(Hyperlinks in this archive may no longer work and other information may be obsolete)

SOS Hosts Sober New Years' Eve Party

'Twas a dark and stormy night, but nothing could faze the sober spirits of the 40 or so revelers who participated in the SOS second almost-annual Sober New Year's Eve Party on Dec. 31 beginning at 9 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center.

Strings of flashing colored lights, crepe paper and balloons decorated the hall. Each table had a supply of noisemakers and a kit of colorful mixed beads and strings for making New Year's ornaments. As everyone was sober, some strings of beads were successfully assembled. There was an abundant potluck, varieties of nonalcoholic drinks, and six prerecorded tapes of boogie music assembled by that sober DJ extraordinaire, Kurt S.

As Geoff G. counted down the final ten seconds, pandemonium broke loose in the hall. Couples hugged and kissed, soberly. Children joined in the happy racket. No one fell down.

As everyone pitched in to help, cleanup was quick work. Everyone drove home sober and safe. A fine time was had by all.

Special thanks to John and Lisa for the decorations, and to Geoff and Deena for putting it all together.

-- Marty N., 1/2/97

Wednesday Meeting Moves to Earlier Time Slot

• The Wednesday night Oakland meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. instead of 7:45 p.m., effective immediately, announced Mike F., meeting secretary. The move will make the meeting more convenient for participants in the Kaiser CDRP program, whose meetings end shortly before the 6:30 time slot. The location remains the same (969 Broadway, downtown Oakland, Group Room 8, upstairs from Smart and Final). (12/20/96)

Texas Prison System Adopts SOS as Secular Alternative

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which operates the largest prison system in the United States and the largest substance abuse treatment program as well, has selected SOS as provider of secular alternative self-help support meetings throughout the state, the SOS International Newsletter announced in its Fall, 1996 issue. The selection came after James Christopher, founder of SOS and its Executive Director, visited the headquarters of the system in Huntsville, TX, in September 1996, and attended an SOS meeting in the Estelle prison there, along with Dick Hansen, an SOS activist from Houston, TX. Ed Roberts, the Program Director of the TDCJ Substance Abuse Treatment Program, wrote that "we believe the SOS program offers a solid option" to the traditional AA-NA approaches. "Personally, I find the SOS message of individual responsibility, and prioritization of sobriety as separate from all other 'life issues' particularly appropriate to the population with which we are involved. The sobriety priority can be applied as readily and effectively to issues of criminality as to those of chemical dependence, as can such tools as the 'calling up' techniques mentioned in Unhooked." (12/20/96)

Saturday Meeting Opens at Mandana CRC

• A new Saturday SOS meeting opened this week at Mandana Community Recovery Center in Oakland, meeting convenor Maxine C. announced today. The gathering convenes from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Saturdays in Room A of the Grey Building of Mandana CRC at 3989 Howe Street. The location is about three blocks from the Kaiser Hospital at Howe and McArthur Boulevard, in the Piedmont Avenue area of Oakland. Parking is at meters, or in the Long's Drugs lot across the street, or in the Kaiser parking garage. The entrance to the meeting room is on 40th Street Way. (11/9/96)

Kaiser Restores Member Access to Support Group Speakers

The Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency and Recovery Program (CDRP) has reversed course and restored its members' access to speakers from outside support groups. In August, CDRP revised the program to cut off the support group speakers, including SOS. Numerous current and former participants in the CDRP program expressed their concern at the change. This past week, CDRP director Dr. Robert Boyd announced that the old policy of open access would be restored. The first SOS presentation was on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. (11/19/96)

Thursday Meeting to Show Movie Dec. 5

The Thursday night SOS meeting will show the movie "Stuart Saves His Family" on December 5 at 7:30 p.m., Ellie S., meeting secretary, announced. The movie is a comedy about an alcoholic and his family. The meeting will begin half an hour earlier than its usual 8:00 p.m. starting time to accommodate the film. (11/9/96)

