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The SMART Recovery® 4-Point Program®

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The SMART Recovery® 4-Point Program® Bringing Science and Reason to Self-Help with Addictive Behavior Volume 18, Issue 1 • Winter 2012 A. Thomas Horvath, PhD, President Rosemary Almond, Editor But what about the unexpected posi- I haven’t popped in to write for Inspirations tives from quitting that you’d never quite some time. On June 30, 2011 thought of? Some side benefits that never I celebrated four years of sobriety, appeared in your CBA? Something you thanks to SMART Recovery.® would never have predicted that has an These past four years have had their important effect on your life? Something challenges but I have not wavered or you now treasure as an important part of relapsed once on this four-year journey. your recovery? It was a yo-yo and roller coaster getting Mine is pretty simple: Waking up to that first year but, once I achieved every morning to find the kitchen clean, (Continued on page 2) instead of piled high with dirty dishes My Surprise Benefit: A Clean Kitchen and saucepans from the night before. by AnnieMG, SROL Participant When drinking, I would head off to bed Inside: and leave the mess as it was. Nowadays, I Inspirations When we quit our addiction, we find enjoy cleaning up after every meal. Now, My Surprise Benefit: A Clean Kitchen.........1 that all sorts of positives enter our lives. Four Years And (Almost) Two Degrees Later… .1 when I walk into the kitchen each Through doing a Cost-Benefit Analysis 4-Point Program® ..........................1 morning and find it sparkling clean, I’m (CBA) and listing, “things I like about Now, It Is So Different ......................2 reminded of how of how good life is. giving up my addiction,” we can come up People Power with positives such as: What’s your surprise benefit? To Those In Early Recovery .................2 The Sober Lifestyle: A Brave New World ......3 • Waking up feeling fresh and Reflection In The Mirror....................5 revitalized. Four Years And (Almost) Two SMART Poem ............................6 SMART Ideas • Sleeping the night through. Degrees Later… An Analogy About Skills ...................6 • Not having to worry about what I by Caring Hands, Former SMART Message Board Volunteer Truth Or Consequences: Living Deeply ........6 did the night before. Hello to those who remember me and SMART Progress • Getting on better with people. Choice In Recovery And welcome to the newbies; it is nice to The First Amendment....................7 • Having more time for hobbies. meet those I do not know! 2011 Annual Conference Report .............8 • Etc., etc. Annual Online Auction Raises $3,000 .......11 Spreading The Word About SMART Recovery® To Treatment Professionals ........12 The SMART Recovery® President’s Letter ® The program offers specific tools and A Glimpse Into The Differences Between 4-Point Program techniques for each of the program points: SMART And The 12 Traditions ............12 Book Review he SMART Recovery® Point #1: Building and Maintaining Dealing With Addiction—Why the 20th (Self-Management And Motivation Century Was Wrong.......................13 Recovery Training) International Development T Point #2: Coping with Urges ® program helps individuals SMART Recovery Australia Diverse Projects Touch Diverse Lives.........14 gain independence from SMART Recovery UK® Update .............15 addictive behavior. Point #3: Managing Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors Canada Is Getting SMARTer As More People Our efforts are based on Attend More Meetings.....................15 scientific knowledge and evolve Point #4: Living a Balanced Life Call for Volunteers ........................16 as scientific knowledge evolves. Inspirations Continued People Power that, I have not allowed urges to get let my guard down that much or get the better of me. And yes, there are that cocky because I know how sneaky still urges here and there, mostly in the it all can be. summer for some reason. I look back It is NEVER TOO LATE to get on all I have accomplished these past sober and change your life around. If four years and would not trade that for you are struggling and trying to string any cold glass of pino grigio out there! days of sobriety together, keep trying, I received my BASW (bachelor of keep gathering days here and there, arts in social work) this May, gradu- and you will find that the days turn ating suma cum laude. I started school into weeks and before you know it, you To Those In Early Recovery the September after I quit drinking in will have six months under your belt— by john11, SROL Message Board Volunteer 2007. I have been going to school full and then nine months, and then you To those of you in the first months of time ever since and I will graduate this will be shaking your head saying, “I recovery, I extend heartfelt congratula- May with my MSW (masters degree in can’t believe I haven’t drank in so tions on beginning the change process. social work). I will then hopefully get a long.” Then you get excited and don’t job as a clinical social worker. want to throw that success away and I remember that phase as being fraught with struggle and inner conflict. If you had told me that at some you decide that you are going to do it, and YOU DO! I also remember that, although there point in my life I would finally obtain were a few payoffs in those early days— a college education, I would have Good luck and never stop trying. such as waking up without a shook my head no. I will be 55 years hangover—most of my motivation was old when I walk up to receive my Now, It Is So Different based on a faith that things would get masters degree. An unthinkable walk better and that what I was going by apmlo, Online Participant will finally come true. through was going to be worth it. My internship this year is at a day I was just thinking of how different The things in my CBA that measured treatment program for alcohol and sobriety is for me now than it was whether it was worth it were all realistic substance abusers. Everyone there is that first angst-ridden year that I goals and have materialized. At least I mandated from some place. Whether stopped drinking. reached the goals I put an honest effort it’s from DSS or drug court, they don’t Then, it was all about not into, or made progress toward. These want to be there and they come drinking: how to organize my life to days, I’m happy with progress; long-term kicking and screaming. The most I can fill in that hole that not drinking left goals are part of my life. We all have hope for during this eight-month in my life, how to avoid trigger- different reasons for quitting, and I will internship is to maybe turn one ridden social situations, how to keep say, as will others: The fight was abso- person’s mind around—just one would the anxiety at bay. It was as if my lutely worth it. be so rewarding. obsession with drinking found its I say that like it’s all over. It’s not. For The treatment program follows a outlet in thinking about not me, there is a sliding scale. Early 12-step program so that has been hard drinking. recovery used to mean a few months. for me with my SMART background. I Now, it is all about the fullness in Now I can consider the rest of my life, am trying to explain to the directors my life, the healthy opportunities that and in that context, being in my third and clinicians that there are other abound each and every day, the rich- year seems early. So no, it’s not over, but options to the 12-step program that ness of activity that surrounds me. it sure is easy to maintain. I have worked work and that I am living proof. When I think of how much time I hard to develop rational beliefs that are So, my friends new and old, I am a squandered being intoxicated, I just the opposite of what I used to tell myself. success story. I am never that compla- shake my head. I missed so much then! I had to foster and nurture these new cent that I think I have this addiction Sobriety rocks! beliefs until they were stronger than the thing completely licked. I will never old. This was accomplished by learning 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] • www.smartrecovery.org SMART Recovery® News & Views Volume 18, Issue 1 • Winter 2012 Page 2 People Power Continued and using the SMART Recovery® tools to do some professional networking at bility for your past offensive actions. over and over and over and … bars, I’ve found that the perceived value Be careful not to impose judgment on I still get the odd thought pop up from of my drunken business and social inter- your friends or associates who are still the old me, but because the new rational actions was overstated by my formerly drinking, even if you think they should beliefs are stronger, all it takes these days drunken mind. I cannot think of one quit. There is nothing more annoying to is a quick mental satirical, “Yeah, right,” opportunity that I have missed because I someone who drinks than a holier-than- and they are vanquished. The rest of the was sober and not out until all hours of thou sober person.
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