Back in 1944, Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson
observed that “the roads to recovery are many.” Today, that holds true more
than ever, which is good news if you’re looking to stay clean and sober.
You can now find self-help groups that cater to all
backgrounds and walks of life — Native Americans, Hispanics, black men, gay and
lesbians — and beliefs — non-secular, Christian, Jewish, Muslim.
“There are not just 12-Step programs anymore,” says Pat
Taylor, executive director of Faces & Voices of Recovery. “Part of what
we’re all about is getting people to speak out about all the various pathways
to recovery. If one doesn’t work, another is available. People need to
understand there are new opportunities. Recovery needs to be tailored to each
person’s particular circumstance.”
Among the widening options:
— Peer-to-peer counseling at recovery community centers,
such as the ones established by the Connecticut Community for Addiction
Recovery (CCAR). CCAR turns recovery veterans into teachers.
Former alcoholics and addicts are required to attend 6½ hours of classes that
cover everything from conflict resolution and confidentiality to ethics and
referral services. A newcomer to CCAR’s service gets a recovery checkup call
from a coach once a week for 12 weeks.
— Medications are increasingly being prescribed in recovery,
especially for severe alcohol and drug dependence. While new drugs keep popping
up on the market – naltrexone and acamprosate for alcohol dependence and
clonidine and buprenorphine for opiate dependence — medication-assisted
recovery has its critics. Of the estimated 900,000 narcotic addicts in the United States,
nearly 179,000 of them are enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment. Despite
evidence that the treatments curb addiction and reduce instances of HIV and
criminal activity, the social stigma of using one drug to beat another leaves
many in methadone-assisted recovery hiding their treatment.
— Non-religious groups are emerging for those who want to
recover without invoking a higher power. LifeRing Secular Recovery, a
California-based nonprofit, bills itself as the anti-12-Step approach. The
group’s meetings encourage give-and-take dialogue with no religious overtones,
as opposed to the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) practice of uninterrupted
monologue.
— Sober dorms and free substance abuse counseling for young
adults, an increasingly common sight on college campuses. Texas
Tech University
in Lubbock, Texas, even has a Center for the Study of
Addiction Recovery, which provides tutoring, peer mentoring and financial
assistance to former addicts who maintain sobriety and a certain grade-point
average. The center not only offers on-campus 12-Step meetings, but a substance
abuse studies minor and a scholarship program to pursue a master’s degree or
doctorate in chemical dependency counseling.
— Recovery houses that provide safe havens to maintain
sobriety. Oxford House, a network of group homes founded in 1975 in Maryland, currently has more than 10,000 people living in
1,123 houses across the country, Canada
and Australia.
Unlike halfway houses that have onsite counselors who enforce strict rules, Oxford residents govern
themselves and help cover the bills. On average, the length of stay is about a
year. Researchers from DePaul
University reported last
year that Oxford House residents have lower relapse rates. “It’s common sense,”
says Paul Molloy, Oxford House’s founder and a recovering alcoholic. “If you’re
living in a protected environment, you’re more apt to stay clean and sober.
Residents have to vote in any new people, so you don’t drink because you don’t
want to disappoint the person you just voted in.”
— Natural or self-initiated change. Despite all the choices,
the majority of those overcoming alcohol addictions — people with shorter-term
and less severe addictions, higher incomes and stable families and jobs — never
go through any type of treatment or recovery support program. For example, in a
given year, only 12 percent of people with alcohol dependency will seek any
kind of care and most will go to AA, even if it’s just for a short time. “The
vast majority of AA members only go for a few months,” says Mark Willenbring,
director of the Treatment and Recovery Research Division on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism in Bethesda, Md. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It
turns out in studies that have looked at this that people will continue to use
things they’ve learned in those months or years later. … They learn a lot, come
to terms with the fact they are alcohol dependent and can’t drink again. They
figure out how to make it work in their life and they make adjustments.”
— Access to Recovery. For the first time, the federal
government is giving recovering addicts who receive financial assistance a
choice in seeking help with this unusual voucher system. Now in its second
year, the $100 million, three-year grant program serves nearly 50,000 people in
14 states and one tribal organization, awarding vouchers based on need, whether
it’s 30 days of residential treatment, three months in a halfway house, finding
a job, going back to school or just getting a ride. “When you ask someone
struggling with addiction what is important to them, they don’t say, ‘I need
treatment,’ or ‘this program,’” says Charles Curie, former administrator of the
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees the
program. “They immediately begin talking about what they want in life: a job, a
home, a date on the weekend — it’s those things in life that people need to
sustain recovery. When people stop using and begin realizing these goals in
their life, recovery is sustained.”
From the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation's "Silent Treatment: Addiction in America" project, produced by
Public Access Journalism LLC.