New Years' Eve Party At Albany Facility

• Thanks to the decisive effort of Geoff G., a site has been found for the 1996 SOS Sober New Year's Eve party. It is the Albany Senior Center, a modern social facility near the Solano Avenue business district, with good parking and good public transportation. Members interested in helping with arrangements, please come to the next Intergroup Potluck, see above. (10/4/96)

Intergroup Potluck Nov. 9

• The next intergroup potluck will be Nov. 9, 1996, at 5 p.m. For details, location and preliminary agenda, click here. All meeting secretaries and treasurers are expected to attend. All other interested members are welcome to attend. (Updated 10/6/96)

Members Mark Sobriety Anniversaries

• Al S. of the Tuesday meeting passed the one-year milestone on April 29, 1997. Congratulations, Al! (5/5/97)
• Mike F. of the Wednesday night Oakland meeting achieved one year of sobriety on Dec. 1, 1996. (12/20/96)
• Craig M. of the Friday and Wednesday noon meetings achieved two years of sobriety the first week of December. (12/13/96)
• John D. of the Tuesday and Friday meetings celebrated his first year of sobriety the first week of November. (11/7/96)
• Bill M. of the Thursday meeting celebrated his 3rd anniversary of sobriety this month.
• Rich of the Friday meeting celebrated his 4th anniversary of sobriety last month.
• Geoff of the Friday meeting celebrated his 4th anniversary of sobriety this month, all of it in SOS. (9/22/96)
• Marty N. of the Tuesday & Friday meetings celebrated his fourth anniversary of sobriety this month, all of it in SOS. For a personal share on the occasion, click on "My SOS One-Two-Three." (10/3/96).

Local Web Site Listed in Micro-Times WWW Index

This web site is now listed in the MicroTimes Online Guide. MicroTimes is a free computer magazine edited in San Francisco and distributed throughout Northern California. Its Online Guide gives thumbnail descriptions of hundreds of web sites. The SOS listing appears under the heading "Organizations/Publications" on p. 116 of the current (September) issue. The listing is free. To view the page, click here. (10/11/96)

National List of Meetings Under Construction.

• The beginnings of an updated nationwide SOS meeting list with email contacts are under construction on this web page. A comprehensive directory was last published in 1994. Email correspondents who know of SOS meetings anywhere are asked to post the local meeting schedule here. For a complete list of nationwide meetings, contact the SOS International Clearinghouse. (10/6/96)

If You Need a Friendly Ear To Talk To

Craig M. has published a phone list of East Bay members who are willing to be called any hour day or night by people needing a friendly sober ear to talk to. To obtain a copy of the list, please attend a meeting. See Meeting Schedule. (9/27/96)

Thursday Meetings Initiate Book Nights

The Thursday Oakland meetings have introduced Book Sharing Nights once a month. The next book nights will be Oct. 10, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5, 1996. On book nights, members bring books they are reading and find interesting, and share their thoughts about the books with other members. Recent titles brought to book nights include: Night of the Avenging Blowfish, by John Welter; Dance of Anger by Harrier Lerner; Through a Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman; Many Roads One Journey by Charlotte Kasl; My Antonia by Willa Cather; Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus; On becoming a Person by Carl Rogers. (9/22/96)

First Newcomer Referred by Yellow Pages Ad

The first new member who found SOS through the new Yellow Pages ad appeared at the Friday night meeting Sept. 13. Group members were gratified at this initial success of this outreach effort. (9/14/96)

Berkeley Campus Meeting Opens

• There is now an SOS meeting on the University of California at Berkeley Campus. The group meets between noon and 1 pm on Wednesdays in the "Class of 1942" room (1019C) in the Tang Student Health Center at 2222 Bancroft. The meeting room is on the first floor and is easy to find - if you are entering through the main door which faces Bancroft, the room is off to the right (west) of the information desk, in an alcove with four or so doors. The meeting is open to everyone in the community, not just those with a University affiliation. -- Craig M. (10/9/96)

Palo Alto Meeting to Be Featured in Press

• Members of the Palo Alto meeting have been interviewed at length by a local paper for a feature article, according to convenor George "Chip" Griffin, who expects the piece to appear shortly. (9/22/96)

SOS To Publish Updated Edition of Group Leaders Guidebook.

