For Recovery Professionals
Lawyers
A number of LifeRing members are California attorneys who have found life-saving recovery support in LifeRing meetings. LifeRing meetings are confidential and open to persons of all professions or none. LifeRing meetings are free of religious themes and require no belief in a “higher power” nor confessions of powerlessness, insanity, or moral deficits. The basic principle is that you are a good person who is perfectly capable of leading your life free of alcohol and other drugs, and participation in LifeRing meetings will empower you to do so. For a personal consultation with a California attorney in recovery, email lawyers@lifering.org or call 800-811-4142. A list of all California LifeRing meetings can be found here.
Treatment Professionals
Dear Treatment Professional:
When you refer your patients/clients to LifeRing support groups, they will find abstinence, peer support, secularity, and choice.
All LifeRing groups are based on abstinence. LifeRing does not support moderation, harm reduction, or controlled drinking approaches. LifeRing groups include people without distinction as to “drug of choice,” the same as most modern treatment programs.
LifeRing groups provide peer support. Discussion centers on current life issues (“how was your week?”) and on planning to meet recovery challenges in the days ahead. The atmosphere is safe, confidential, positive.
LifeRing groups are secular. About 40 percent of the participants (in a 2005 survey) attend a house of worship, but religious belief or disbelief remains a private matter. Meetings are free of religious practices and end with a mutual round of applause.
LifeRing members each build personal recovery programs. As a professional, you know that matching the treatment to the individual is the key to success. Many LifeRing participants use the Recovery by Choice workbook as a scaffolding to build their personal recovery programs in a structured manner.
Experience teaches that there is more than one road to recovery. The treatment professional who can offer patients/clients a choice of recovery pathways enjoys a therapeutic advantage. Giving patients a choice creates client investment, powerfully enhances motivation, and yields better outcomes. Choice is a central feature of the modern quality treatment program.
If you would like to speak with a LifeRing representative in person, or if you want a LifeRing speaker to address your patient and/or staff audience, please contact the LifeRing Service Center, service@lifering.org or 1-800-811-4142.
Additional resources for treatment providers are available on this page.
Professional Resources
How LifeRing Works — the Long Version. Full day (six hours) in service training for members of CAADAC, Sept. 19, 2009 by Martin Nicolaus. Download PowerPoint slides.
Choice of Support Groups: It’s the Law Referral Practice in the Aftermath of Inouye v. Kemna. This concerns a Dec. 2007 federal court decision affirming that a treatment professional in a government role can be sued for monetary damages for coercing a client into a 12-step program over the client’s religious objections. There are three options for this content:
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Article in Counselor, the Magazine for Addiction Professionals. PDF download.
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LifeRing brochure “Choice in Recovery: It’s the Law”. PDF download.
LifeRing Press books
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Empowering Your Sober Self: The LifeRing Approach to Addiction Recovery. The one book to read if you’re reading only one.
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Recovery by Choice: Living and Enjoying Life Free of Alcohol and Drugs, a Workbook. Helps clients build their Personal Recovery Programs in a structured way.
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How Was Your Week? Bringing People Together in Recovery the LifeRing Way. A handbook for meeting facilitators, it may also be of interest to treatment professionals.
Trade Publications
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“Styles of Secular Recovery” by William L. White and Martin Nicolaus, Counselor Magazine, Aug. 05. Discussion of secular recovery concepts, with the focus on LifeRing.
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“Bridging the Gap” by John Salter, Counselor Magazine, April 05. Research shows that the 12-step approach helps only a minority of alcoholics, but more than 90 per cent of treatment facilities offer the 12-step approach exclusively. Refers to LifeRing as a secular option.
Professional References
Below are letters of reference for LifeRing from managers of some treatment programs with LifeRing meetings onsite:
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Kaiser Permanente, Chemical Dependency Recovery Program, Oakland CA
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Alta-Bates-Summit Hospital, Acute Crisis Intervention Ward, Herrick Campus, Berkeley CA
LifeRing participants: who are they?