2026 LifeRing Meeting Reports - Delegates Assembly

Akron Ohio Meetings • Meeting Convenors Vary • Times Vary • In-person, Hybrid, Local Online

2026 LifeRing Akron Delegates Report

Our long-standing Tuesday in-person and Thursday local online meetings continue. While overall attendance is down, we maintain a dedicated core group that consistently shows up to support one another. Meanwhile, attendance has been up at our Saturday hybrid topic meeting, which is hosted at the Summit Recovery Hub—a local Recovery Community Organization (RCO) that embraces a variety of alternative recovery pathways. Additionally, one of our longtime members convenes a private HWYW meeting at a community-based correctional facility.

LifeRing Akron continues to foster connection through a daily Signal chat, and our members remain especially generous with donations to support our host facilities, outreach efforts, and the broader LifeRing organization.

New Grant Opportunity & Institutional Outreach

The LifeRing Director of Development identified a grant opportunity through the Ridgecliff Foundation, and LifeRing Akron created the plan and is assisting with the proposal preparation. If the grant is awarded, the project will launch in Summit County in early 2027, hosting quarterly educational webinars and placing "BRIDGE Box" toolkits in 20 local courts, jails, and rehab centers.

The acronym BRIDGE stands for Building Recovery Infrastructure for Diverse Guidance & Education. Each self-contained toolkit will contain staff instructions, free recovery books for clients, and printed local meeting lists. These boxes provide institutional staff with a seamless pipeline to help more people find a secular path to long-term recovery.

Community Events

Building on our community outreach, we tabled at the OhioCAN Summit Fest in June of 2025 and will be participating again this year, with the event likely moving to September. We are also excited to expand our reach by tabling at Akron Pride this August.

LifeRing in Ohio is always growing, adapting, and evolving!

Doug D. on behalf of all of Ohio's LifeRing meetings

Anna B • Meeting Convenor • Mondays at Noon Pacific Time • Online

Sober Salon | Meeting ID: 1126 | HWYW

Meeting Delegate:  Michael M

Hello LifeRing:

This is the second consecutive year I’ve been selected as the delegate for the Sober Salon online Lifering meeting that is held each Monday at noon PST hosted by Anna B. I have been attending this HWYW meeting regularly for the past two years and it’s become an essential part of my week and my continued sobriety (for six and a half years). This meeting has been in existence for approximately three years with Anna as its founder and convenor for its entirety.

Our attendance varies anywhere from 35 to as many as 50 people who surface each week, demonstrating continued growth for the length of my association with it. The membership in the group is essentially split 50-50 between men and women with an age range from approximately 25 years old to 80 years. If I were to hazard a guess, about 60% of the attendees are regulars who appear weekly, but even those whose attendance is sporadic often return following brief absences. The length of sobriety spans the spectrum ranging from the newly sober (a few days to a week) to the veterans with as much as five years or more of complete abstinence.

At the risk of appearing felicitous, perhaps the most enduring characteristic of the Sober Salon is the universal acceptance of and support lent amongst the members of this online community, and I don’t believe it would be a stretch to say this trait is directly attributable to the patience, warmth, kindness, and enlightened guidance of its founder and convenor, Anna B.

Rarely does a week pass when we don’t have a newcomer pay a visit to the meeting, states at the end of their initial share or in the chat how at ease and welcome they have been made to feel and express an ardent desire to return. Anna’s skill as someone who both hears you and listens to you, and her continuous efforts to acquire as much knowledge as she can as a peer support volunteer establish her as one of LifeRing’s preeminent convenors and the standard to which others should strive.

Michael McCauley (Michael M.)
Delegate: Sober Salon
[email protected]

Michael A • Meeting Convenor • Mondays at 6:30pm Pacific Time • In-Person

BaysideMarin LifeRing Meeting | Meeting ID: 1035| HWYW

Meeting Delegate:  Markell

BaysideMarin LifeRing Meeting takes its name from the Bayside Marin Treatment Center in San Rafael, California. Bayside runs residential programs from their hillside campuses overlooking the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as outpatient services from their building on Fourth Street in downtown San Rafael. We are fortunate for their support in providing us a location at the downtown Bayside Building for our meetings at 6:30 pm on Mondays.