• The International Clearinghouse has convened a workgroup to update the SOS Group Leaders Guidebook. The GLG was originally published in 1990. The update is expected to draw on the intervening years of group experience. If you have particular comments on the GLG, email them to [...] . If you would like to join the workgroup, send an email to tshelley@gte.net. (10/6/96)

Professional Journal Publishes Survey of SOS Participants

The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, a quarterly academic journal, carries a survey of SOS participants in its Spring 1996 issue. The article, entitled "Characteristics of Participants in Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS)" is based on questionnaire returned by 158 attendees at SOS meetings in all areas of the United States during 1993. The survey found that the average respondent had been abstinent from alcohol for 6.3 years. Thirty-five per cent had heard about SOS from the news media. About a third were also attending AA meetings. Eighty-five per cent found SOS "helpful" in maintaining their sobriety, with 52 per cent rating it "very helpful." The majority reported that they were planning long-term affiliation with SOS. Authors of the article are Gerard J. Connors, Ph.D. and Kurt H. Dermen, Ph.D., of the Research Institute on Addictions, http://www.ria.org/. (6/17/96)

SOS Ad Now in Yellow Pages

SOS now has a display ad in the Oakland/Berkeley Yellow Pages. Click here to see it. The ad costs $690 for the first 14 months. Fred S. did the preliminary graphics work and organized the fundraising to pay for the ad. Each meeting contributed; some meetings held a special collection for the ad. An evaluation is set for a year from now to see whether the results in membership growth warrant renewal of the ad. (6/9/96)

Speakers' Bureau Meets

The SOS local Speakers' Bureau, formed at the July 20 Intergroup Potluck, had its first meeting Oct. 6. Craig W., Elly S., Maxine C. and Marty N. attended. The group reviewed the basics of SOS, discussed how to approach the topic of presenting SOS to newcomers, and shared tips on giving presentations. Groups desiring to hear SOS speakers please contact the East Bay SOS phone line, 814-2221, and leave a message. (10/6/96)

Speakers' Bureau Formed

• The local meetings have formed a speakers' bureau to respond to local calls for representatives of SOS to address their groups. Call (510) 814-2221 to request a speaker or a referral. (7/21/96)

Salting for Sobriety: Bookmark flyers available

• SOS activists in St. Petersburg, Florida, get the word out about the local meeting by "salting" little cards with the meeting announcement into the pages of self-help books in local bookstores and libraries. Tom Shelley, long-time SOS organizer, says the device is very effective and counts for a high proportion of their new members. People browsing self-help books are likely to be interested in a recovery support group. This targeted advertising is cheap and, for members who like browsing bookstores anyway, it takes little extra effort.

  Miniature SOS flyers in the shape of bookmarks are now available for distribution in the Berkeley/Oakland area. The bookmarks carry a condensed meeting schedule, the phone number, a short message, and a decorative graphic. Click here to view a sample. Bookstore and library enthusiasts and others who would like to go salting for sobriety, contact your meeting secretary or email unhooked@hooked.net to obtain a supply. -- M.N. (6/9/96)

More women than men at Tuesday meeting

The Tuesday night SOS meeting at Kaiser CDRP (downtown Oakland) on 6/18/96 recorded a happy first: a female majority. Eight women and seven men attended. (6/18/96)

Women's meeting opens doors to all

The Wednesday night Women's Meeting in Oakland, formerly limited to women, opened its doors in mid-May to recovering persons of both sexes. Meeting secretary Maxine C. explains that attendance had been slow for some time, and the remaining members voted unanimously to open up the format. (6/9/96)

Meetings elect new leadership

The Monday night Berkeley meeting in May elected Bill C. secretary and Craig is treasurer. John is secretary of the Tuesday Oakland meeting. Al was elected treasurer of the Tuesday meeting in July. Maxine is secretary of Wednesday Oakland. Elly S. is secretary of the Thursday Oakland meeting, and Fred S. is treasurer; reach them by email at kcgb20a@prodigy.com. Craig is now secretary of the Friday night Berkeley meeting, where Rich is treasurer. (6/10/96)

• Please email current meeting leadership to unhooked@hooked.net for posting here. Please give permission for meeting secretary's phone number to be published here, if possible. -- MN.

