group.

Other groups we found to be especiallyreceptive were atheist, non-believer andsecular organizations. Recently, I had theprivilege of making a presentation about

SMART Recovery to the PA StateAtheist/Humanist Conference and also tohave a display table there. Their responseto our program was overwhelming! Theywere thrilled to hear about the avail-ability of a program for recovery that isnon-religious and non-12-step. Duringthe lunch break, I was visited by so manypeople inquiring about the program that Inever got a chance to eat my lunch. Andwhen I went to gather materials from thedisplay table at the end of the conference,

they were ALL gone. Only the posterremained. I was told that the materialshad been taken for sharing with Stateofficials (with whom one group would bemeeting the next day) and for sharingwith interested members of a non-believers organization who were not ableto attend the conference. After theconference, I received e-mails from a teenattendee who was interested in starting aSMART Recovery group at her school,and from an adult attendee who wasinterested in learning about how he couldvolunteer with SMART Recovery.

In addition to tips about receptiveaudiences, we have a few other tips toshare about what is working for us. Oneof them is that having our group listed on

the SMART Recovery website is veryimportant. Numerous participants haveindicated they found us that way,including one who recently completedtreatment at a facility in California. Hetold us that the facility recommendedSMART Recovery to him as a preferredaftercare option saying, You just dontknow how lucky you are to have thatsupport option available to you in yourcommunity! Another is that havingbusiness cards printed that include ourgroup location, meeting times andcontact information has proven veryeffective for us. The cards are easy forfolks to carry with them and distribute.And supplying service providers withthem makes it easy for providers to givetheir clients information about our group.

As the result of these and other effort

were happy to say that our group hasremained viable through its first year.We are frequently privileged to greetnew members. Moving forward, weanticipate continued growth of ourgroup and, being ever optimistic, wehope to see the start-up of some newgroups in our area in the near future.

Why should I???by Jim Braastad, SMART Recovery Distance Training Coordinator

email: [email protected]

I think its pretty safe to say thatEVERYONE could come up with atleast one instance in their life where theWhy should I? question has poppedup. Personally, I can think ofSEVERAL! When growing up, I recallmany times my parents used the authori-tarian approach in response to thatquestion, simply stating Because I saidso. At the time, I was in no position toargue and begrudgingly did what I HADto do!

It is the desire of SMART to have allmeeting facilitators and volunteerscomplete the Get SMART FASTDistance Training Program; however,this training is required of all new



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meeting facilitators and volunteers.Having trained facilitators and volun-teers is something that sets us apart fromother mutual aid support groups, and webelieve it is important for our volunteers

to be on the same page regarding whowe are, what we do and how we do it.This provides both quality and consis-tency in our meetings and onlineactivities, no matter where they takeplace. This quality and consistency isobtained through participation in ourtraining program.

For the most part, this require-ment has been readily accepted, asmost agree and understand the need ofthis quality and consistency in ourprogram. However, not everyone hasembraced this with open arms and theWhy should I? question has come up.The authoritarian approach could beused and policy could be set thateveryone MUST complete thetraining, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.But that isnt a very SMARTapproach; it goes against what we do.So the approach Im going to take hereis to answer the ques-

tion with a questionand ask Whyshouldnt you?

In both questions,youll notice instancesof should andshouldnt some-thing SMARTRecovery teaches tobe both aware andcautious of, suggestingexploration of the

thoughts and beliefsbehind them. We justso happen to have atool to help in thatexploration processthe ABCs of REBT

#2 (Emotional Upsets). An ABC exer-cise might look something like this:

A (activating event): Being requestedto complete the SMART Recoverytraining program.

B (beliefs): This is TOTALLY unrea-sonable. I SHOULDNT be asked todo this! I know the SMARTRecovery program Ive beenholding a meeting successfully for XXnumber of(months/years), so ISHOULDNT have to do this! Itllbe a waste of my time I wont learnanything new!

C (consequent emotions and behav-iors): Disbelief, frustration, anger.

D (dispute): When looking at the bigpicture of things, is this requestreally unreasonable? WhySHOULDNT I be asked to do this?Is there any evidence that Im beingsingled-out? Is there evidence thatIm being questioned on my ability toconduct a SMART Recoverymeeting? Has anyone said or impliedthe training I previously receivedwasnt adequate? Do I know for a fact

that I wont learn anything new Iwont get something from my partici-pation in the training program? Do Ireally know all there is to know aboutSMART, facilitating a meeting, etc.?

E (effective new philosophy/beliefs):There is no evidence this request isunreasonable. Yes, it may be aninconvenience and may encroach ina small way into my free time, but Iam a part of the SMART organiza-tion and I want to be the best I canbe in my role. Im not being singledout in this request, nor am I beingquestioned on my abilities. In fact,when looking at the big picture ofthe long-term growth and success of

SMART Recovery, it actually makesa lot of sense! With my past experi-ence, the training will likely be rathereasy for me to complete, and my priorexperiences may benefit others.Heck! I can probably even teach theteachers a thing or two!

What would your ABC exercise looklike? One might also utilize the CBAtool on this, listing the costs and

These

toolsinclude:

SMART Recovery Program Tools & Techniques

SMART's 4-Point Program uses many tools and tech-niques that may help you gain independence fromaddictive behavior.

