A third LifeRing meeting has begun in the Denver CO area.  The new group's first meeting was on Wednesday December 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lafayette Public Library, 775 W. Baseline Rd., Lafayette.  The group will meet every Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at that location.  Ted E. is the founding convenor.  Five people were in attendance on opening night. Lafayette is a northern suburb of Denver. For more information, contact Ted at 303-666-8335 or widbeyhuntertrudi@yahoo.com.  -- Kathleen G. in Denver.  12/22/05 

We now have a Skype Profile on LifeRing Europe, which will enable us to open online recovery and service meetings. Skype is a popular VoIP application (see www.skype.com) which allows users to talk through their internet connection for free if both parties use Skype and for a very small charge from PC to landline. This application allows Instant Messaging and they also recently added Video Conferencing to their services.

We choose this service because it offers a high quality sound, is free and offers several add-ons options such as voicemail, the purchase of a phone n° which is redirected to the Skype Profile, etc.

Our Skype Profile is liferingeu and our new phone n° is +44 20 8123 2039.
Both the Profile and the phone n° can be used for information. The Skype Profile will also be used to set up meetings. Further information on the latest will be published soon at LifeRing Europe.  -- Noe I. 12/20/05

Registration for the 2006 LifeRing Congress, the organization's fifth anniversary as a national body, is now open.  The venue is Berkeley, California.  Registrations can be accepted via Visa or MasterCard online (click for link) or via telephone at 1-800-811-4142.  The Congress begins with a reception on Friday night, March 24, 2006.  Saturday, March 25, will be a full day of presentations and workshops, kicked off by Roland Williams MA, NCACII, CADCII, ACRPS, addictions therapist, interventionist, trainer, teacher and consultant. Williams is Program Director at the Bayside Marin treatment center.  Saturday evening will feature a banquet.  On Sunday morning, March 26, elected delegates from LifeRing meetings around the country will meet in the Delegates' Assembly.  All Congress events except the banquet will take place in the Mafly Conference Center in the basement of Herrick Hospital, 2001 Dwight Way, Berkeley.  For further information, see the '06 Congress pages of this website or contact the LifeRing Service Center 1-800-811-4142 or service@lifering.org. 

-- Noé I. , info@liferingeu.org  12/3/05

Seattle's second LifeRing meeting will begin Wednesday Dec. 7, and will meet every Wednesday thereafter from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the Schick Shadel Hospital on Seattle's southwest side.  The hospital, one of the oldest addiction treatment centers in the nation, is located at 121 Ambaum Blvd S.W.  For further information, contact Sam Houx, Director of Counseling, at 1-800-272-8464 or samh@schickshadel.com.

The new meeting joins the Friday night LifeRing meeting, Seattle's first, which continues to meet at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., also at 6:30 p.m.  For information on the Friday night meeting, contact Paul at 206.789.0396.  -- 12/3/05

A new LifeRing meeting starts Wed. Nov. 30 2005 in Martinez CA.  The venue is the Kaiser Permanente medical complex at 200 Muir Road in the Hacienda Building, Room H-13.  The meeting goes from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. every Wednesday.  Chris K. is the founding convenor.  Martinez is a city of about 35,000 people and is the county seat of Contra Costa County, about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.  -- 11/28/05

A two-hour Thursday morning lecture on LifeRing near downtown Vancouver (British Columbia) drew more than 40 participants, most of them counselors.  Turnout for the event, organized by British Columbia LifeRing convenor Jack McNeil, considerably exceeded expectations, particularly because another conference for counselors was also taking place in the city.  During the question period, the director of one of the major addiction treatment programs in Vancouver stood up, said that LifeRing was a good thing that ought to be more widely available, and called on all his colleagues to open their doors to LifeRing meetings. Plans to start several additional LifeRing meetings were initiated.  LifeRing convenor Marty N. spoke at the event, which went from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Thursday Nov. 16 at the Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre.  Audience members bought up a box of Recovery by Choice workbooks and How Was Your Week handbooks. -- 11/17/05

