Humans crave social connections, and sober support networks provide just that. Because many individuals want to belong, being a part of a sober group can increase your confidence and self-esteem in your interpersonal relationships – it bestows a feeling of acceptance. You can also become more confident in your recovery because you know you have the support needed. The members of your support network are people who will remain committed to helping you remain focused on your recovery goals.

Sober.com is an online directory and community site for individuals seeking treatment information for alcoholism and substance abuse. FlexDek is an adaptable platform that accommodates mobile apps targeting behavioral, medical, and physical diagnoses. RecoveryCoaches.com is an online, evidence-based training program that provides course materials, tools, and skills geared at obtaining certification in the addiction recovery industry.

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Whether you’re trying to quit drinking or you’re already sober, Tempest combines a personalized approach to recovery with membership and one-on-one support to help you make a lasting change. In addition to the title of Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Kevin is also licensed by the state of Maryland as a Clinical Drug and Alcohol Counselor. He holds a Master of Science degree in Counseling and has over 26 years of experience as a substance use/mental health counselor with the Montgomery County Government. Whether he’s leading groups or providing individual and family therapy, Kevin’s passion for serving those suffering from substance use disorders is always on display. When he’s not busy treating The Freedom Center’s clientele, you might find Kevin engaged in his other passion as an actor/director in the local theater community.

Having a strong support network will help you to stay sober by giving you people who demonstrate such qualities as reliability, loyalty, caring and friendship. Trust us—being as dependent as those in your support network will do you a lot of good. It will help you to affirm yourself, and feel better about who you are. So if you’d like to start experiencing the benefits that come with a strong and sober support network, then you might want to pay attention to the five tips we’ve given you below. Building a strong sober network is one of the most essential components to a successful recovery.

Starting Over Sober Living

He received his medical degree in Mexico with further certification from Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey. He then attended New York Medical College for his residency training. Vanessa is certified in addictions counseling by Maryland’s Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, with credentials as a clinical supervisor. She comes to The Freedom Center with over 14 years of direct experience in residential and outpatient treatment between the private and federal sectors.

While many people overcome their fears to triumph over drug and alcohol addiction, recovery can also be a frightening experience. The sober community thrives on having a safe and supportive environment. The app allows one user to connect with and help another instantly from nearby or at any distance. Some involve a series of steps through which members must progress to complete the program. Others use apps or coaching programs to help members work on specific goals or psychological techniques to manage addiction's underlying causes. Women for Sobriety was founded in 1975 as a not-for-profit organization helping women recover from substance use.

• You need to identify someone that you feel you can trust, someone you respect.
• She is a current member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and the Delta Epsilon Iota Honor Society.
• You may want to spend some time writing out ideas of how you plan to achieve your goals.
• You likely consider that person to be a part of your support network already.

For example, while you may maintain a working relationship with one of the therapists you meet in treatment, it’s not likely that this will be the case with most of them. Finally, all of the peers you meet in treatment or at meetings are going through their own struggles and might not always be there to help. Traditional Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings have helped millions of people over the past eight decades. With a network that spans the world, AA is almost always the first alcohol recovery program people think of. And, for many, AA is a wonderful resource that offers a strong community of peer support as well as a step-by-step program that can help you get and stay sober.

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Members can bond over their common challenges while engaging in the 12 Steps, a spiritual foundation to develop strength and harness hope to recover. They can also be beneficial for helping prevent relapse in people with AUD who have completed an inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation program. A 2006 study found that people who obtained outside help during recovery were more likely to remain sober and reach a 3-year remission without relapse. Sobriety support groups can offer accountability, support, self-efficacy tools, and mentorship to people with AUD. Alcohol is the most widely used substance in the United States, and it’s often misused. According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 14.5 million people in the United States ages 12 years and older live with alcohol use disorder .

• Yet, many people with substance use disorders are not fully engaged in their communities as many individuals often remain socially isolated and excluded.
• Recovery can seem extremely daunting when you were trying to tackle it on your own.
• They considered the online communities to be free of stigma and a home for finding social interaction they lacked elsewhere in life.
• Creating a network of people and resources helps people feel less lonely, isolated, and anxious.

This community supports anyone who wants to change their relationship with alcohol, in whatever form—whether abstaining, taking a break, or just better understanding it. In order to find a support group that works for you and start building your sober network, we’ve compiled a list of the top online sober communities and groups.

John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine. For over 20 years Dr. Umhau was a senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health .