ChangePlanWorksheet Cost/BenetAnalysis ABCsofREBT(RationalEmotiveBehaviorTherapy)forUrgeCoping

ABCsofREBTforEmotionalUpsets DISARM(DestructiveImagesSelf-talkAwarenessandRefusalMethod)

Brainstorming Role-playingandRehearsing HierarchyofValues

We encourage you

to learn how to use

each tool and to

practice the tools

and techniques

to help you

progress toward

Point 4: Living

a Balanced Life.

SMART Ideas Continued


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benefits of participating in the trainingprogram. (HINT: If you do either or bothof these exercises on this, SAVE ACOPY, as youll have already completedpart of the training exercises in the course.

It wont be anything new thoughtaking the training has been the subjectof ABC and CBA exercises from othertraining participants.)

When it comes to the trainingprogram, Ill be the first to admit Imbiased. Ive been involved for 3 yearsnow, and have gone through 27 (soon tobe 28) completed training sessions(including the one I originally took as aparticipant in May 2009). I have notyet to become bored, nor would I be sobold to say thatI know it all.

The training course is designed toallow participants to gain and broadentheir knowledge and skills, not onlyfrom the course materials, but from thelife experiences and perspectives sharedby the other participants. In any givensession, theres a broad mix of partici-pants from throughout the U.S. andCanada, with varying backgrounds andwalks of life. Its common to have

participants from countries around theworld as well. This past year, weve hadparticipants from Chile, China,Denmark, Iceland, India, Ireland andSouth Africa joining us. Each trainingsession brings a change in the groupdynamics and another opportunity tolearn something new. It hasnt failed meyet! It is these little added lessons thatmake each training session so differentfrom each other keeping me comingback for more!

So thats my long answer to theWhy should I? question. Whats theshort answer, you might ask? Becauseyou should

On the training website (http://www.smartrecovery.org/moodle/), one canview some of the feedback wevereceived, some being from experiencedfacilitators whove completed the

training. Im not asking you to take my(or anyone elses) word on it! Find outand make the determination yourself byjoining us in one of the upcomingtraining sessions. We arent going toMAKE you do it we hope that youCHOOSE to! We know youll find itworth your small investment of time.

The Matrix: oops!by Hank Robb, PhD, ABPP

What do you do when you screw up?Well, I tell people that the thing to do isadmit error, try to fix it if you can, and trynot to make the same error in the future.This article will be my latest chance topractice what I preach!

My last column (fall issue, 2012) wasabout a tool developed by two staff at theVeterans Hospital in Togus, Maine; KevinPolk, PhD and his colleague JeroldHambright, PhD. I went on to talk abouthis tool, The Matrix, during the fall

FUNdraiser. However, I realized I failed toexplain it correctly on both occasionswhen I attended a training program andsomeone else began explaining TheMatrix, the tool not the movie! OK, stepone done: I admitted my mistake. Now,on to my effort to fix my error.

I previously wrote, [t]he aim of thetool is to help a person identify if his orher thoughts, images and actions aremoving the person toward, or away from,

what the person would choose to makeimportant in his or her life. What Ishould have said is, the aim of the tool isto help a person identify if her responsesto thoughts, images and sensations aremoving the person toward what a person

would make important in life or awayfrom painful experiences. You can see thedifference when you think about theconcepts of going and leaving. Youcant go some place without leaving some

place else. However, the point of youraction may be to go toward or it may beto get away from. When I go fishing,is the point actually to fish or to getaway from home and work. I cant gofishing without leaving home and work,but the leaving might not be the point.Then again it might be. You cant reallytell simply by looking at an action inisolation what the point of the action is.Thus, the same action might be taken topursue the good stuff, or escape, or

avoid, the bad stuff. Greek sages aresupposed to have encouraged any whowould listen to know thy self. And, ifeveryone was already doing that, therewould be no point in telling individualsthat theyd be wise to start.

As I rightly stated in my previousarticle, The Matrix is formed by two linesthat cross. The horizontal line dividesthe world inside ones skin from the worldoutside ones skin. Importantly, it divides

thoughts, feelings, images, memories, etc.from things we actually can experiencewith our five senses: touch, sight, smell,taste and hearing. Along with our fivesenses are the actions we take in theworld outside our skin while along withthe first group are the actions we can taketo affect things inside our skin, forexample, trying to change a thought or animage. So the discrimination provided bythe first line looks like this:

Five Senses + Actions We TakeWith Our Body

______________________________

Mental Events (Thoughts, Feelings,

Images, etc.) + Mental Actions



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SMART Recovery News & Views Volume 19, Issue 1 Winter 2013 Page 1

When I talked about the vertical, orcenter, line, I also rightly said the furtherright from the centerline, the more youare moving toward what you wouldchoose to make important in your life.