The 2006 LifeRing Congress will take place on the last weekend in March 2006, the LifeRing Service Center has announced.  The three-day event will begin with a reception on Friday evening, March 24.  A full day of workshops will take place on Saturday March 25.  The Delegate's Assembly -- the congress proper -- will take place on Sunday morning March 26.  Roland Williams, author of several recovery books and clinical director of the Bayside Marin treatment center, will give a keynote address on Saturday.  The venue is the Herrick campus of Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, located at 2001 Dwight Way -- same as the 2004 LifeRing Congress.  Program details, costs, and registration will be announced soon.  Save the date! -- 11/15/05

A second LifeRing meeting has begun in Denver, CO.  The new meeting is on Thursdays at 6:00pm at the Washington Park United Church of Christ, 400 S Williams, (alley entrance). The contact person is: Paul W. 303 593 1393, synepaynter@yahoo.com.  -- Kathleen G., 11/12/05

I finally found a permanent meeting place! We'll be meeting on Tuesday nights from 7 to 8 pm at Harris Teeter -- the grocery store -- at 2800 Arctic Drive in Virginia Beach.  The meeting room is the community room on the second floor.  I believe it's the first LifeRing meeting not only in Virginia but in a grocery store!  Our first meeting is Nov. 15.  Please join us. -- Jane K., gogently_50@yahoo.com (11/9/05)

Bill Somers, a founding member of LifeRing and its unofficial Poet Laureate, died in Vacaville CA on Nov. 4 after a struggle with cancer. Bill was a past member of the LifeRing Board of Directors, a founding convenor of several meetings, a delegate to each LifeRing Congress, a frequent presenter, and a much-loved poet and source of inspiration.  A memorial service will be held at the Curry Temple Church at 740 Marshal Road in Vacaville at 3 pm on Saturday Nov. 19.  Please see the memorial page for Bill Somers on this website. -- 11/13/05

The new LifeRing newsletter group is looking for a new name for the publication.  If your suggestion is chosen, you'll win a LifeRing T-shirt and a LifeRing Press book of your choice. Please submit suggestions to liferingnews@yahoogroups.com

John Galleni, contributing editor of the newsletter, is writing a piece on Campral (acamprosate calcium), the newest drug in use for the treatment of alcohol dependence.  He says: "What I'm looking for is anyone who is taking/has taken this drug, and would be willing and available for an anonymous interview regarding their experience and the efficacy of Campral in their recovery. Get back to me at goathouse@comcast.net if you're interested."  -- 11/3/05

LifeRing convenor Marty N. will give a presentation about LifeRing and answer questions before an audience of treatment professionals and lay persons concerned with recovery issues in Vancouver BC on Thursday morning, Nov. 17.  The talk will go from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Pacific Spirit Community Health Center, 2110 West 43rd Avenue, Room 345, in Vancouver.  There is no charge to attend. Marty will also lead a discussion on Wednesday evening Nov. 16 at the regular Wednesday evening LifeRing meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the Ravensong Health Centre, 2450 Ontario Street, Vancouver. For further information, please telephone LifeRing in BC at 1-877-752-1058.  -- 10/27/05

LifeRing convenor Marty N. will be in Seattle WA on Friday, November 18, and will speak at the LifeRing meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N. Rm 221.  The meeting is open to the public.  Earlier in the day, the LifeRing speaker will meet with staff and patients at the Schick-Shadel Hospital, one of the oldest and most successful addiction treatment institutions in the U.S.  For more information, please call the Lifering Service Center at 1-800-811-4142.  -- 10/27/05

Very pleased to report that we have now set up a midday (noon) meeting in Vancouver. We had an information session last Wednesday and two people came out and one has indicated that he will attend regularly so its a go!

This meeting is being helped by the North Community Health Office, a part of the Coastal Health Authority who have been very supportive of our efforts. The counselors there will be presenting LifeRing to their clients as an option in their recovery process. This is great support and we really appreciate it.