Mike F. Elected Secretary of Wednesday Night Meeting

Mike F. was elected secretary of the Wednesday night downtown Oakland meeting last week. He can be reached at 530-6201(h), 446-7167 (w) or email him at mike.r.fenger@bender.com. (8/15/96).

Local Intergroup Potluck and Meeting July 20, 1996

John's barbecued salmon with capers, Bill's ratatouille and Craig's key lime pie highlighted the July 20 intergroup potluck in North Berkeley. Chip, Ellie, Fred, Geoff, Karl, Lisa, Mary, Marty, Maxine, and Sherrill were also there, representing almost every SOS meeting in Oakland, Berkeley and Palo Alto.

After dessert and coffee, people pulled up chairs in a circle on the lawn under a Monterey pine tree and we had an intergroup meeting. Bill kept notes, the gist of which is as follows:

The group leader has a difficult job sometimes enforcing the structure of the meeting in a tactful way and without turning into a control freak. Sometimes newcomers talk too much, and even more experienced members on occasion disregard the rule against crosstalk during sharing time. This can cause significant harm to members' feelings. It was the consensus that the group secretary has to intervene in those cases to protect the meeting structure by any means necessary.

Members should make an effort to get to know newcomers, to draw them out, answer their questions, and make them feel welcome, but without making them the center of attention for an undue amount of time. Newcomers might also be advised that meetings can change from week to week.

The Friday night meeting came in for criticism for having developed a clubby atmosphere that made it hard for newcomers, particularly women, to integrate.

The Wednesday night meeting has had good attendance since becoming co-ed, and the number of women there is larger than before. Tuesday has had female majorities on two recent occasions. Thursday has about even numbers of men and women.

The Monday night codependents' meeting was reported struggling but still alive; no one from that meeting attended the potluck.

Meetings tend to be more successful when there is a definite topic. Secretaries can keep a topic or two in reserve for nights when the chair is absent.

Members who want to vent their frustration at other recovery programs were welcome to spend a few minutes doing that, but the primary topic of a meeting ought not to be criticism of other approaches. Similarly, neither religion nor atheism make good discussion topics for us; we are a secular group, not an anti-religious group, and people of every belief or lack thereof are welcome.

We ought to promote our members reading recovery books. But experience shows that books lent at meetings tend to walk away, even when a nominal $5 deposit is asked. We probably need to charge a deposit that covers the price of the book. A member could act as librarian and as part of the job chase down tardy borrowers. Or we could donate the best books to the local public library and refer members there. A reading list is being worked on and expected soon. Occasionally, a member could chair a discussion around a reading topic and could distribute photocopies of excerpts from the book at the meeting.

We have an unwritten general rule that members should have six months' sobriety before becoming an officer of a meeting. However, exceptions have been made, and there was a consensus that a person's qualifications to lead and commitment to SOS were the overriding criteria.

A phone list including members from all the meetings who are willing to accept calls from people seeking help with drinking or using problems is being put together by Craig. Members who would like to volunteer for this list and were not at the potluck, please contact Craig at the Friday night meeting.

We are forming a speakers' bureau to respond to requests we receive for SOS speakers. Marty, Karl, Maxine, Chip and Ellie will be the initial members. Fred will continue to take messages from the 814-2221 line and will forward requests for speakers to the panel.

We probably have enough forces to start a new meeting in San Francisco in the fall, but still lack a meeting site. Several suggestions were made and will be looked into.

Karl volunteered to start a new meeting on the UC Berkeley campus in the fall. This will probably meet at noon. Lisa volunteered to help with this project.

The SOS Southern California regional conference Aug. 25 and the SOS International Conference in Mexico City Nov. 17 were announced.