Our inaugural meeting was convened on March 27, 2023, by Michael A., who was eager to connect his residential experience at Bayside with his evolving sober life. Michaels commitment to the principles of LifeRing have continued to grow far beyond the Bayside Chapter, as convener and participant in a wide variety of other meetings across the region. Michael serves on the board of the LifeRing national organization, with a focus on new meeting development.

It’s hard to imagine a nicer place to hold in-person meetings than the Bayside Building. It’s a large room with comfortable furniture, a tall ceiling, recovery materials on tables and on the walls. A big white board which we have used occasionally. There’s enough space and chairs to make a circle for 20 — which is how the room is typically arranged when we arrive. Even when the group only numbers four or five, I can’t remember a time when we moved the chairs in and closed up that big circle.

These smaller meetings would be our “core group”. Two of us came out of Bayside’s residential program, another out of Olympia House, and two of us attained sobriety without any residential program at all. We are generally 5 years or less sober, with the notable exception of ‘D’, who brings more than 15 years of lived recovery experience to the group. ‘We have had a few “topic meetings”, but the core group most often follows the “How Was Your Week?” format. After all, our backstories are familiar, and we each arrive with our own up-to-the-minute rolling narrative. It’s comfortable, and there’s plenty of time to talk. A group of this size and familiarity can get pretty lively.

It’s common for the group to be two to four people larger when members of the public join us in search of non-12-step peer support. Some are newly out of a residential program, some are wondering where to start in overcoming their addictive behavior, some are well along in their recovery but always on the lookout for friendly sober mates. We may not see them a second time, or they may hang with us for a few weeks.

And then — some nights our group has been doubled in size by virtue of our relationship with Bayside. We regularly welcome groups of three, four, or more who are on a “fieldtrip” from Bayside’s residential program, an outpatient PHP, or a nearby SLE. Often it is their first contact with LifeRing, maybe even their first ever in-person peer- support experience. These folks are welcomed warmly, and Michael dusts off his excellent introduction to the principles and premises of LifeRing. These meetings typically don’t follow the “how was your week” format. For one thing, the core group will usually offer a bit of personal history — “how they got to where we are”. And of course the visiting folks each come equipped with their own stories that we’ve never heard before.

These larger meetings provide great synergy, and a delightful element of unpredictability. Of course, as the group size grows time can run short. There have been nights when we had to rush our shares. So far we’ve not filled our circle of 20, but as of late our meetings have been solidly in the teens.

Common to all meetings is our propensity for cross-talk. It’s one way we demonstrate to each other that we’re listening — that the stories are important — that we are both absorbing and reflecting. And it’s our opportunity to toss around some two cent coins.

In closing, I will 1) recommend LifeRing Bayside Marin as a worthy meeting, 2) thank everyone involved for their contributions, 3) borrow the words of our very best cross- talker and the man with the mantras:

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Respectfully submitted,

Markell
Delegate for the 2026 LifeRing Annual Congress on behalf of LifeRing Bayside Marin

Ewa C • Meeting Convenor • Tuesdays at Noon Pacific Time • Online

Choose To Recover Mindfully | Meeting ID: 1240 | HWYW

Meeting Delegate:  Savannah J

Choose to Recover Mindfully is a How Was Your Week? meeting hosted by Ewa. We start with a brief meditation, which often sparks beautiful crosstalk from LifeRingers about their experiences during the meditation.

Ewa leads the meeting with compassion for all as well as some great recovery facts and resources including the Sober Synthesis blog started by a fellow LifeRing member. Sylvia often co-hosts, which is great because she also provides scientific info related to recovery.

The meeting has grown! We usually have about 35 to 45 people in attendance with recovery times varying from newly sober to years/decades of sobriety.

Come join us at 9 AM EST on Tuesdays!

Savannah J

Tim S • Meeting Convenor • Tuesdays at 1:00pm Pacific Time • In-Person

LifeRing in San Francisco Kaiser AMRS | Meeting ID: 1041 | HWYW meeting open to all

LifeRing opened this HWYW meeting on February 13, 2024 at the invitation of the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente AMRS. It's held in Room 6B in the Ellis Street Kaiser AMRS building every Tuesday at 1:00pm.

A bit of history:  The very first and only in-person meetings I attended were in this exact room prior to the pandemic. The convenor, Jim V. was amazing and made it all look so easy. Jim remains a role model for me and I am grateful for all the positivity and empathy he brought to those LifeRing meetings.