The details are: every Wednesday from 12 noon to 1PM at the North Community Health Centre, 1651 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, Room #202.  Contact lifering@shaw.ca or George Gidora 604-377-1364.  -- 10/20/05

LifeRing is the main topic of an article in the August issue of Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals.  Entitled "Styles of Secular Recovery," the article draws on the LifeRing membership survey completed in January of this year to sketch a profile of LifeRing participants. The article then discusses the implications of secular recovery successes for counselors: There are multiple pathways to recovery. Client choice improves outcomes. A secular option strengthens a program's abstinence message. Friction with 12-step groups is unlikely.  People frequently use secular and 12-step groups concurrently.  In conclusion, the article notes that more and more counselors are adopting a "whatever works" approach and are including secular options in their array of treatment modalities.  Read full text (PDF). Co-authors of the article are William L. White (Slaying the Dragon) and Martin Nicolaus (Recovery By Choice).  Counselor is published six times a year by Health Communications Inc. Its website is http://counselormagazine.com .  -- 10/16/05

A late night talk show with a recovery theme will have LifeRing convenor Marty N. as guest on Friday night Oct. 14 2005 at 10 p.m. Pacific Time.  The show, titled Recovery Coast to Coast, is broadcast via streaming audio over the web at http://www.recoverycoasttocoast.org/  Neil Scott produces and hosts the program in Seattle. -- 10/13/05

Pioneer LifeRing convenors Sarah H. and Michael made a successful presentation about LifeRing to the steering committee of a downtown Keene NH community resource center this past week, and got a unanimous vote of approval to start the state's first LifeRing meeting.  The new meeting will convene temporarily on Monday evenings starting Monday Oct. 10, and will switch to Thursday evenings in November.  The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the KufeArt Community Center, 43 Central Square, in Keene.  -- 10/9/05

In a new monograph to be published shortly by the Great Lakes Addiction Technology Transfer Center, historian William White ("Slaying the Dragon", see review) teams with veteran AA historian Ernest Kurtz to argue for a new paradigm of addiction studies, one that is based on the diverse experiences of those who have made successful recoveries from chemical dependency. "Celebrating the growing diversity of recovery pathways and a philosophy of choice permeate the philosophies of the best treatment programs.  Recent reviews of treatment effectiveness have linked this philosophy of choice to enhanced motivation and treatment outcomes." The authors conclude: "It is time that the recognition of multiple pathways and styles of recovery fully permeated the philosophies and clinical protocols of all organizations providing addiction treatment and recovery support services."  Read the article (PDF)

The Thursday evening LifeRing which met at the R-Quest facility in Pleasanton CA has moved, effective immediately, to the First Presbyterian Church at 2020 5th Street in neighboring Livermore, its convenor Jim W. has announced.  The starting time has moved forward half an hour from 7:30 to 7:00 p.m.  Fifth Street is centrally located in Livermore and is an excellent meeting place.  -- 10/4/05

LifeRing convenor Marty N. gave a presentation to about 40 new patients in the Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency Recovery Program in Oakland CA on Tuesday Sept. 13.  This was another in a series of presentations taking place approximately every eight weeks since 1995.  All but six or seven of the patients in the audience had already attended at least one LifeRing meeting.  Kaiser staff program coordinator Jeff Blair chaired the hour-long session. 

On Tuesday Sept. 20, Marty N. gave a talk about LifeRing to a select audience of New York LifeRing participants at the LGBT Center in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Discussion after the presentation focused on starting a new LifeRing meeting in New York City.

The next day, Marty participated in a conference titled "So Help Me God (II): Substance Abuse, Religion and Spirituality" organized by CASA, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.  Marty was a panelist in a session titled "Amazing Grace?  Religion, Spirituality and Substance Abuse Treatment," moderated by Mary Alice Williams of WCBS News Radio 880 in New York.  Among the day's speakers were a number of Protestant pastors, Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox priests, Rabbis, and an Imam from the Islamic Cultural Center in New York, together with Jim Towey, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Barbara Haggerty, religion correspondent for NPR, and Joseph A. Califano Jr., head of CASA and former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Jimmy Carter administration.  CASA Board member Columba Bush, wife of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was also present.  Marty was the only speaker representing a secular recovery viewpoint at the conference, which took place on the 60th floor of the JP Morgan Chase Conference Center at One Chase Manhattan Plaza in the Wall Street district of Manhattan.  JP Morgan Chase, the John Templeton Foundation, and JetBlue Airways provided financial support for the event.  -- 9/30/05

This evening seven people gathered on our back deck for a LifeRing meeting, followed by a brief organizational meeting. Discussed and decided:

1. The town of Telford has given us a key to their Community Center for LifeRing to hold a weekly meeting, beginning immediately. Our options were for Sunday, Monday or Thursday evenings.