There was consensus that the evening was worthwhile and we should do it again. Seizing the time, Ellie volunteered to host the next intergroup potluck on Sept. 14, 1996, at her and Fred's place.

It was dark but still balmy out when the meeting adjourned at about 9:30, and everyone (bless you) pitched in to clean up.

-- Minutes by Bill C. condensed and transcribed by Marty N.
(7/21/96)

A Visit to Los Angeles

By Marty N.

On a visit to the Los Angeles area this past weekend I had the opportunity to drop in on a meeting of SOS in Glendale, a suburb northeast of the city. At 11:30 on Sunday morning there were fourteen of us, including three women, and there weren't enough chairs, so latecomers sat on the floor. Among the participants was Jim Christopher, founder of SOS; Larry B., a long time SOS activist whose byline will be familiar to SOS Newsletter readers, and Joe M., the former secretary of the Berkeley Monday meeting who moved South a few years ago.

The Glendale SOS group uses a slightly different format than our northern meetings. They begin by reading the SOS Suggested Guidelines for Sobriety. Then they ask if anyone has a sobriety anniversary, and other announcements. After that, they open the floor to sharing without having someone set a topic first. People began their share by saying their name, as we do, but nobody responded with the friendly "Hi,(name)" that we are familiar with. People mainly shared about events that happened during their week. They allowed crosstalk during the sharing, but there was not much of it. Everybody had a chance to share during the 90-minute meeting. When the meeting time ran out, they passed the basket and we ended by giving each other a round of applause for staying sober another week. Apart from the slight differences in meeting ritual, I felt right at home. It was a pleasure seeing Joe again; he sends his greetings to all his old pals in Berkeley/Oakland. I felt reassured and fortified to be able to go to a strange city and join in a support group with shared beliefs and a common language.

After the regular meeting, I had the privilege of attending a business meeting of the Clearinghouse organization. Ed B., a veteran of SOS in the Los Angeles area and a professional in the recovery field, chaired and kept track of the flow with a red magic marker on a pad of newsprint. Jim C. was there, as was Tom H., the Clearinghouse computer guru recently returned from Israel, and two others: an activist in the gay community and a craggy-faced, golden-voiced TV actor. Fundraising and upcoming SOS conferences were the main topics. The Clearinghouse has run a deficit every year, which is covered by CODESH (Council for Democratic Secular Humanism). Reducing that financial gap is an ever-urgent concern. Two SOS conferences are coming up: one of the Southern California organization, in August, and the big one, the international SOS conference in mid-November in Mexico City. Bilingual announcements for the Mexico City affair should be available shortly. Ed B. expressed the fervent hope that the Mexico conference would be a way to encourage more Hispanics and other third world minorities to participate in SOS and make it their own.

We then adjourned to a housewarming party at the new home of Joan, a member of the Glendale meeting and a refugee from Berkeley many years ago. After a delicious lunch and some friendly chatting on Joan's patio and in her new meditation garden, we drove westward to the coast and I met with Jim C. and Tom H. at the SOS International Clearinghouse in the Marina del Rey district.

The Clearinghouse office is in a converted warehouse operated by the SHARE organization (Self Help And Recovery), which offers space to a broad range of groups. The SOS office consists of one modest room in a three-room suite shared with several West Coast affiliates of CODESH. Jim C. has a desk in one corner, surrounded by framed testimonials and certificates of appreciation for SOS, and attesting to Jim's membership in professional recovery organizations. A thermal-paper fax machine, a computer table and a literature shelf complete the Spartan decor. As I watched, Tom pulled up the day's haul of 89 email messages for the Clearinghouse.

My time was limited that day, but I had another chance to chat with Jim and Tom over frozen yogurts on Tuesday evening, July 2. Jim is keenly concerned to strengthen the ties between the meetings and the Clearinghouse. A letter to that effect will be in the mail shortly to SOS newsletter subscribers and local activists. Jim is very much open to all proposals and suggestions for improving communications between the meetings and the Clearinghouse.