However, I wrongly said, [t]he further tothe left of the centerline, the furtheraway from what you would choose tomake important. What I should havesaid was: the further to the left of thecenterline, the more you are focused ongetting away from painful experiences.So, the discrimination provided by thesecond line should have looked like this:

It is certainly true that if you are tryingto get away from painful experiences, youalso may be moving away from what youwant to make important in your life.However, that is what the tool helps youto realize. It isnt what you already have tounderstand in order to use the tool. To sayit in a slightly different way, the tool helps

you see that when you have painfulthoughts and feelings, you COULD, evenwith those painful thoughts and feelings,also move toward the things you want tomake important in your life. And, thetool helps you see that when your move isto escape, avoid or, generally speaking,get away from painful thoughts and feel-ings, the things you do in the service ofthose ends also, as an important sideeffect, take you away from what you wantto make important. You didnt INTEND

to move away from what you wouldchoose to make important. That just turnsout to be an unfortunate consequence ofadopting the get-away-from-painful-thoughts-and-feelings move. The strategyhas the result of moving you away from

what you want to make important in yourlife, even if all you were trying to do wasget away from pain.

The tool aims to help those who use itto more readily see the how a high focus

on either the strategy of get away from,or the strategy of go toward works inpractice. When you are highly focused onget away from, you are very likely to dothings that do, indeed, get you awayfrom painful thoughts and feelings, andat the same time, move you away fromthe very things you would make impor-tant in your life. Conversely, the tool alsolets you see that when you put a highfocus on go toward, you, indeed, can doso even as you also take painful thoughtsand feelings along for the ride. To use theSMART Recovery motto, the tool helpsyou open up the power of choice!

Hopefully, readers have now seenthat I have admitted my error and triedto straighten out my previouslycrooked presentation. While I alsopromise to try to do better in the future,we will have to wait in order to find outif I do. However, one thing worthnoticing right now is one of the big

helps in both admitting my error andtrying to correct it: USA,Unconditional Self Acceptance. Did Ioriginally do a less than great, even acrappy, job in making the presenta-tion I wished to make YES I DID!And do I have to buy that this makesme a piece of crap? NO, NO, NO, I DO

NOT! Sure, I could have admitted errorand tried to correct it while also buyinginto What a stupid looser you are!,but it sure would have been a lot harder.

Why? Because I would have admittedmy error and made my correction whilefeeling even worse about that error!The pain of my now publicly exposederror is pain enough! I dont have toadd more suffering by buying into the

nonsense that crappy behavior makesthe author of that behavior, namely me,a piece of crap. Perhaps just as impor-tantly, I can also recognize that I dontnow rise to one of the elect and select

and better than all those non-admit-ters and non-correcters by admitting,and attempting to correct, my mistake.I remain what I always have been andalways will be. Just one more member ofthat naturally mistake-making bunchcalled The Human Family. It may alsobe true that my error wasnt that bad.

No one died. Not even a drop of bloodwas spilled. However, the size of oneserror isnt the issue when it comes torating ones personhood. Whether my

errors are GREAT or small, I still canunconditionally accept myself and themore each of us practice doing so, thebetter each of us will get at achievingUSA, USA, USA!

Life In Recovery SurveyFaces & Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) isconducting the first nationwide surveydesigned to document key aspects in thelives of people in recovery from addiction

to alcohol and other drugs. While muchis known about the many costs of addic-tion, we know very little about whathappens in a persons life in recovery.Faces & Voices is gathering this informa-tion to inform a variety of diverseaudiences the public, policy makers,service planners and providers and therecovery community about the mile-stones that people achieve in recovery.The information will contribute toeducating the public about recovery and

to address discriminatory barriers facingpeople in or seeking recovery from addic-tion to alcohol and other drugs.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THESURVEY? Anyone who considers them-selves in recovery from alcohol and other

< < < AWAY

from painfulexperiences

TOWARD > > >

what you want tomake important



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drug problems is encouraged to take thesurvey. If you know other people who mayalso be interested in sharing their experi-ences for this important project, pleasesend them the survey link www.survey-

monkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey and encourage them to participate.

ABOUT THE SURVEY. The survey isavailable in English and in Spanish. Ittakes about 10 minutes to complete. Allof your answers are completely confiden-tial we dont ask for your name or anyother identifying information. You cantake the survey between November 5 andDecember 31, 2012. Faces & Voices ofRecovery is partnering with AlexandreLaudet, PhD, Director of the Center forthe Study of Addictions and Recovery atthe National Development and ResearchInstitutes to conduct the survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY NOW.

English:www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey

Spanish:www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey-Spanish

SMART Progress

2012 annual conference a great

learning experience for all!In September, shortly before the fall quar-terly issue of the News & Views wasissued, SMARTs Annual Conference washosted in Chicago, IL. In addition to

attendees from throughout the US, theConference included participants fromIndia, Sweden, England and Ireland!

Friday afternoon began with anoptional guided walking tour of Chicago,and while the weather wasnt especiallyconducive to a walking tour, those whoparticipated enjoyed having learned so

much about beautiful Chicago!The Saturday program began with a

video welcome from Gil Kerlikowske,Director of The White House Office of

National Drug Control Policy, followedby Dr. John Kellys overview ofTreatment and Recovery. The remainderof the day was filled with a variety oforganizational updates training, tech-nology, international activities, outreachstrategies, updates on tools, and a paneldiscussion/Q&A session featuring all of

the speakers from the day. Saturdaynight finished on a high note with the1st Annual SMART RecoveryCommunity Awards Banquet (hosted byAToN Center).

