Alcohol and Drug Addiction

If you are suffering from an addiction to alcohol or drugs, you can take the First Step toward recovery by admitting that there is a problem that is out of your control.  An addiction takes control of your whole life by stealing your joy, paralyzing you from positive emotions, putting the wrong people in your path, keeping you from a good job or becoming unemployed, separating you from family and friends, making you angry at everything and everybody, possibly making wrong choices landing you in jail/prison/prostitution, and simply destroying your life.

AA/NA along with Mental Health Counseling, allows you to make a positive change in your life by building those bridges in recovery.  You learn what your addiction looks like, the affects of mood altering chemicals in your body – now and over time, develop a Relapse Prevention Plan, and engage in the entire process of healing (the Road to Recovery).

Developed by Roby Abeles from Australia.

The Crocodile set up illustrates how “the Crocodile is the ultimate stalker, an ambush killer.  They are always waiting, and watching you, learning about your habits, waiting for you to vulnerable in a place they can count on you being at a certain time, so they can ambush attack you.  Just like the Crocodile, Addiction is also always waiting, and watching you, learning about your habits, waiting for you to be vulnerable in a place it can count on you being at a certain time, so it can ambush attack you.  Addiction is the ultimate stalker, and ambush killer.”  Here is the largest crocodile in the world in Africa.

THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

  1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Relapse Prevention is key to staying on a path of sobriety. Tools for relapse prevention help identify personal behaviors that indicate and prevent relapse by overcoming habits and and identifying relapse triggers where a person feels urges and cravings to use again, such as:

  • Poor self-care – failing to manage stress, sleep and eating patterns, mental health
  • Withdrawal symptoms – very common in addicts, includes physical pains, nausea, anxiety, etc.
  • People – certain people (particularly those who used)
  • Post-acute withdrawal symptoms – anxiety, mood swings, and worsened sleep
  • Isolation – being isolated can lead to too many internal thoughts
  • Things – certain objects or reminders of when you used to use
  • Places – specific places, particularly where you used to buy or use substances
  • Relationships and sex – stress or when things go wrong
  • Unwanted emotions – hungry, angry, lonely, and tired (also known as H.A.L.T)
  • Overconfidence – overall pride and thinking you don’t have a drug or alcohol problem

The following are common warning signs of emotional and mental relapse, which are negative emotions and feelings that, unless addressed in therapy and having good self-care, could lead to relapse:

  • Isolation
  • Anxiety
  • Anger
  • Mood swings
  • Defensiveness
  • Refusing to ask for help
  • Skipping out on meetings
  • Bad sleeping habits
  • Bad eating habits
  • Intolerance
  • Lying
  • Thoughts of people, places, or things you used with
  • Falling into old habits
  • Hanging out with old using friends
  • Thoughts of relapse
  • Prideful about past use
  • Planned relapse (typically around other people’s schedules)

Here are a few tips for managing mental urges and relapses:

  • Reach out for help – Speak to a friend or someone in recovery. Opening up about your struggles can help you understand and manage these urges with someone else
  • Wait for 30 minutes – Typically these cravings last between 15 and 30 minutes. While it may be tough, just waiting for 30 minutes and staying distracted can help alleviate these urges.
  • Distractions – When you get an urge to use again, keep yourself occupied with something else. Taking a walk, going to a meeting or just talking to a friend are all ways to avoid giving in to your craving
  • Recover one day at a time – It can be overwhelming to think of long term sobriety. It is better to look at the process just one day at a time. Set goals and meet them, even if it’s for just a day (or even for 30 minutes)
  • Practice relaxation techniques – One of the most effective methods of dealing with mental relapse is to relax your mind. This will enable to think clearly and work to cope with your emotions instead of clash with them.

With an effective relapse prevention plan, you can learn to tackle these urges. Managing these emotions can be the difference between a physical relapse and another day of sobriety.
It takes time and patience to stay clean.

Alcoholics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous 6th Edition

Celebrate Recovery 365 Daily Devotional

Celebrate Recovery Updated Participant’s Guide Set, Volumes 1-4: A Recovery Program based on 8 Principles from the Beatitudes.

12 Step Journal with Step 4 Inventory Worksheets: Sobriety Journal for Addiction Recovery, NA/AA Notebook, 12 Step program workbook.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Since 1954, Twenty-Four Hours a Day has become a stable force in the recovery of many alcoholics throughout the world. With over ten million copies in print, this “little black book” offers daily thoughts, meditations, and prayers for living a clean and sober life. A spiritual resource with practical applications to fit our daily lives.

The Little Big Book

This is the original study guide to the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Filled with practical information for those first days of sober living, this little book:

  • offers newcomers advice about the program, how long it takes, and what to look for in a sponsor
  • provides in-depth discussions of each of the Twelve Steps and related character defects
  • poses common questions about AA and helping others, identifying where to find answers in the Big Book
  • features non-sexist language

Drop the Rock: removing character defects – Steps Six and Seven

Resentment. Fear. Self-Pity. Intolerance. Anger. As Bill P. explains, these are the “rocks” that can sink recovery–or at the least, block further progress. Based on the principles behind Steps Six and Seven, Drop the Rock combines personal stories, practical advice, and powerful insights to help readers move forward in recovery. The second edition features additional stories and a reference section.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Originally published in 1952, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions is the classic book used by AA members and groups around the world. It lays out the principles by which AA members recover and by which the fellowship functions. The basic text clarifies the Steps which constitute the AA way of life and the Traditions, by which AA maintains its unity.