Jim is aware in general terms of the recent discussions on the e-mail chat list, and is waiting to receive the excerpts or highlights which several list members have promised him for publication in the newsletter.

Jim is completing a computer familiarity class and I urged him to test his new skills by diving into the e-mail himself. But Tom and Jim both feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the e-mail traffic, on top of their other responsibilities, and they don't feel that the Clearinghouse, as the official voice of SOS, needs to or should get involved in many of the topics on the current chat list. Besides the chat list postings, the Clearinghouse also has its own e-mail traffic of inquiries, referrals, literature orders and correspondence. We discussed taking the Clearinghouse off the general chat list and starting a smaller, restricted e-mail discussion list for SOS meeting conveners and core members. This invitational list would discuss internal organizational issues, and the Clearinghouse would become active on that list. Jim and Tom viewed that idea favorably, and it awaits implementation.

We also discussed setting up a national steering committee for SOS, made up of leading members of the local organizations in the different regions of the country. At present there is no national structure other than the Advisory Board, whose main function is to ornament the letterhead. Jim recognized the need for setting up such a body, and welcomed it, on condition that this task were not added to his immediate to-do list in advance of the Mexico City conference. But if others wanted to organize it, to go ahead.

I came away with the impression that our international office ekes out a modest and fragile existence on the edge of financial extinction. Even simple resources like paper clips and software may take weeks, sometimes months, to procure. To get the additional services and structures we think we need on a national level, we have to be ready to pitch in ourselves, not only in funds but also in ideas and time. We can have a national e-mail list server, we can have an intergroup e-mail list, we can have a national steering committee, we can have Jim C. as a visiting speaker, we can have anything we think we want or need, consistent with basic SOS philosophy, if we roll up our sleeves (and dig into our pockets) and get to work and do it. SOS is a do-it-yourself recovery program, and it's also a build-it-yourself recovery organization. What did you expect?
(7/4/96)

Barbecue to Welcome Paula B.

In early August, Paula B., an SOS member from the St. Petersburg, Florida, group, will be visiting Mike Bennett, a former leading SOS stalwart from Berkeley who has moved to Santa Rosa. In honor of her visit, Mike is hosting a barbecue at his "hovel" in Santa Rosa, on Sunday Aug. 4, 1996, from 1 to 5 p.m.

Paula and Mike met through the SOS email chat list, and there are rumors that an email romance is lurking behind this visit.

All SOS members, family and friends are welcome.

Directions: Take 101 north toward Santa Rosa. Off at Sebastopol exit (Highway 12). West on 12 to first light, which is Wright Road. Left (South) on Wright Rd. about one mile to Price Ave. (little store on corner). Right (west) on Price to No. 4394, across street from Wright School. Phone 707-528-6566 if lost.

(7/21/96)

Absent member reappears

Susan K., treasurer of the Tuesday and Wednesday Oakland meetings, has been found safe and sound after an unexpected absence of more than a month. Susan reappeared today and was warmly welcomed back. (6/17/96)

Intergroup Leadership Potluck July 20

There will be a potluck for meeting secretaries and treasurers on Saturday, July 20, 1996 at 5 p.m. in North Berkeley. Other interested members are also welcome. Details below:

Details on Intergroup Potluck

• Date: Saturday Nov. 9, 1996
• Time: From 5 pm on, ending no later than 9.
• Place: Marty's house, 1340 California, Berkeley, 526-8030. Directions below.

Food Details:

• Monday meeting: bring pre-meal snacks or whatever.
• Tuesday: bring things to drink or whatever.
• Wednesday: bring side dish o.w.
• Thursday: bring side dish o.w.
• Friday: bring dessert o.w.
• Barbecued sausages and possibly chicken (o.w.) will be provided at the site.

Agenda Details:

• Main purpose of event is to let leading members of the different meetings mingle and maybe bond. We don't have a local steering committee and this is the functional equivalent.
• It might be helpful to review Bill C.'s notes of the July 20 intergroup meeting . (There are no minutes of the Sept. 14 meeting).
• Although mainly designed for meeting leadership, all members are welcome; this is not a closed event.
• Family and kids are welcome.