The group decided quite easily that Monday evenings are the best for all. Therefore, after a few months hiatus, we are pleased to announce the re-establishment of a local weekly LifeRing meeting in this area, beginning at 7:00 p.m., Monday, September 19th, 2005. The Community Building address is 125 South Hamilton Street, Telford, PA 18969.

This location is central to Bucks County, Montgomery County, portions of Lehigh County, the northern suburbs of Philadelphia and the Allentown/Bethlehem area. Our participants tonight came from about a 40 mile radius. The Community Center is also on a bus route, which may be an advantage for some prospective participants.

2. A hat/basket/bucket will be passed at each meeting and the proceeds split between making a donation to the town for the use of the building and purchasing LifeRing literature to have available at the meetings.

3. Updated information on the new meeting location and time will be posted on the www.liferingpa.com  and on the http://unhooked.com website within the next couple days. Announcements to the newspapers, and another mailing and follow-ups with our treatment center & professionals list will also be going out shortly.

4. Members of the group have graciously offered to share the responsibility of convening the meetings to ensure continuity and support. We'll work out the logistics as we move forward. This is fantastic! Many of you on this list know what it feels like to convene a meeting of one… or maybe two… week after week after week, for a couple years. Then people started coming now and again. And now – there's a whole gang ready, willing and able to carry on!!!

It's worth it.

Respectfully,
John (JR) and Denise in PA

9/16/05
 

The major power outage in the Los Angeles area on Sept. 12 took down the servers of ivisit.com and made the planned 7 p.m. launch of the Monday night LifeRing audio-video chat meeting a non-starter.  An announcement by ivisit.com said that backup generators also failed, and that some auxiliary services of the site were still down a day later.  Scott M., convenor of the new AV chat, said that the group would try again on Monday Sept. 19.  For background and instructions about the new audio-video chat meetings, click here.  -- 9/13/05

The Monday night LifeRing meeting in Guelph ON Canada has moved its starting time forward one hour from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., its convenor Jason Kelly has announced.  The meeting place is St. George's Anglican Church at 99 Woolwich Street.  Visitors are reminded not to park on church property, please.  -- 9/13/05

LifeRing Press has published a new handout titled "If This Is Day One."  The text is adapted from the essay of the same title authored by Marty N. that has been available on unhooked.com for some time. A number of convenors had downloaded the piece from the website and distributed it in their meetings. The new brochure provides a general orientation to the LifeRing approach for people just beginning recovery, or contemplating it. The work is useful in shaping newcomers' attitudes and expectations. LifeRing participants Lee N., Jack P., Marylou B., Tim M., Rosey J., Will P., Ben G., Rick S. and Mary S. provided feedback on the text and format of the brochure in draft form. A PDF copy of the new handout is available for download, click here. Ready-made printed and folded copies can be ordered from LifeRing Press for $5.00 plus shipping/handling for a bundle of 50 copies. A sample of the brochure is included along with the other LifeRing brochures with every book order from LifeRing Press.

At the same time, the very popular "Welcome to LifeRing" brochure has been reissued with new and improved graphics.  The arrows on the original edition were hard to see; this has been fixed. This brochure, subtitled "LifeRing In a Nutshell," is a fact-filled, highly condensed overview of the LifeRing meeting format, inner healing process ("How It works"), basic philosophy, and organizational structure. Convenors have distributed more copies of this introductory brochure than any other. (9/9/05)

Two new chat meetings begin this month: a regular Monday evening online face-to-face support meeting, and a Sunday evening Recovery by Choice workbook meeting.

The Monday evening online f2f group will meet from 7:00 to 8:00 Pacific Time on http://ivisit.com, a web service that provides video and audio channels as well as a standard text chat. People can participate in the text channel exclusively, if they wish. An inexpensive web cam and headset will allow up to eight users to send and receive video and audio channels, the nearest online approach to a face-to-face meeting. Participants must first download the free ivisit.com software and become familiar with the program.  Scott M., convenor and moderator of the group, suggests that first-time participants sign on 20 minutes before the hour to get up to speed. After downloading the free ivisit.com software, you get to the online meeting by entering "home.lifering.1906" in the "Places" menu of the software. For more information, contact Scott at scottpmcp@comcast.net. 

