For those beginning to discover they’re doing something they want to stop – or have tried stopping something and are having trouble – SMART Recovery welcomes all. Whether one struggles with alcohol and other drugs, smoking, gambling addiction, Internet addiction, sexual addiction, self-injury, problematic eating behavior, problematic relationships, or issues with other substances and activities, SMART Recovery meetings are the place to gather and talk with people addressing similar challenges.
What science is telling us and we know from personal experience is that we do better making changes with support from others!
If you’re interested in helping your community address its challenges with addiction, I invite you to train to become a SMART Recovery discussion host.
Based on my professional and personal assessment, holding SMART Recovery meetings is the closest we can get to community-wide, evidence-based, group-based addictions recovery assistance using resources already in place.
If we can, as a community, host SMART Recovery meetings every day at different times all over the area, we can provide free, near-treatment-level assistance to our people with addiction challenges. We don’t need to form task forces, write grants, or lobby public officials. We just need community members to do the training and sign up as hosts with SMART Recovery, and for community organizations with buildings to offer spaces for meeting locations.
- SMART Recovery discussion meetings are free and open to anyone in the community.
- Volunteers hosts DO NOT have to be in recovery from addiction to serve. Any community member – from the mayor to the maki maker to the mechanic – can serve as a discussion meeting host.
- While discussion meetings are not generally facilitated by experts or licensed professionals, meetings focus on learning skills termed “tools” and are guided by trained hosts, thus extending the therapeutic value beyond more sharing-oriented support group meetings.
Here’s more information:
- Train to serve as a SMART Recovery discussion meeting host
- Main handout distributed at SMART Recovery meetings (.pdf)
- What a SMART Recovery discussion meeting is like
- Discussion meeting script used for the Blacksburg, VA SMART Recovery meeting at NRVCS (.pdf)
- How to get help for a loved one with addiction in the New River Valley of Virginia
- How to talk with someone about getting help with addiction
- What Ithaca, NY is doing about addiction in its community
If you’d like to experience in-person what a SMART Recovery meeting is like, this meeting is open to all and you are welcome to attend:
Sundays, 4:00 PM, New River Valley Community Services, 700 University City Boulevard, Blacksburg, Virginia.
We’re compiling local recovery support resources here.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact, Anne Giles, [email protected], 540-808-6334.
(If you email me and don’t receive a reply, please check your spam folder. If you don’t see a reply in your spam folder, please phone or text me and we’ll connect that way!)
Hope to join you in volunteering with SMART Recovery!
Speak Your Mind