LifeRing Annual Meeting Was a Big Success

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Craig W

The 2012 LifeRing Annual Meeting was held May 11. 12 and 13 in San Francisco and came off very smoothly. Attendance was not overwhelming, but those who came both contributed to the meeting’s success and benefited from it.

The meeting, held primarily at the very comfortable San Francisco LGBT Center, featured it’s usual mix of organizational work, informative talks by prominent researchers and experts, and a generous amount of warm interaction among the participants.

Friday’s sessions focused on how best to strengthen the LifeRing organization as a whole, with particular attention on the board of directors and its ongoing efforts to both grow and strengthen LifeRing’s work in reaching out to make our system of support available to all. In one session, the directors met with an experienced non-profit consultant to explore how best to move forward. In another, the board members and others met with three Ph.D. researchers to discuss possibilities for research. That session included a fascinating interaction by the researchers about their different approaches to addiction studies. Continue reading →

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Martin Nicolaus to be Keynote Speaker at Annual Meeting

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Craig W

Martin Nicolaus, one of LifeRing’s founders and its only leader until two years ago, will be the keynote speaker at the LifeRing Annual Meeting on May 12th at the LGBT Center in San Francisco. His talk is entitled, ‘Toward a Medical Model of Addiction Recovery, or: Is it Time to Occupy Recovery?” The talk, which promises to be lively, is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. All are invited and admission will be free, although contributions will be much appreciated.

Posted in Congress2012, Organization | 4 Comments

LifeRing Annual Meeting Fee is Suggested, Not Required

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Craig W

Just to clear up any confusion, the fee that we set for attending the Annual Meeting is suggested, not required. We do need the money, but nobody will be turned away. (Well, except from the banquet — that does have to be paid for!)

Further, advance registration is not required for the meeting events. You can just show up and sign in. You may be asked for a contribution, but the amount is up to you. Zero, for example, is perfectly acceptable. So is $10,000. The suggested fee of $52 was based on $1 a week since last year’s meeting, which seemed a reasonable expectation from our many successfully clean-and-sober members who have saved untold thousands of dollars from their recovery. But obviously, some people are in bad shape financially and may not feel able to afford $52. We understand and ALL are welcome.

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LifeRing Congress may be Lively

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Craig W

As plans for the LifeRing Annual Meeting continue to fall into place, several items promise to arouse discussion at the Sunday LifeRing Congress. Four seats on the board of directors will be decided by a vote of the delegates present. Each LifeRing meeting is entitled to send one delegate. Three of the seats are from terms that have come to an end after three years. Those seats are held by Craig W., Carola Z. and Dru B. All three have decided to put their names forward again. In addition to those seats, Lauretta M. has decided to step down and her seat will be filled at the Congress, with whomever is elected serving the rest of her term, which has one more year to run. The new person in that seat will run again next year (assuming they choose to do so) for a full 3-year term. Lauretta has given years of service to LifeRing and will be missed, but time constraints have limited her ability to contribute in the way she feels is appropriate, so she is retiring.

Any LifeRing member with at least two years of continuous sobriety is eligible to serve on the board. We will be asking the newly elected board members to sign “letters of commitment” outlining expectations for board members regarding minimal contributions of time and energy. Continue reading →

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The Economic Cost of “Excessive” Drinking

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Craig W

A report from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine offers some astonishing figure about the cost of “excessive” alcohol consumption in the United States. The report, compiled in 2009/10, looks at 2006 figures and estimates the total cost to the U.S. economy in that year at $223.5 billion. On a per capita basis, that comes to “approximately $746 per person, most of which is attributable to binge drinking.” On a per drink basis, it comes to $1.90 for each alcoholic drink consumed.

Of course, the economic costs of drinking is only one aspect of the problem. As the report states: “Excessive alcohol consumption causes premature death (average of 79,000 deaths annually); increased disease and injury; property damage from fire and motor vehicle crashes; alcohol-related crime; and lost productivity.” Add to that the human misery that addiction brings.

The whole report is worth looking at — see it HERE

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A LifeRing Keeper: Gratitude

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Craig W

This is from a message sent to a LifeRing E-mail group:

While driving to work today I was thinking about how grateful I am to LifeRing. It has become a useful tool in my own sobriety plan, helping to keep sobriety in the forefront by conversations, observations, and affirmations. That has been important in these early days and I hope those who are new to LifeRing take advantage of all it has to offer. But it isn’t a “thing” but rather a group of people who have come together for the common goal of maintaining our sobriety, and I’m grateful to LifeRing for facilitating this “venue.”

For my own part, I have laid out a few personal goals to help get through the early days of sobriety. Maybe they will be useful for someone else too…

Continue reading →

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LifeRing Annual Meeting Set for May 11, 12, 13 in San Francisco

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Craig W

Every year, LifeRing holds a get-together to handle organization matters, hear guest speakers, and get a chance for us all to come together to enjoy each others company.

The 2012 Annual Meeting will be held in San Francisco on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 11, 12, and 13. Friday and Saturday events will be at the LGBT Center at 1800 Market St., near the Castro, Mission and Hayes Valley neighborhoods. Sunday’s gathering will be at the nearby Alano Club at 1748 Market St. Continue reading →

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New LifeRing Meetings in San Leandro, CA. and Portland, ME

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Craig W

Two new LifeRing meetings have started, one in California and the other in Maine.

The new meeting in San Leandro, south of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area, is held each Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 AM in the Fireside Room at All Saint’s Church, 911 Dowling Blvd. All are welcome to attend. For information, contact the new meeting’s convenor, John O., at LSRSanLeandro@gmail.com

Portland is the home of the first LifeRing meeting in Maine. It meets at 3:30 PM on Fridays at the Portland Recovery Community Center, 468 Forest Ave. For more information, contact the convenor, Peter H. at LifeRingForME@roadrunner.com

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Video of Martin Nicolaus speaking on “The Medical Model of Addiction”

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Craig W

In October of 2010, shortly after retiring as LifeRing’s founding leader (and author of three books related to LifeRing), Martin Nicolaus journeyed to Victoria, Canada to give a talk about “The Medical Model of Addiction” at a conference at the Eric Martin Institution in that city. The 54 minute presentation can be watched HERE.

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New Office Hours for LifeRing

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Craig W

Robert S., our erstwhile office administrator, is changing his hours. The new hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 and Friday, 10-3, with an hour off for lunch. In addition, Craig W., chairman of the LifeRing board, will be there most weekday mornings and there may be volunteers there at other times. And even when the office is unoccupied, phone calls pass through to a cell phone that Robert carries. So the change of “official” hours shouldn’t inconvenience anyone, at least not if you call ahead which you should always do. The new hours take effect immediately.

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