The workbook study group will meet on Sunday evenings at 6:00 Pacific Time in the UserPlane chat room, accessible from the Chat page on www.unhooked.com (click here). To join, simply enter a nickname and click on the "Launch Webchat" button. The UserPlane chat room has a text channel, plus optional video and audio channels. It does not require downloading special software (but users must have Java enabled on their machines), but sound quality on the audio channel can be unreliable, and the number of people sending video and audio is more restricted than on ivisit.com. The chat will be conducted mostly via the text channel.  Marty N., author of the Recovery by Choice workbook, will lead the group.  For more information, contact him at lifering@comcast.net.  (9/8/05)

The LifeRing Service Center has published a new printed schedule of LifeRing meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area. A PDF version of the schedule is available online, click here.  Printed and folded copies are available from the Service Center; telephone 510-763-0779 (toll free 800-811-4142) or via email from service@lifering.org.  (9/6/05)

Joe B., formerly the convenor of LifeRing meetings in Walnut Creek CA, has written an article about LifeRing in Con-tact News, a newspaper for prisoners and their families, distributed nationwide.  Entitled "LifeRing Secular Recovery offers alternative approach to sobriety," the piece appears in the August 2005 issue of the bi-monthly nonprofit publication based in Houston TX. Joe has served one year of a 10-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Atwater, CA. Joe currently convenes a LifeRing meeting inside the facility. Click to view Joe's article (PDF). -- 8/28/05

LifeRing Press has published an updated and revised version of the former "Resources for Convenors" brochure under the new title "Give Something Back."  The new publication aims to bring the idea of becoming a LifeRing convenor to all LifeRing participants.  Unlike the former item, which was directed chiefly to people who were already in the convenor role, the new brochure is intended for general distribution. Printed and folded copies are now available at $5 plus shipping/handling for a bundle of 50 from LifeRing Press. You can also download the brochure as a PDF file and print and fold it yourself. A sample copy is included with every book order from LifeRing Press.  -- 8/28/05

LifeRing convenor Marty N., author of the Recovery By Choice workbook and other LifeRing Press publications, will speak in New York City on Tuesday evening Sept. 20.  The talk will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Room 102 of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center (LGBT) at 208 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. Admission is free. 

On Wednesday, Sept. 21, Marty will participate in a panel discussion on spirituality and recovery as part of a conference organized by CASA, the Columbia University Center on Substance Abuse. Click for more information on the conference.

LifeRing convenor Chet G. led a presentation about LifeRing to a group of patients at the Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency Recovery Program in Oakland CA in the afternoon of June 1.  LifeRing convenor Marty N. gave two presentations to early recovery orientation classes at the Chemical Dependency Recovery Program of Kaiser Permanente in Union City CA in the morning and afternoon of June 6.  LifeRing convenors Katie F. and Marty N. gave a LifeRing presentation to Oakland Kaiser patients in the afternoon of July 16.  Marty N. gave a talk to patients at the Bayside Marin treatment center in San Rafael CA in the afternoon of Aug. 17.  LifeRing convenors Gillian E., Ernie C., and Gail C. gave presentations to classes of first-time drunk driving offenders at the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (NCADA) in San Francisco on June 7, June 30, July 6, July 16, July 19, August 11 and August 17.  (8/22/05)

The Los Angeles LifeRing meeting at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza -- 1125 N. McCadden Place  -- has adjusted its starting time from 10:00 a.m. Saturdays to 10:15 a.m., its convenor Tim M. announced.  The new time fits better with the rhythm of comings and goings at the busy host facility.  The change is effective immediately. (8/22/05)

The monthly convenor workshop at the LifeRing Service Center in Oakland CA is being rescheduled to the second Saturday of each month, instead of the first Saturday as previously.  The move was made to avoid conflict with national holidays.  The next convenor workshop will be Sept. 10, followed by Oct 8, Nov. 12, Dec. 10, and Jan. 7.  (8/8/05)

A new LifeRing meeting will premiere in the Pittsburgh PA area on Tuesday August 16, its founding convenor Tom Morton has announced.  The group will meet initially every Tuesday evening at the Panera's Bread coffee shop at 3800 Forbes Avenue in Oakland, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., in the VIP Room.  As the group takes shape, members will make a decision about a more permanent meeting place. For more information, contact Tom at 412-521-5489 or tomorton@worldnet.att.net.  Click for a copy of the meeting flyer. (8/4/05)