Attendance in Room 6B is made up of an average of 20 people primarily from the Kaiser AMRS Program who are just starting out on their recovery journey. Participants rotate based on enrollment in the Day Program and the IRT, so community is trickier to build, but there are a number of folk who come back even after treatment. This is particularly impactful as those returning represent folk who have been through the Kaiser program and continue to maintain their sobriety. This is very encouraging for participants in the very early stages of recovery and the dynamic provides a nice balance of crosstalk.

Empower Your Sober Self in LifeRing face-to-face meetings with others in recovery here in the City by the Bay!   

Tim
San Francisco

Michael A • Meeting Convenor • Tuesdays at 5:30pm Pacific Time • Online

The Liver Spot | Post-op | Meeting ID: 1191 | Focus Meeting intended for post-liver transplant individuals.

Meeting Delegate:  Joe A

The Liver Spot | Post-Op was created in collaboration with UCSF to provide a recovery support meeting for transplant recipients. Michael A. convened the very first meeting on January 20, 2025. While initial attendance was slow, increased participation from transplant hospitals across the country has since driven steady growth, bringing weekly attendance to a consistent 18–20 members.

Meet Our Delegate

I was referred to The Liver Spot meeting by the UW Seattle liver team after my transplant at UW in December of 2025.  I started attending a week after discharge and have only been late to one meeting since then.  I look forward to the Tuesday meeting each week.  I have been concurrently attending Betty Ford for IOP and now OP.  The Post Transplant call is very different from Betty Ford.

During The Liver Spot | Post-Op meeting, the therapy provided by talking with post-transplant patients is invaluable for achieving a full recovery and continuously gaining knowledge on how to cope with daily challenges.  The meeting changes every week as the group discusses a wide range of topics that patients have faced or might face.  I learned more about how to move forward each day from the Tuesday meeting than I could have learned in any other forum.

I volunteered to participate and serve as a delegate to spread the word and enhance the call to the best of my ability.  As always, I look forward to the meeting this coming Tuesday night.

Cheers,
Joe A

Sue Betts • Meeting Convenor • Tuesdays at 5:30pm Pacific Time • Online

Celebrate Life, Y'all! | Meeting ID: 1124 | HWYW meeting open to all

We are honored to be represented by Delegate Jimmy V! Jimmy has been a strong participant in the Y'all! meeting sharing his strong commitment and sense of humor to every meeting he attends. 

Celebrate Life, Y'all! is a long-running meeting spinning off from the original Celebrate Life meeting passed down from convenor to convenor since September 2022. 

This is an early evening How Was Your Week check in meeting that serves as a safe space to wind down after work or before bed depending on your time zone! Core members in this meeting are friendly and welcoming. They're not shy about sharing their own stories and providing positive crosstalk with others. This is a warm and inviting growing meeting community where you can explore and develop your personal recovery plan.

We secretly call this meeting: Rambunctious Recovery. Come on in for a spot of sober irreverence., 

Sue
San Francisco

Anna B • Meeting Convenor • Wednesdays at 9:00am Pacific Time • Online

The Nest | Meeting ID: 1102 | HWYW

Meeting Delegate:  Maria C.

This meeting is an How Was Your Week meeting, convened by Anna and co-hosted by Sylvia and Andy. The meeting is well attended, with numbers averaging between 35 and 50 participants. I have personally attended this meeting for over a year, and participation has grown over that period. Many of the participants are regular attendees (approx. 75%+), and newcomers are welcomed warmly and often become regulars. Attendees range in sobriety from Day One to multiple years.

Attendees are encouraged to raise their hand to share. Anna starts the meeting by introducing LifeRing’s 3-S philosophy and shares how it has related to her own recovery, followed by describing the books LifeRing offers to help in recovery, especially the Recovery by Choice workbook.

Crosstalk is encouraged during the meeting so long as the person sharing is open to it. Once a share is finished, Anna always engages with the person, and when possible, relates in a personal way to show understanding, and makes sure the person is open to crosstalk before allowing others to speak. The chat feature is available for people to write encouraging or celebratory messages to attendees, and allows Anna and the co-hosts to add information regarding LifeRing books or special events, and step-by-step instructions for obtaining meeting verification through Pathcheck.