SMART Recovery award recipients included:

Champion of the Year: Co-recipients:Brett Saarela and Hank Robb;

Facilitator of the Year: Gregory Lopez

SROL Champion of the Year:Kalar and Charlie

Outreach Champion of the Year:Patrick Garnett

Emerging Champion of the Year:Ashley Phillips

Innovator of the Year: SMARTRecovery UK (award accepted by

Richard Phillips)

Unsung Hero Award:Jonathan von Breton

Leadership Award: Gary Bagley.

Additionally a new annual award The Joseph Gerstein Award forExemplary Service to SMARTRecovery debuted. Dr. Gerstein

was presented a lifetime achievementaward on Saturday night.

It wouldnt be a Conference withoutSMART Jeopardy, and following thebanquet a lively round of Jeopardypursued!

Sundays program included Dr. DavidSaenz presenting advanced strategies for

groups, and a panel of master facilita-tors, where those who have beenfacilitating meetings for years fieldedquestions and shared insights.

We are especially grateful to ourConference Sponsors, AToN Center;Practical Recovery; and St. GregoryRetreat Center.

For a copy of the presentations visithttp://www.smartrecovery.org/chicago2012/slideshows.html.

Enjoy the photo summary of theevent shown on the pages that follow.Be sure to mark your calendars andbegin your plans to join in the 2013Annual Conference scheduled forOctober 1113 at Humphreys HalfMoon Inn and Suites in San Diego!

Richard Phillips, SMART Recovery UK

.

mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=http://www.smartrecovery.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey-Spanishhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey-Spanishhttp://www.atoncenter.com/http://www.practicalrecovery.com/http://www.stgregoryctr.com/http://www.stgregoryctr.com/http://www.smartrecovery.org/chicago2012/slideshows.htmlhttp://www.smartrecovery.org/chicago2012/slideshows.htmlhttp://www.halfmooninn.com/http://www.halfmooninn.com/http://www.smartrecovery.org/chicago2012/slideshows.htmlhttp://www.smartrecovery.org/chicago2012/slideshows.htmlhttp://www.stgregoryctr.com/http://www.stgregoryctr.com/http://www.practicalrecovery.com/http://www.atoncenter.com/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey-Spanishhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Survey-Spanishhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Life_In_Recovery_Surveyhttp://www.smartrecovery.org/mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=


12/19




Dr. John Kelly presenting.

Dr. Joe Gerstein receiving the 1st Lifetime Achievement Award.

Presenter Lee Stout from NYC.The attentive audience.

Webmaster Charlies presentation.

Some of the many online volunteers and participants who attended.

SMART Progress Continued


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Help us grow SMART Recovery!Are you interested in helping to growSMART Recovery? We are lookingfor current or past facilitators who havea good working knowledge of SMARTRecovery, the organization, its approachto recovery, and its vast array ofresources and materials to becomevolunteer Regional Coordinators or StateCoordinators. These Coordinatorsprimarily serve as a resource forSMART participants, other volunteers,meeting facilitators, and advisors withintheir respective region or state. Onegoal of the Regional or StateCoordinator role is to leverage the

current resources of the organizationtowards the primary goal of increasingthe availability of, and number ofSMART Recovery meetings.

The Regional Coordinator (RC) servesas a consultant to volunteers as they apply

SMART Recovery principlesin their activities. In conjunc-tion with Central Office staffand SMART RecoveryVolunteer Advisors, RCs helpother volunteers understand

SMART Recovery principlesmore fully, and consideroptions for how to apply them

In addition to providingcoordination by and betweenvolunteers, many RCs alsoprovide a substantial amountof new business develop-ment, speaker solicitation,and administrative supportfor local meetings. How

much support will depend on localtraditions and circumstances, and howinvolved local volunteers are willing tobe in these organizational developmentand administrative outreaches.

Greg Lopez from NYC presenting.

Brett Saarela, Conference Chair, presenting to Ashley Phillips.

President Tom Horvath

Panel of expert facilitators fielding tough questions.

Alex and Vanna during SMART Jeopardy!



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RCs may also help arrange new meet-ings and occasionally facilitate newmeetings as a model of how to conductmeetings. Many RCs also function asmeeting facilitators on an ongoing basis.

RCs contributions include:

1. Attend and participatein quarterly RegionalCoordinator meetings hostedvia gotomeetings.com to reporton past, current and prospectiveactivities, successes and goals fortheir assigned region.

2. Make contact with meetingfacilitators in assigned regions, or

states, at least once betweenquarterly RC meetings. Thiscontact focuses on what is workingwell and what is needed to furtherestablish and maintain SMARTRecovery Meetings in the region.

3.Follow up, develop, and mentorvolunteers expressing interest instarting new meetings. Leads nototherwise developed within theregion will be provided moreroutinely through the SMART

Recovery Central Office.4. Develop, borrow, distribute and

provide regional marketing andpromotional material.