The LifeRing presence in Houston TX will revive and expand in the fall, LifeRing convenor Jess H. has announced in a recent email. All those interested in growing LifeRing in or near Houston, please contact liferingtx.jess@sbcglobal.net.  (8/4/05)

The Tuesday evening LifeRing in Santa Rosa CA has moved its starting time half an hour earlier, its convenor Bob J. announced.  The meeting will now start at 6:30 instead of 7:00 p.m.  The meeting place remains the same: Sutter Medical Group, 3325 Chanate Road, Administration Building, Jack London Room. (8/4/05)

The Monday noontime women's LifeRing in Walnut Creek CA has changed its meeting time to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays, its convenor Carola Z. announced.  The time change will allow more women to attend.  The meeting place is unchanged; it is 1871 Geary Rd in Walnut Creek at the Unity Center.  The new time takes effect on Monday August 8.  (8/4/05)

More than 50 people attended a memorial service on July 31 for Brenda Howard, a social activist who served as convenor of the Saturday afternoon LifeRing meeting in Manhattan, New York City.  Brenda died on June 28 of colon cancer. The memorial service was held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center at 208 W 13th Street, New York.  Lawrence Nelson, Brenda's companion, mounted a web site in Brenda's memory. Persons interested in re-starting the Manhattan LifeRing meeting please contact the LifeRing Service Center by email or toll-free 1-800-811-4142.

An article urging professional counselors to broaden their knowledge beyond the 12-step approach and to offer their clients a broader range of recovery options -- including LifeRing -- appeared in the April 2005 issue of Counselor magazine.  Authored by John F. Salter, LISW, of the Recovery Resource Center in Cincinnati OH, the article finds a major disparity between research evidence and treatment practice.  Research shows that the 12-step approach helps only a minority of alcoholics, Salter writes, but more than 90 per cent of treatment facilities offer the 12-step approach exclusively.  The article offers seven instruments (short questionnaires) counselors can use to determine whether clients are more likely to benefit from a 12-step approach or from one of the secular approaches.  Salter encourages counselors to acquire a greater diversity of recovery skills and tools, to start alternative support groups if none are present, and to tailor their treatment approach to the needs of the individual client.  Counselor, the Magazine for Addiction Professionals is a national, peer-reviewed publication published bimonthly by Health Communications Inc. of Deerfield, FL.  The magazine's web site does not publish current articles but the article will be available eventually in the web site archive.  An article about LifeRing co-authored by William L. White (Slaying the Dragon) and LifeRing CEO Martin Nicolaus (Recovery By Choice) is scheduled to appear in Counselor's October issue.

I'd like to leave a note to all the ladies in LifeRing. Late Fall 2004, a very generous and devoted LifeRing member started a new day time meeting for us on Mondays in Walnut Creek from noon-1:30. She comes every week unless it's simply impossible for her to and then she does all she can to make sure it happens anyway. She found a place for only $15.00 a month and pays for it herself if she must since there really is only one other member coming to this meeting regularly. Now we've had some other lovely women show up and return for awhile or disappear and then reappear down the line or whatever. I'm writing appealing to all you wonderful LifeRing women out there to please come and show some support for this group. With the weather turning so nice and warm we've thought of having meetings at our homes to take advantage of the beauty of spring and the fun of summer in our backyards. I so appreciate what this selfless convener does w/or w/out any support, but mine and that of the larger organization itself, I thought I'd see if I could surprise her by rustling up a little activity. Hope to see any of you from past meetings, or altogether new faces.  Thanks, Susan Pustilnik. -- 5/20/05

The NewsWire page on unhooked.com, which supplies a daily roundup of news related to substance abuse, treatment, and funding, has switched to the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) format.  NewsWire is provided free of charge by JoinTogether.org, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  The new distribution mode allows subscriber websites, such as unhooked.com, to integrate the content better with the existing website format.  At the same time, the RSS format requires different topical streams, which previously were displayed as tabs on the same page, to be displayed on separate pages.  Therefore NewsWire now consists of three pages: NewsWire 1 (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs News), NewsWire 2 (News of Substance Abuse Funding) also known as FundWire, and Newswire 3 (News About Substance Abuse Treatment) or Treatwire.  The new format is effective immediately.   5/16/05