Apart from attending recovery meetings, you should also participate in other healthy social activities that do not involve drugs or alcohol. Isolation is a common relapse trigger, and a sober support network helps fight against this by surrounding you with like-minded people. Sober individuals will not pressure you into using drugs or alcohol but will motivate you to maintain your sobriety.

Maintaining Healthy Relationships With Members Of Your Support Network

This way, you are surrounded by people that support your sobriety and won’t tempt you to fall back into old habits. Instead, choose to socialize at activities that support continued growth in recovery. These activities can generate positive connections that will boost your recovery.

Self-Management and Recovery Training offers global support meetings for recovery from addiction through self-empowerment. The goal of the program is to promote abstinence from alcohol and other substances through positive lifestyle changes. It's designed to empower individuals and transform lives from self-destructive to positive, constructive, and enjoyable. Once you begin the journey to recovery, it is crucial that you do not engage in activities that will jeopardize your sobriety. These may include hanging out with individuals you used to use drugs or alcohol with. Hanging around these individuals can potentially trigger you and pose a high risk of relapse. It is crucial to cut ties with negative influences and find a sober support network.

The stigma of shame that comes along with it is real, and while finding the right treatment is one of the most difficult steps to take towards recovery is the possibility of relapse. Everybody needs encouragement, and nobody understands like someone who is going through the same struggles.

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Sooner or later, the time comes to discharge from the facility and put your new skills to work. This is why a good recovery center will start to devise an aftercare plan as part of your treatment. This plan will likely include a referral to a new therapist close to home in order to work with deep-rooted problems and new issues that may arise, ensuring a seamless transition. If the struggle of addiction has become too much for you and you are sober networking seeking a Los Angeles rehab facility, consider giving Ocean Recovery a call today. At our rehab in Newport Beach, we will help you build a strong sober support network and a foundation for hope. A basic working definition of a sober support network is simply a group of people in your life who are willing and ready to help you recover. Because of the nature and needs of recovery, this network will evolve over time as people move in and out.

Sober Living Halfway House Search is the largest pictorial and descriptive search database of sober living and halfway houses in the world. By doing so they can add pictures and descriptions, amenities and licenses or associations and much more, to make their page glow with the features that make their house special.

Whether it’s their relationship with family members, friends, or romantic partners, addiction is known to wreak havoc on interpersonal connections. For people in recovery, it can be as simple as telling colleagues that you don’t drink or politely declining the offer of a drink. Other approaches people in recovery take in disclosing reasons for not having a drink were highlighted in a study published in the journal Health Communications. Strategies that study participants used to navigate work https://ecosoberhouse.com/ situations where alcohol is involved included holding a cup but not drinking or turning down drink offers without saying why. Some participants indicated they cited health problems or being on medication that didn’t allow them to drink alcohol, while others would try to use humor to change the subject. Cocktail parties, client dinners, team celebrations, and regular after work “happy hours” are all opportunities to network and build relationships with colleagues and potential partners.

People may find comfort knowing they’re partaking in programs developed by experts and surrounded by people who have lived in their shoes. SoberGrid might just be a good place to start building a support network for those who feel natural doing everything, including finding new sober friends, on their phone.

In a world where nearly every home, restaurant, resort, and even nail salon has alcohol available, quitting is not easy. Some people chose to quit alcohol to lose weight, some do it for religious or spiritual reasons, some realize that their relationship with alcohol... For instance, if you are in need of a sponsor , then you can’t sit around twiddling your thumbs and simply hoping that someone will offer. You need to identify someone that you feel you can trust, someone you respect.

The Benefits Of A Network

However, many people do not recognize this until they have a chance to connect with those who have already overcome an addiction. One of the easiest ways to do this is to build a healthy support network and to open up about your past experiences. Building a social support network – even if you must do so with other people – can help you regain the necessary skills to help rebuild these relationships. This can help you close the distance from family members and friends who would normally be willing to support you.

Mario Diurno, who is organizing the upcoming UNITE to Face Addiction rally in Washington, first used Sober Grid in hopes of finding a date. Now he mostly uses it to find friends and keep himself strong after 10 years of being in recovery. By default, Sober Grid sorts profiles by distance to the user, which is useful for finding people to hang out with in real life.

Supports

Utilizing the communication skills you learned in rehab will help you build more meaningful connections. Honesty, empathy, accountability, and assertiveness are keys to any successful relationship. Many sober specific networks have sprung up to meet the needs of the community. While many of them are a lot like other larger social networks, they have extra features and focused communities that make signing up for another social network worth it.