Sometimes those seeking sobriety also suffer from emotional and mental challenges that can make recovery more difficult. LifeRing Secular Dual Recovery — the latest addition to LifeRing’s E-mail Group offerings — is a safe place to discuss those highly personal issues among people who may not share the particular problem, but who understand what it’s like to deal with life-limiting issues in addition to addiction. Whether the difficulty is depression, or anxiety, or some other emotional/psychological challenge, the members of this group will listen and respond with positive and supportive messages. If interested, contact Heather W. and mention Dual Recovery in the subject line

A new LifeRing meeting aimed at supporting people in their effort to quit smoking will start early next month in Oakland.  The meeting will follow the basic LifeRing format and use sections of the LifeRing Recovery by Choice Workbook.

Anna L. will convene the meeting at the Kaiser Chemical Dependency Recovery Program (CDRP), 969 Broadway, Oakland, CA. The meetings will be weekly on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. starting May 3rd. The meeting location is just a few blocks from the LifeRing Service Center and hosts a number of LifeRing meetings aimed both at those going through the CDRP program and members from outside the CDRP.  The convenor is a veteran of LifeRing meetings in Oakland and San Leandro, CA, and is a former smoker. Contact her at astarrlibet@yahoo.com

The LifeRing approach is centered on addicts helping one another by sharing their successes and challenges with others like them. There is no “program” as such, but each member is encouraged to develop their own program — their own lists of things that help and things that hurt. We learn from each other and exchange our thoughts in a sober, adult environment, one ‘sober self’ talking to another ‘sober self.’

Longmont, Colorado, due north of Denver and northeast of Boulder, will be the home of a new LifeRing meeting beginning Sunday, March 17. The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. at Brewing Market Coffee, 1520 S Hover St #A, Longmont, CO. 80501. The convenor will be Kathleen G., a veteran convenor and member of the LifeRing board of directors. The theme of the meeting will be “How We Get and Stay Clean and Sober,” a reformulation of our more common theme wording, “How Was Your Week.” This will be at least the 16th LifeRing meeting in Colorado, second only to the number of meetings in California.

Meanwhile, Ireland continues its growth of LifeRing meetings, with its first Women Only meeting at St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan Road, County Dublin. The meeting will be open to all women who want to live free of alcohol and other addictive drugs. Convenors, all women, will rotate. The meeting will take place beginning March 20th on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in Group Room 3 on the 1st floor of the hospital. This brings to 6 the number of LifeRing meetings in the Dublin area,  with others in Cork and Belfast, Northern Ireland.