A new LifeRing meeting will begin on Wednesday evening May 11 at 8:00 p.m. in Room H of the Kaiser Chemical Dependency Services facility at 3554 Round Barn Boulevard in Santa Rosa, CA.  The new meeting will be the third LifeRing in Santa Rosa, which is located 55 miles north of San Francisco.  Bob J., convenor of the Tuesday night LifeRing at Sutter Medical Group in Santa Rosa, reports that the new meeting came after a number of Kaiser patients expressed interest to staff in having an additional recovery support group option available.  LifeRing author Marty N. will give a presentation on the opening night of the new meeting.  --5/5/05.   Added 5/12/05: Gave the presentation, well received, good turnout; Dr. Nancy Grover, program director, made an appearance.  -- MN.

The Friday afternoon LifeRing meeting in Vallejo CA is moving from the Kaiser Foundation Hospital across the street into the Kaiser Chemical Dependency Recovery Program (CDRP) at 800 Sereno Drive in the first week of May, its convenor Deanna H. reports.  The move will allow the meeting to be closer to the recovering people it serves.  The group meets from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., and the regular "How Was Your Week" meeting is followed by a half hour of workbook study using Recovery By Choice. -- 5/5/05

Occasional snow flurries notwithstanding, the people of Guelph Ontario Canada extended a warm welcome to the 2005 LifeRing Congress this past weekend, April 29-May 1.  An audience of more than 70 heard an array of speakers in the University of Guelph's high-tech Rozanski Hall auditorium on Saturday.  Noted senior Canadian researcher Alan Ogborne told the group that the methods used by LifeRing are among the most effective modalities in addiction treatment today.  Ronald Warner, head of the Solution Focused Therapy certification panel in Toronto, described and demonstrated a strength-based treatment method that has many points of similarity with the LifeRing approach.  LifeRing CEO Marty N. gave an outline of the LifeRing philosophy and methods in a talk entitled "Empower Your Sober Self: The DNA of LifeRing."  Author Charlotte Kasl, whose Many Roads One Journey was a landmark in the development of new support group options, gave a talk that drew on this book and on her more recent works.  A convenor's workshop on the topic of starting new meetings closed the afternoon.  The University's Faculty Club hosted more than 40 diners for a feast Saturday evening, interrupted between the manicotti and the salad by a timely fire drill to make room for the main course. On Sunday, delegates from U.S. and Canadian LifeRing meetings assembled in the LifeRing Congress proper.  The Congress heard the annual report from the Board of Directors, unanimously approved a newsletter proposal, and elected Katie Frohmberg of Berkeley to succeed retiring Gillian Ellenby as member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of the corporation.  The Board unanimously thanked and commended Congress coordinator Jason Kelly of Guelph for his outstanding and tireless work in organizing the Congress, the first for LifeRing in Canada.  Guelph print and electronic media covered the event, and numerous inquiries were received about LifeRing from other Canadian locations.  For more details, see the Congress Report Page (in progress).  -- Marty N. 5/3/05

Vices Magazine, an online 'zine published by webmaster Peter Sacco, has added a feature article about LifeRing and a permanent link to the LifeRing website.  The article consists of a reprint of "If This Is Day One" from unhooked.com. Webmaster Sacco is an Adjunct Psychology Professor at Niagara University in Lewiston, NY in the Teacher Education Program. He is creator and instructor of the Criminal Psychology Program offered at Niagara College, Canada. He is also an instructor at McMaster University, Canada in the Addiction Studies Program and Police Foundations Study. LifeRing convenor Jason Kelly in Guelph Ontario, site of the 2005 LifeRing Congress, mediated the publication.  Vices, described as "the magazine for addictions and habits," features a diversity of approaches to recovery. -- 4/21/05

The Thursday evening LifeRing in Pleasanton CA, which originally met at 7:00 p.m. at the Pleasanton Public Library, has moved to a new location and a new time, its convenor Jim W. reports.  The new location is R-Quest, 40 California Avenue, Suite B.  The new time is 7:30 p.m.  The change is effective immediately. The new location allows the group to meet every week, instead of being homeless one Thursday each month, as was the case at the library.  -- 4/12/05

A new LifeRing meeting has begun in Kingston, Ontario. Founded by LifeRing convenor Mike Donahue, the new group meets on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in the Johnson meeting room at the Hotel Dieu Hospital at 166 Brock St., Kingston.  For further information please contact Mike at 613 583 1710.  --4/11/05 updated 4/18