This meeting is a very warm and friendly place to be. The group celebrates milestones by either visually clapping on camera or using react tools in Zoom. When someone is struggling, the group reaches out with empathy either through crosstalk or using the meeting tools.

Quote from regular participant:

I’ve never encountered a better meeting convenor than Anna. She’s unfailingly encouraging, sympathetic, empathetic, warm, calm, insightful... what more could anyone ask for?

Maria Collett
Delegate: The Nest

Sue Betts • Meeting Convenor • Wednesdays at 5:30pm Pacific Time • Online

The Liver Spot | Meeting ID: 1241 | Focus meeting open to all

We are honored to be represented by Delegate Lyn G! Lyn is the Liver Spot OG and has been instrumental in shaping this chill, community space. Lyn brings her compassion, commitment, and sense of humor to every meeting. 

The Liver Spot is a LifeRing Focus Meeting for people in recovery who are also managing SUD-related medical conditions. This meeting embraces the LifeRing's 3-S philosophy of "sobriety, secularity, and self-direction" and offers a platform for patient-to-patient knowledge exchange.

The Liver Spot is an active and engaged community of folk who join to support their own recovery and the recovery of others. LifeRing's peer-to-peer support model has proven an incredibly powerful tool for core and newcomers. Crosstalk is huge and the camaraderie is unparalleled. It's peer-to-peer support and candid crosstalk that makes The Liver Spot such a unique resource for people in recovery and as a supporting resource for healthcare providers.

History

The Liver Spot was introduced on December 23, 2020. It originated from a Convenor Group email saying something like:

Will someone please start a liver transplant meeting? I can't understand a word they're talking about.

In the beginning, this meeting ran form 6:00pm to 7:00pm Pacific. We started out with approximately 18 participants - a number that steadily rose as the meeting gained traction. When we reached a consistent group of 30, we voted to extend the meeting for a half-hour to better accommodate group shares and our intensity of crosstalk.

Current

This meeting now supports an average of 55 people per week with a core group of about 40. We've made it through 6 losses, 3 lapses, and 15 transplants, 20 UNOS listings, and countless paracenteses. The Liver Spot is made up of an interesting mix of very strong personalities from a variety of backgrounds. Attendance from hospital beds is a regular occurrence. We're all very grateful to have the flexibility Zoom meetings provide.

Surviving the wait to be listed and the aftershocks of a liver transplant is tough. Being able to talk with others who are at various stages of their own recovery journeys is cathartic and can build confidence and strength. People in recovery and patients undergo treatment gain a better understanding of the road ahead and the supportive power of a home group cheering for their success.

It's not unusual for this meeting to run over three hours long. We close the meeting around 7:00pm and slip into what we affectionately call "Romper Room." It's a space where we can decompress after the intensity of this immersive, emotional meeting.

There's a lot of graphic medical treatment talk, so The Liver Spot is not for everyone, but it is open to everyone. If nothing else, it offers a glimpse into SUD-related medical challenges for people who have never considered the long-term effects of drinking.

People find The Liver Spot through hospital recommendations, from friends, and from other recovery support groups, We are especially grateful to all the LifeRing convenors who suggest The Liver Spot to their meeting members.

One of the best things about The Liver Spot? They speak my language! Even if you can't quite get the pronunciation right, everyone knows you mean paracentesis.

Everyone needs a meeting where people understand what you're talking about.

Sue
San Francisco

Charmaine, John, Kirk, Benji , Pat, and Anna
you are missed

Matt C • Meeting Convenor • Wednesdays at 9:00pm Pacific Time • Online

You, Me, and ADHD | Meeting ID: 1295 | HWYW meeting open to all

Overview and Meeting Purpose

You, Me, and ADHD is a specialized LifeRing focus meeting tailored to individuals navigating the unique intersections of substance recovery and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Recognizing that traditional, larger meeting formats can sometimes feel overwhelming or disconnected for neurodivergent individuals, this meeting was intentionally designed as a smaller, intimate gathering. By fostering a tight-knit environment, the meeting successfully accommodates the crucial importance of focused connection, active listening, and deeply constructive peer-to-peer cross-talk.

