Sobriety Strategies: 13 Tips for Staying Sober

There are many opportunities to participate in a variety of ways. The best place to start getting involved is through an A.A. Participating in a group helps ensure that when a person reaches out for help, A.A. The best part of https://ecosoberhouse.com/ my job is being able to show up for my team and clients; they all mean the world to me. I get to brainstorm and strategize with tons of different personalities. A lot of the team does not know, but I love learning from them.

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 (NIH). •Yoga of 12 Step Recovery connects the dots between the practical tools of 12-step recovery, the ancient techniques of yoga, and modern research on trauma healing and neurobiology. Receive weekly insights to help you and your loved ones on your road to recovery. There is no shame or guilt in asking for help or more information.

Tips for Staying Sober

Members will also have the opportunity to share their personal experiences with alcohol use and recovery, and share any struggles that they are having. AA meetings provide a space where members can share experiences, advice, and feelings in a safe and confidential environment. Many more modern “sobriety programs” exist that are suitable solutions for people seeking sobriety with others without the issues mentioned above, such as SMART Recovery.

People in recovery can experience a lot of shame simply for having become addicted in the first place. Once you do return to work, it’s important to create a budget and take steps to safeguard yourself as work stress can be a relapse trigger. Consider reaching out to a vocational rehabilitation counselor or career coach to help you update your resume, practice job interview skills, and locate jobs that match your skills and experience. Financial troubles and problems finding and keeping employment are major triggers for relapse, but it is possible to take baby steps and get your finances in order. Just keep in mind that your improvements won’t happen overnight.

How Do You Not Get Bored When Sober?

Those who are more comfortable with a secular approach to addiction recovery may find the philosophy of SOS to be more helpful to them than 12-step programs. SOS has been helping people recover from addictive behavior toward drugs, alcohol and food for over 30 years. If you don’t want to quit alcohol completely, or have had too much trouble staying 100% sober in the past, harm reduction might be the right approach. Alcoholics Anonymous, and many older treatment programs, emphasize total abstinence from drinking as the only solution.

Take one step at a time and break everything into shorter goals. Look at sobriety in stages, from detox to addiction treatment to sober living to everyday life. Additionally, Alcoholics Anonymous offers a community of fellow recovering individuals who can offer support, advice, and fellowship.

Attend Recovery Groups Even After Getting Sober

This is a reminder that just giving up alcohol is not enough alone to make people behave better. The individual can still do terrible things even after they have become sober. This is why it is recommended that people sober without aa follow the steps so that they can develop real sobriety. After their first splash of surprise (or lack thereof), I had to accustom myself to my peers viewing me through the distorting lens of alcoholism.

The SMART in SMART Recovery stands for Self Management and Recovery Training. It’s a worldwide support network and arguably the leading alternative to AA. It espouses a four-point program based on abstinence, the ultimate goal of which is to help followers to lead more balanced lives. SMART Recovery is all about empowerment; it diverges from AA on its first step—that “powerless over alcohol” thing—and makes use of techniques from motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy. Secularity and non-confrontation are central to its ethos, and the organization says it’s perfectly acceptable to use SMART alongside other sobriety aids, even including 12-Step societies.