Without AA

[Andrea]

I currently live in Las Vegas and I'm starting group therapy on Wednesday. My therapist has asked me to start AA but due to past experience with religion I prefer to steer clear of traditional AA. I need help finding a local support group that my therapist will find comparable to AA.

[Andy6666]

Andrea, great decision to take charge with therapy. There are a number of self help groups that are not 12 step. I think SMART RECOVERY is the group to start with. None of these groups can come close to the availability of AA, NA etc., meetings. But there meetings for SMART but tend to grow in larger cities like New York and LA, but I feel the strength of SMART is their website, they have the best and most"how to" helpful tools, free for down load. There are online meetings and messaging that has skyrocketed since technology exploded 10-20 years ago. It is not a spiritual group and the focus is solely on how to stay abstinent from substances. You also might GOOGLE other groups, Women for Sobriety, SOS (especially for non religious oriented people), and there are websites like LIFERING, OR SOBERECOVERY. I wish you the best and please respond if you want to exchange life experiences. Andy

[Andrea]

Thank you Andy. I appreciate your help. After my dad was busted for pot back in the 90's he had to do community service and chose a large church chain that was well meaning but very damaging to myself to do his service. He became very involved in the church and soon started his own. He just traded pot for church. The only problem was that he dragged the rest of us with him. It would have been fine if he would have done so in moderation. He was busted when I was 12. By the time I was 16 I was at church more than I was at school. If I wasn't in school I was in church. It became an unhealthy environment for me and I was desperate to leave the situation but being 16 I had no way out. I waited another two years and left home six months before I graduated high school. Every since than I have struggled to undo the damage caused by my father's and mother's early drug addiction and the later brain washing of the church. So needless to say I'm still rather edgy when it comes to anything that even sounds religious. I will defiantly look into the groups you suggested. Thanks again.