Directions:

• 1340 California is near the intersection of Rose and Sacramento in North Berkeley, a short block from the Monterey market. It's on California between Rose and Ada.
• It's an easy 12-minute walk from North Berkeley Bart: go north on Sacramento to Rose, right on Rose, left on California.
• By 580 freeway, from south, off at University exit, get on frontage road, right on Cedar. After crossing San Pablo, branch left onto Hopkins then right onto Rose. Continue to California (next block after Sacramento), then left. Or, if you don't want to do the frontage road, go east on University, left on Sacramento, right on Rose, left on California.
• By 580 freeway from north, exit at Gilman, Gilman to end at Hopkins, veer left onto Hopkins, turn right on Sacramento, almost immediately left on Ada, right on California.
• 1340 is a flat-roofed barn-red house in the middle of the block on the west side of the street.
• Phone 526-8030 if lost.

July 14 picnic planned in East BayPOSTPONED

Elly S., in charge of the picnic planning committee, announced July 2 that the planned picnic has been postponed to a date uncertain. The East Bay meetings plan a repeat of last year's popular Summer Picnic. The tentative date is July 14 (Bastille Day). The site is not yet determined, either Redwood Park or Joaquin Miller Park. Telephone (510) 814-2221 for current information. (7/14/96)

Concern grows over absent member

Concern is growing over the prolonged absence of Susan K., a member of the Tuesday and Wednesday Oakland meetings, and treasurer of both. Susan has not been heard from for a month and does not answer messages left on her telephone answering machine. John D. and Marty N. visited Susan's Oakland hills residence last week and found it dark with no signs of anyone present. Anyone with information about her status please send email to this site, unhooked@hooked.net. (6/11/96)

The Southern California Regional Conference took place in Los Angeles Aug. 25, 1996 at the SHARE Center in Marina del Rey. (If anyone who was there could e-mail a brief report of the conference to this site, please do so.)

The Western New York Regional Conference took place in Amherst, N.Y. Aug. 10, 1996. Jim Christopher, founder of SOS, spoke. (If anyone who was there could e-mail a brief report of the conference to this site, please do so.)

Sober Among Friends IV.

The St. Petersburg and Tampa Secular Organizations for Sobriety proudly announce their fourth secular, sober retreat: SOBER AMONG FRIENDS IV, to be held Friday, March 7, through Sunday, March 9, 1997,at U.U. in the Pines, Brooksville, Florida. The event is a full weekend of sober relaxation with SOS members, activists, group convenors, and alcoholism/drug treatment professionals. Click here for details. (10/22/96)

Report from Mexico

• Only a handful attended the "First SOS International Conference", and we outnumbered the audience, but some good came of it anyway: a new dedication to openness, realism, and democratic national structure. By Marty N. Click to view report. See also: trivia and anecdotes from the Mexico trip. (11/19/96)

Sobriety Education Project Launched.

• SOS today launched the Sobriety Education Project (SEP), a cooperative educational service for SOS meetings and their friends. SEP's initial offering is an online reading list of 28 articles of interest to alcoholics and addicts in recovery, and persons who work with them. Click here for a more detailed announcement. Click here to view the SEP Main Page. (10/24/96)

SOS Email List Moves Up to List Server.

• The SOS email list has upgraded to a list server, listmeister Tom Shelley of SOS in St. Petersburg, Florida has announced. Formerly run as a private list with each member trying to keep track of all the others, the list now operates through an automatic mail distribution server. A list member need only address a message to the server, and the server broadcasts copies of the message to all members of the list. The growth of the list made the move necessary. Individuals interested in joining the list, contact tshelley@gte.net. (10/4/96)

Kaiser Throttles Member Access to Secular Support Groups

• Kaiser Permanente's Chemical Dependency Recovery Program (CDRP) in downtown Oakland has cut off its members' direct access to information about secular support groups, including SOS. Until this month, Kaiser members enrolled in the outpatient Early Recovery program had the opportunity to spend a whole hour with representatives of SOS and to receive SOS literature. Other support groups got equal time on other evenings. The SOS sessions featured active audience participation and met with a favorable response. Following each session, a number of new members visited the Oakland and Berkeley SOS meetings.