Attendance and Group Dynamics

Because this meeting deliberately prioritizes a smaller footprint to ensure everyone has a meaningful opportunity to share, attendance typically averages a dedicated core group of 10 to 15 participants weekly. This intentional constraint creates a safe, low-stimulation environment where members can comfortably express their challenges without the anxiety of a fast-moving, high-occupancy room.

The group dynamics are highly collaborative. Members frequently share that the smaller room size allows them to track the conversation more easily, minimize typical ADHD-related conversational drift, and build strong, ongoing bonds of accountability.

Keys to Successes

Over the year, the meeting has focused on practical, real-world strategies for building a personal recovery program while managing executive dysfunction. The greatest success of "You, Me, and ADHD" has been its retention. Newcomers who have struggled to find their footing in broader recovery formats report feeling an immediate sense of "belonging" here. The intentional focus on deep, unhurried connection has made it a vital lifeline for its members.

Future Outlook

As the demand for neurodivergent-friendly recovery spaces grows, our primary challenge is maintaining the small, focused scale that makes this meeting successful without turning away those in need, while preserving the small-group magic.

Respectfully submitted,

Matt Convenor/Delegate, You, Me, and ADHD
Australia / Bali

Sue Betts • Meeting Convenor • Fridays at 12:00pm Pacific Time • In-Person

LifeRing in San Francisco City Hall | Meeting ID: 1023|  HWYW meeting open to all

We are honored to be represented by Delegate Geoffrey S! Geoffrey has been a strong participant in our City Hall meeting since our inaugural meeting. He brings his strong commitment and sense of humor to every meeting he attends. 

San Francisco City Hall | LifeRing opened its HYWY meeting in San Francisco City Hall on February 3rd, 2023. This is the first in-person meeting to run in San Francisco since the pandemic shut down our SF onsite locations. This is a weekly "How Was Your Week" check-in meetings for people seeking support with substance use challenges.

We offer a recovery-forward meeting held on Fridays at 12:00pm noon in Room 278 in San Francisco City Hall. All people who want to be free from alcohol and drugs and stay free from alcohol and drugs are welcome.

Participants |  Our core group is made up of 15 very smart and very likable people who make recovery a focus in their lives.

Empower Your Sober Self in LifeRing face-to-face meetings with like-minded people in recovery here in the City by the Bay!   

Sue
San Francisco

go warriors!

Laura M • Meeting Convenor • Fridays at 12:00pm Pacific Time • In-Person

Face-To-Face Fridays | Meeting ID: 1258 | HWYW meeting open to all

The When and Where:

Face-to-Face Fridays | 12:00pm to 1:30pm PST
399 Gregory Lane
Pleasant Hill CA 94523

The History:

The Friday meeting was established in Dec 2011.  It was originally started at Walnut Creek Kaiser.  It was formed after the Wednesday LifeRing meeting members said that they wanted to meet twice weekly.  During COVID we met in the parking lot since no  community meetings were allowed in the building.

After several years, we were still not allowed to return inside the building but  it was becoming problematic to continue meeting  outdoors.  We decided to search out a new venue.  In June of 2023 we had our first meeting in Pleasant Hill.  Same group, different location.

Who We Are:

Our meetings are attended by those in all stages of recovery.  We have some with several decades of continuous sobriety and some who only have a few days.  Some of us have been together for a decade and others for more than 5 years.  We welcome all newcomers and many decide to stay awhile. All are a part of our meeting “family.”

We average 12-15 people in attendance each week.  The meeting is 1 ½ hours so there is plenty of time to share.  If you need to come late or leave early, that's ok by us.  We are just glad you came.

What We Do:

Our meeting supports people in recovery from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.  Some travel only a few miles and some have  come from as far as 50 miles each week.

We offer literature at our meeting and often offer refreshments.  We always offer support.

We also continue to support our sister meeting at Kaiser in Walnut Creek when it was formed and sponsored by the Wednesday and Friday Pleasant Hill meetings.  We help out financially and a few core members in our  group support by attending regularly.   

Our current outreach project is supplying “ Little Free Libraries” with LifeRing literature.  Because we have attendees from multiple counties, we can supply  books to a wide area.

Final Words:

Our Face-to-Face Friday  meeting feels a tremendous amount of gratitude for our recovery as individuals and as a group. We support each other on our sober journeys and cry and laugh along the way.  That's just what families do.