5. Serve as a clearinghouse toprovide ideas/feedback to theCentral Office from volunteerswithin your region.

6. As feasible, attend the SMARTRecovery Annual Conference.

7. Encourage facilitators to organize

and participate in RecoveryMonth activities.

8. Identify, recruit, nominate, andtransition replacement RCs priorto completion of term.

Regions and regional coordinators are as follows:

Region Coordinator

Central East Delaware, DC, Maryland, Virginia

and New Jersey

Hugh Delaney

Dave Willis

Great Lakes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and OhioDick Bozian (OH)Patrick Garnett (IL, IN, MI)

Gulf Coast New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana Kacie Best (Interim)

Mid-America Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri,

and ArkansasGinger Frank

Mid-Atlantic Kentucky, Tennessee, and West VirginiaMichael Collins (TN)

WV & KY Vacant

Mountain West Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,

Utah and Wyoming

Doug Hanshaw (CO)

Vacant other than Colorado

New England Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine,

New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont Bill Abbott (Interim)

Northeast New York and Pennsylvania Michael Abbate

Northwest Frontier Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon,

Washington and Pacific IslandsVacant

Pacific Southwest Arizona and California Ashley Phillips

Prairielands Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South

Dakota and WisconsinRobert Brown

Southeast Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina Vacant

Southern Coast Alabama, Florida and Mississippi Kacie Best (FL)

Besides the regions that are currently vacant, we would like to break up someregions into more state coordinators, such as having someone take Indiana and orMichigan. If you are interested in helping with an open region or with the state inwhich you live please contact Patrick Garnett, Regional Coordinator Chair, [email protected].

SMART Recovery Online updateby Jonathan von Breton, Director, SROL

On November 3, we had our annualcelebration and fundraiser. This was the

14th anniversary of SMART RecoveryOn-Line.

As usual, we had an amazing line-upof guest speakers with excellentvolunteer hosts.

Dr. Henry Steinberger Six Deep SlowBreaths: Using Mindfulness as anAnchor for Accepting NegativeEmotions, Thoughts, Urges andCravings, hosted by Kelly

Dr. Michael Edelstein Addiction,REBT, and Philosophy, hostedby Richard

Dr. Bill Knaus Combatting Addictionsand Depression, hosted by John

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Dr. Bob Meyers CRAFT hosted byMomRox and TwoPutts

Dr. Hank Robb The Matrix a tool tohelp notice when you are moving towardwhat you want to make important in life

and when you are moving away from it,hosted by GJBXVI

Dr. Tom Horvath How could Iexplain my addictive behavior to others?hosted by Bandita

Jonathan von Breton Ask the Pro,hosted by Kalar and Hammer

All of the speakers and hosts deserve around of applause!

As this is one of SROLs major fund

raising events, we had an auction.Surprise! Surprise! There were over 62items to bid on. Dick Bozian and RodAllwood each put up a $250 matchingpledge challenge, in addition to a $500anonymous challenge. All told, theauction raised over $5,200 of muchneeded and appreciated money.

Events like these dont organize andrun themselves. So here is a hugeTHANK YOU to the organizers.

Main Organizer: Hammer

Auction photos: Mata and Hammer

Auction list: John11

Auction posts: Richard, JvB, and Hammer

Auction results: Momrox

Speakers: Arranged for and looked afterby their hosts.

Here is a second huge THANKYOU to Jodi at the Central Office. Shehad to organize the auction items as they

came in. Then she had to package themand mail them to the winning bidders.This was no small task.

SROL desperately needs volunteers tohelp with fund raising. Remember,SMART Recovery On-Line provides

open access to many valuable resourcesfor your use. It costs thousands of dollarsto bring you those valuable resources.That covers the website, Message Board,Chatroom and meeting room fees. It

includes staff and technical support.There is no physical hat to pass at meet-ings in cyberspace. That makes givingless immediate and tangible. SROL hasto raise money other ways. Just as wedepend on volunteers to help in Chat,on the Message Board, and Facilitatemeetings, we need fundraising volun-teers. Interested persons please contactme [email protected]. Or theCentral Office.

Court status updateby Dee (aka Dolores Cloward), Court

Outreach Committee Chair

I am delighted toannounce that ourinformal court teamwas recognized andestablished as theSMART Recovery Court OutreachCommittee by the Board of Directorsin November! We have been movingalong, and are looking forward tostrong partnership with SMARTRegional Coordinators so we can reallyreach into the facilitator communitiesto provide help and support inconcrete ways.

As weve been experimenting withprocess, direction, and detail, we areundertaking a targeted effort inChicago in partnership with RegionalCoordinator, Patrick Garnett and local

volunteer(s). We are exploring amodel for identifying court contactsand following up with them inconcerted ways to build ties. Wevecreated a simple working website fromwhich to gather and distribute infor-

mation. Establishing this model is acritical piece of the structure SMARTneeds to formally address courtoutreach challenges.

We look forward to expanding

the model in the spring of 2013 anddesigning outreach efforts witheach of the regional coordinators --and through them, local facilitatorsand meeting participants. We areexcited at the growth and expan-sion of SMART acceptance as anoptimum choice for mutual supportWe are closely aligned with thegoals, philosophies, and freedom ofchoice concerns of the legal

community. Yes weemphasize CHOICE!