  This month, Kaiser staff shut down direct access to outside speakers. At this time, a Kaiser staffer who has had no known contact with SOS is presenting his view of all the different support groups to Kaiser members in a brief, half-hour lecture. No SOS literature is provided. This is the sum total of the members' education about support groups.

  The new policy unfairly disadvantages secular recovery groups and favors the religious or "spiritual" organizations. A number of Kaiser staffers are tunnel-vision AA zealots and lose no opportunity in proselytizing for their organization and its religious beliefs during educational and therapy sessions. Some Kaiser staffers while on company time admonish patients to "work the steps", "get a higher power" and similar transparently religious appeals. The religious groups do not need "outside speakers" and apparently see any exposure to other, secular viewpoints as competition.

  SOS has been a part of the local recovery community for more than eight years, and the ranks of SOS show numerous graduates of the Kaiser program. The SOS record in achieving long-term sobriety is a good one, and can easily withstand comparison. No fewer than three SOS meetings meet on Kaiser premises in Oakland. The SOS meetings provide a safe, supportive atmosphere for individuals who would not feel comfortable in a religious or spiritual meeting or who enjoy the freethinking, caring and supportive atmosphere of SOS as an adjunct to their other meetings.

  Kaiser is ostensibly a secular health care facility. Recent court decisions have recognized that AA is a religious organization and that a public agency which fails to offer a secular option, where one is available, contravenes the Constitution. A secular option is clearly available to Kaiser CDRP enrolees. Kaiser staff's decision to throttle its members' direct access to the secular options is a shameful retreat from its secular public health mission. The former system of open access to secular support groups should be restored immediately.

Should Kaiser reduce support groups' presentation time?

• The Kaiser Permanente CDRP staff is considering a proposal to reduce the time allotted to presentations made by outside support groups to participants in the Early Recovery program. Currently, support groups (including SOS and RR) are each given a full hour's meeting to present their story. Under the new plan, all groups would share a single hour to make their pitch. The new schedule would drastically cut down the time allotted for SOS and other options. It would signal to the members that making a thoughtful, informed decision about choosing an outside support group is not thought to be as important as formerly. The new compressed-format meetings would tend to emphasize slogans and sound bites, like an electoral campaign forum, and could degenerate quickly into debate and argument, undermining the whole purpose and appeal of support groups. Kaiser members polled informally on the new proposal unanimously panned it. Early Education runs eight weeks, four nights a week; that leaves plenty of time to give each support group a full hour. -- Marty N. (6/18/96).

Where are the recovering women?

• The Berkeley-Oakland SOS meetings, about evenly balanced between the genders a year or two ago, are now experiencing a relative scarcity of women. They aren't supposed to be men's meetings, but sometimes they look like it. It's a vicious cycle, because the smaller the female contingent, the harder it may be for a woman to feel comfortable, so few who visit, stay. Are men's bad manners or sexism driving women to women's meetings? That can't be the whole explanation, because the Wednesday night Women Only meeting in mid-May decided to go coed due to limited attendance. (See Women's Meeting Opens Doors to All, above.) Or are women turned off to secular recovery and flocking to the religious programs? There's no evidence for that either. Members attending the Kaiser CDRP program report that the proportion of women enrolled in Early Education groups there seems to be down sharply. No one knows why. (6/9/96)

On this topic, Mike B contributes:

• Bird-doggging and sexual harrassment must be discouraged in writing for SOS. The Kaiser groups are famous for harrassment of this kind. No relationships for first year of sobriety is good advice but can not be a rule. Instances of sexual harrassment should be processed at meetings and generally deplored. Norms and customs are important for the comfort and safety of members. if that doesn't work a Dutch Uncle talk with the offender(s) might be appropriate. Prior to going directly to an ass-whupin'. (7/12/96)