met a guy with a cool alcoholism program today [View all]

[backwoodsbob]

First off let me say I had an alcohol problem until about 18 months ago and finally got it under control.It was basically without help and was finally getting the willpower to get it together.

This truck driver I was talking to at the shop today was telling me about a program (I should say a group)he joined that helped him stop drinking after 30 years.Like me he had been busted for DUI and was court ordered into AA,and like me not only was court ordered AA not effective,it had the opposite effect.It made us both resentful and simply made us say screw this I'll show you and in my case just had me stopping at the nearest store after I left my AA meeting to get some beer.

Being told meeting after meeting what a failure you are and that you need to apologize to anyone you ever met and telling your story over and over was wholly ineffective for me and studies show forced AA simply doesn't work.

The program (group) this guy is in doesn't have meetings where you tell people how much you suck,they don't make you swear to a higher power.They only meet as a group once a month and then only to shoot the shit.There is no guilting or shaming or 12 step programs or anything like that.

This programs theory is that alcoholism is as much a habit as a disease.Alcoholism is a disease if you want to call it that...it does change body chemistry,but the theory is that drinking becomes a habit that becomes part of your daily life because that is simply what you get used to as the norm.It becomes habit that you pick up 12 or a fifth on the way to the golf course or on the way to the game or whatever,and the alcohol simply becomes part of your daily life until you don't think about it anymore and just drink as part of your life.

What these guys do is simply give you an avenue to continue your life uninterrupted ...without alcohol.
Their goal is to break the habit part of alcoholism without the preaching part.

They have a website(sorry...didn't get the website....was talking while working)and a meeting place where they have activity boards where you can continue to do the activities in your life that you enjoy with people who aren't drinking,breaking the non thinking habit of grabbing beer or whatever as you do your thing.They do have sponsors and a support group if you feel the need but it isn't required.

He said his local group has about 100 members and they get together to do all the things you have always done but now with other people who don't drink.They go golfing,they go bowling,they have movie nights,they have poker nights,,,they go on fishing outings....you get the idea
They have several members who have gaming rooms with multiple tv's and playstations where they get together and game.Whatever your thing they likely have a member or two who enjoys similar activities

The idea is to break the HABIT of drinking by giving you an avenue to do all the things you enjoy with people who aren't going to be drinking and help you to understand you don't need alcohol to have fun and enjoy life.He said they don't have any rules to follow or steps to take...it is simply a way to give people a network that will let them continue their life uninterrupted...just without alcohol.The idea is to make not drinking fun...not a job.

He says up front it doesn't work unless the person has already decided they want to quit and they can't help anyone who is so far gone they simply no longer function and just sit at home drinking but if the person is ready to quit they have a success rate of almost 50%....MUCH higher by orders of magnitude than forced AA.

Even though I have my drinking under control I'm going to check them out the next time I talk to him....he's one of our regular delivery people...I see him at least twice a week.
Sometimes it is hard keeping it under control when you go out with the buddies when you are the only one not drinking so this could be a nice avenue for me.

It's interesting and even though I have my drinking under control I will likely