If you are interested,would like more informa-

tion, have some ideas, orwould like to help out,please contact us [email protected],or you can leave amessage at 513-399-6534

SMART eventsby Dee Cloward, Special Events CoordinatorWe are continually amazed anddelighted at the generosity of ourspeakers interest in SMART and insharing their knowledge directly withour recovery community!

This past year included workshops,discussions and presentations by Dr. BillKnaus, Ed.D., Hank Robb, M.D., Mr.Edward Garcia, MA, CSW, and

SMARTs President, Dr. Tom Horvath.In addition, the Online Annual Auctionand FUNdraiser in November featuredeight speakers, including Dr. Knaus, Dr.Horvath, Dr. Michael Edelstein, Dr.Hank Robb, Dr. Henry Steinberger, Dr.

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Joe Gerstein, Jonathan Von Breton, andDr. Robert Meyers. The auction was funand lively as is usual, and the speakers

were phenomenal.

NOTE: We also have two final and veryexciting events for 2012 coming right atthe end of the year, as youll see here.

During 2013, we plan on havingfavorites return and to invite somepeople we may not have heard fromrecently (or ever)! Look for details asthey become available on The SMARTBlog, Facebook, Twitter and theSMART Message Boards. We alsowelcome comments, suggestions, and

feedback always. Just send [email protected].

EVENTS IN DECEMBER!

13 Tips to Make 2013 Your Best Year Ever!Dr. Bill Knaus

December 29, 2012, 7:00 PM ETThe SMART Room

New Years Around the WorldParty and Fundraiser

December 31, 2012 5:00 AM to

January 1, 2013 5:00 AM (24 full hours)

Join our worldwide community celebration

Presidents Letter

Mutual help group paritySMART Recovery looks forward to thetime when, worldwide, our meetings willbe comparably available to 12-stepmeetings.* That time is within sight!Then individuals seeking recovery willtruly have the option (choice) of a self-empowering approach to recovery.

SMART Recovery Online is already

available 24/7. We expect acceptance ofthis method of experiencing SMARTRecovery to grow. However, manyindividuals will continue to prefer face-to-face meetings. Other support groups do

not appear poised to grow to the numbersneeded for comparable availability.

What is comparable availability andwhen will we achieve it? Comparableavailability means that at least oneSMART Recovery meeting is close

enough to the availability of 12-stepmeetings. For instance, if there are three12-step meetings within 15 minutestravel, and one SMART Recoverymeeting within 20 minutes, availabilityis comparable.

We are poised to achieve comparableavailability within approximately a decade,at least in the US and UK. It is good weare a patient and yet persistent organiza-tion! We have been working on this

project for nearly two decades already.Our rate of growth has increased

considerably. So far in 2012 (as of lateNovember) our worldwide growth ratehas been nearly 25% per year, resulting in

828 meetings worldwide. From 2006 to2011 our growth rate averaged 14% peryear. From 1997 to 2006 our growth rateaveraged just 3% per year. We are takingoff! Although a growth rate of 25% peryear could drop down again, there are

changes in the recovery field that suggestthe growth rate will actually increase.

SMART Recovery has gained a newlevel of respect and acknowledgment. Itappears to be an emerging norm thataddiction professionals mentionSMART Recovery, along with 12-stepgroups, when mutual help is mentionedThe lists of mutual help groupspublished by various organizations nowtypically include SMART Recovery.Mental health professionals are also

increasingly aware of SMARTRecovery, and are regular referralsources for meetings. When I givepresentations to professionals I get noovert objection when I state it is

mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=http://www.smartrecovery.org/http://blog.smartrecovery.org/http://blog.smartrecovery.org/http://www.facebook.com/smartrecoveryhttps://twitter.com/smartrecoveryhttp://www.smartrecoveryforum.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.smartrecoveryforum.org/https://twitter.com/smartrecoveryhttp://www.facebook.com/smartrecoveryhttp://blog.smartrecovery.org/http://blog.smartrecovery.org/http://www.smartrecovery.org/mailto:info%40smartrecovery.org?subject=


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unethical to say 12-step is the only pathto successful recovery. Although thisstatement has always been true, thereare occasions in the past I would havebeen reluctant to state it aloud.

We need about 5,000 US meetings inorder to have comparable availability.This estimate is based on San DiegoCounty, where I live, with a populationof 3,000,000. San Diego appears to needabout 50 meetings. Well have 20 meet-ings soon, so Ill keep you apprised ofdevelopments. The US, with a popula-tion of about 300,000,000, would needabout 5,000 meetings. Our US meetingcount is 445. If we grow at 33% per year,we will hit 5,000 meetings within adecade. Some additional milestones: Weneed 15-20 meetings per million people.Every city of 50,000 needs one meeting.

How will we do it? I propose a newslogan: Recruit 2, meaning find twoadditional volunteers. All of us willmove on from volunteering at somepoint. Our first recruit replaces us, andour second recruit grows SMARTRecovery. We are in the process ofincreasing the number of new facilitators

we can train. When we have 5,000 facil-itators we will probably need to train oneto two thousand facilitators a year.

Secondly, we need to continue tooppose recoveryism, the idea that oneform of recovery is better than another.Yes, some forms for recovery are betterfor some individuals than others, butsomeone will not know which one isbetter until there is exposure to several.We need to educate all addiction andmental health professionals to say:There are many ways to recover. AAand 12-step groups are one approach.Other approaches are quite different. Ifyou have not chosen one, or a combina-tion of them, it is worthwhile toinvestigate your options.

Why are we doing it? I suggest thatSMART Recovery exists to provideguidance to everyone about how to leada happier life. For our participants specif-ically, and by indirect influence on all of

humanity, we exist to support everyonein making good decisions, and followingthrough on them despite cravings, strongemotions, irrational objections, or otherimpediments. In short, we exist tosupport all of us to be our highest selves.

I look forward to giving you updateson the exciting years ahead!

* The article is based on a presentation

made at the SMART Recovery

Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois,

September, 2012

Book Review

Almost AlcoholicIs My (or My Loved Ones) Drinking a Problemby Robert Doyle, MD, Harvard Medical Schooland Joseph Nowinski, PhD

As reviewed by Richard J Lacroix

This Self-Help book, published byHazelden Health Publications, is anotherin The Almost Effect series, written byHarvard Medical School faculty alongwith other experts. They offer guidanceon common behavioral and physicalproblems falling in the spectrum between

normal health and a full-blown medicalcondition. These are the first publica-tions to help general readers recognizeand address these problems.

About the authors;

Robert Doyle, MD, is a nationally recog-nized expert on alcoholism and a clinicalinstructor in psychiatry at Harvard

Medical School and is on the medicalstaff at Harvards prestigious teachinghospital, Massachusetts General Hospital.

Joseph Nowinski, PhD, is a clinicalpsychologist, was a professor of psychi-atry at the University of California-SanFrancisco and associate adjunct professorof psychology at the University ofConnecticut. He is currently a columnistfor the Huffington Post and works inprivate practice.

About the book;InAlmost Alcoholic, Doyle and Nowinskiprovide the tools to identify and assessyour patterns of alcohol use and evaluatetheir impact on your relationships, work,and personal well-being. They then guideyou in developing strategies and goals forchanging the amount and frequency ofyour alcohol use and show you how tomeasure your results and make informeddecisions about next steps.

Review;My first impression when I was asked toreview this book was that it was going toeither be (1) a stuffy, highly theoretical,and possibly clinicians handbook, or(2) a boring set of case studies set asexamples whose sole purpose was to haveyou find something that you couldconnect with, in order to justify why theadvice in the book pertained to you.

I am pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised that this book is neitherof those things. Instead, it is a wellwritten and often anecdotal monograph,which also bases itself not just on theauthors opinions, but rather on facts andclinical studies, as documented in thenotes at the end of the book.

Presidents Letter Continued


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Also, in addition to the studiescited, author Robert Doyle draws onhis experiences in practice, andincludes specific cases as examples ofreal-world clients, who were helped by

the suggested techniques, once theywere assisted in identifying that therewas indeed an issue.

In my opinion, this is one of thebetter executed Self-Help books onalcohol related behavioral issues, if youare experiencing some concernsregarding your alcohol use, but do notthink that the label of Alcoholic fitsyou. Instead it addresses those who mayfit into the grey area, of while not beingtotally abstinent, are by the same token

not alcohol-dependent, either.

Almost Alcoholic establishes a fivepoint criteria that help to define apossible problem with alcohol use:

1. Drinking to relieve stress

2. Drinking alone

3. Anticipation of drinking

4. Negative consequences

5. Drinking causing suffering

It tells us that we may be Almost

Alcoholic, if we like to maintain a buzzbefore a social or other event, or that ifwe count down, or feel that we have tohold out, until we can drink. The bookalso explains that social drinkers, asopposed to Almost Alcoholics, do notexperience cravings, nor do they need todeliberately resist them.

The book goes on to give many otherexamples of behaviors that we may havenoticed in ourselves and becomeconcerned about, and offers specific

methods to gradually change the unde-sirable behaviors, and how settingattainable goals to gauge your progresscan be of use as well.

Included are some exercises, shortquestionnaires, and other quick and easy

tools that can be used to identify thedepth and breadth of your almostproblem with alcohol, and suggestionson what to do about it.

Almost Alcoholic is a good read, but

more importantly in this reviewersopinion, its an effective handbook forthose who have been seeking a tool tohelp them to identify and solve aproblem with their alcohol use.

International Development

SMART Recovery Australia

celebrates 10th anniversaryIn November, SMART RecoveryAustralia honored its ten yearAnniversary in Australia at the annualAustralasian Professional Society onAlcohol and other Drugs (APSAD)

Conference. APSAD is dedicated toraising awareness about the problemsrelated to the use of alcohol and otherdrugs, and to promoting improved stan-dards in clinical practice and in researchinto this and allied subjects throughoutAustralia. We were fortunate to have Dr.

Joe Gerstein present for this launch whospoke on his experience introducingSMART to Australia, as well as somehistory of his experience and commitmentto SMART Recovery over the years. Thisprovided a professional and appropriateplatform to further increase the profile ofSMART Recovery in Australia, as wellhear firsthand from the people who arepersonally involved in overseeing andcontinued development of the program.

SMART Recovery AU began as apilot group at St Vincents Hospital in

2002 and has now become a not-for-profit organisation with 100 activegroups per week throughout the country.

Teen/youth SMART Recovery:Teen and Youth SMART AU has beengaining more awareness throughoutSydney with an increase in agencies andservices interested in getting trained asfacilitators so they can begin runninggroups within their organisations.

Recently, SMART AU conductedfacilitator training to a not-for-profitorganisation called Weave. Weave

Pictured left to right:

Peter Kelly, Lecturer, ClinicalPsychology and deputy directorof Clinical Training atWollongong University.

Josette Freeman,SMART Recovery AU

Joe Gerstein, Founding President,

SMART RecoverySue Henry-Edwards,SMART Recovery AU BoardMember and Director, New SouthWales Corrections Department

Jim Villamor,SMART Recovery AU.

Book Review Continued


19/19

2013 ADASHN, Inc., 7304 Mentor Avenue, Suite F, Mentor, OH 44060, all rights reserved.

All statements regarding self-help in this newsletter are the views of the author and are not an official endorsement

of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Self Help Network Inc

SMART Recovery

relies on volunteer labor and donations. Please be generous with your time and money!

provides a range of services to sociallyexcluded young people, women, childrenand families in the Sydney Metropolitanarea. A large proportion of people whoaccess their services are Aboriginal or

Torres Strait Islander. Weave supportsthe principles and philosophy ofSMART Recovery and will beginrunning weekly meetings throughouttheir various service 2013.

Developments:SMART AU is committed to increasingthe awareness of SMART Recovery inorder to provide even more weeklySMART meetings throughout the country.SMART AU continues to partner withmany organizations which have strength-ened our reputation for grant opportunities,media coverage, growth and understandingof the SMART Recovery Program.

SMART Recovery Alberta updateby Curtis Boudreau, SMART Recovery Alberta

Hello to all of the SMART peoplearound the world.

Here in Calgary weve had a prettygood quarter since my last update.

Attendance has been solid, and wecontinue to average 36 newcomers eachmeeting. I continue to present theprogram to two detox centres on a weeklybasis as well as Alberta Health Servicesevery eight weeks for their RelapsePrevention Program. We now have foursolid meetings each week, and Im excitedto let everyone know well be opening upour fifth weekly meeting in December. Iam pleased to announce that the newmeeting will be held at a new location at

the Victory Foundations Ogden location:7012 Ogden Rd SE, Calgary, AB, andshould be updated on our website shortly.

The meeting at the Berkana House hasbeen suspended due to lack of facilitators.

I do expect this meeting to re-open in theNew Year as we have new facilitatorstraining and completing our DistanceTraining program as we speak.

One of our biggest supporters has beenAlberta Health Services. There is a twoweek Intensive Day Program and IDAhas been wonderful enough to present theprogram to their graduating class every

other week. Hopefully when we havemore trained facilitators, we can continueto do the presentation ourselves. Untilthen, THANK YOU IDA!

The highlight of the quarter has to bemy presentation to the Alberta Liquor &Gaming Commission. I presentedSMART to the Southern Alberta Staff.The ALGC has Responsible GamblingInformation Centres in each casino wherepeople who suspect that gambling has

become more than a game to them canobtain information on various recoveryoptions. Going forward, starting inSouthern Alberta, and provincially after Ican make it up to Edmonton to do mypresentation for them, there will beSMART flyers and a Handbook at eachkiosk in each casino! People will bedirected to our face-to-face meetingswhere they can pick up the Handbookand further their recovery. Staff will alsoinform potential members about our

multiple on-line meetings and wonderfulwebsite as potential resources.

Ill wrap up with some info on ourHandbook sales. Since our Handbook isthe foundation of our program, I recom-

mend that all members pick one up andwork through it. We sell each Handbookfor $20. Christmas and birthday presentsseem to end up broken and in the garagewithin a few months. But when a childsaves up for six months to buy a bike, thatbike is pretty shiny for a long time, becausetheyve earned it. There is a sense of pridein our members eyes when they save up

and purchase the Handbook. For many, itis the first investment theyve ever madein themselves, and they are proud of that.Besides, what have people battling addic-tion done to get that next bottle, or a$20-piece of whatever? I just ask them toreview their motivation, and help keepSMART Recovery running in Canada. Inthe first 11 months of 2012 we have sold249 Handbooks, with 32 in Novemberalone. That is an average of more than 22Handbooks on a monthly basis.

I look forward to our next quarterlyupdate, where I hope to have the newsthat our Charitable Donation Status hasbeen approved, and we become aRegistered Charity in Canada!

Until next time.

Articles are welcome!If you have a story or informationyou would like to see published in

News & Views, please submit it toRosemary Almond, Editor,[email protected]

Unsolicited material is most welcome!

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your

words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they

become habit. Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.LaoTzu

International DevelopmentContinued

Winter 2013 News and Views

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