The Addiction Education Program of the Center for Continuing Education of McMaster University in Kingston, ON, Canada, has become a Level 1 supporter of the 2005 LifeRing Congress that will convene in Guelph April 29 - May 1.  The Addiction Education Program offers courses for adult students seeking careers as chemical dependency treatment professionals. As a Level 1 supporter, the McMaster Addiction Education Program will have its message in the printed Congress program and will reach all Congress participants with its literature.  McMaster University is a privately endowed institution located on a 300-acre campus, with more than 14,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students.  -- 4/11/05

The results of the 2005 LifeRing Participant Survey conducted during January are now available.  A total of 401 responses are included. The questions cover LifeRing participation, suggestions for improvements, experiences with other recovery groups, length of sobriety, demographic data, and other topics.  The current publication includes a complete statistical profile and virtually every write-in response received. The results are available as a 17-page PDF file formatted for printing, or as a long web page.  -- 4/5/05

Most of the mandated participants deny that they have a problem with alcohol. The courts have not told them to actually stop drinking, but just to stop driving and drinking. The main function of the presenter is to let them know that, if and when they do decide that they need to stop drinking, LifeRing is available as a resource. The presenters also encourage them to pass on the LifeRing literature that they have received to their friends, relatives, co-workers or anyone else that they think might be interested in knowing about the organization.  -- GE 4/1/05

A diverse group of about fifteen people were in attendance. Gillian gave a demonstration of ‘The Talking Heads’ theory behind the way that recovery develops in people who attend LifeRing meetings. She talked about the basic ‘Three S’ philosophy, and about what actually happens at LifeRing meetings.

Gail talked about her own recovery. She told the group how happy she was, after some years of trying to get sober with help from AA, to find out about LifeRing. She explained how LifeRing is a much better fit for her and how supportive she finds the groups.

Several members of the audience expressed their interest in going to LifeRing meetings and thanked the presenters for telling them about LifeRing. -- GE 4/1/05

LifeRing convenors Larry R., Carol J., and Marty N. had an hour-long conversation about LifeRing with a group of nine patients in the Chemical Dependency Services program of the Psychiatry Department of the Kaiser Permanente hospital complex at Terra Linda CA on Wednesday evening March 30.  This was the first LifeRing presentation ever to a patient group at this small outpatient facility near San Rafael in Marin County, northwest of San Francisco.  Larry felt that the LifeRing meeting format, with its focus on current events in people's lives and the conversational atmosphere, was particularly valuable in helping him come to grips with his issues.  He pointed out that he had just been laid off from a union carpentry job and in the past would have been drunk before he got home, but instead he was sober and speaking in a meeting to help others stay sober also.  Carol, who like Larry was a former patient of the Terra Linda program, agreed and also pointed to the role of the LifeRing workbook in helping her achieve more structure in her recovery.  Marty, who had co-founded the Friday night LifeRing meeting at that facility, gave a brief illustrated talk on how LifeRing works, based on his article by the same name.  All three speakers answered questions.  The talk was the first in what is planned as a monthly series of presentations to patients at that facility.  Staff counselor Sue Dyer chaired the session, substituting for the regular group leader, Dr. Spencer Schein.  -- 3/31/05

LifeRing convenors Henry S., Bettye D., and Marty N. gave an hour-long presentation about LifeRing to about 40 patients at the Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency Recovery Program in Oakland CA on Tuesday evening March 29.  Henry, who co-convenes the Thursday evening LifeRing meeting at this treatment facility, spoke of his battles with cocaine and methamphetamine, how the support he got from LifeRing helped him recover his sober self, and how important it was for his recovery to be a LifeRing convenor.  Bettye, a recovering marijuana addict and the former convenor of the same Thursday LifeRing meeting, returned to the speaking role after a long illness.  She had suffered a stroke, lost 130 lbs., and retired from her work as a bus driver, but remained clean and sober throughout these ordeals. She testified that even though she was an active Christian churchgoer, she preferred the positive, religion-neutral, non-authoritarian atmosphere of LifeRing meetings, and was hoping to get well enough soon to resume a convenor role.  Marty N., a graduate of the Oakland Kaiser program, spoke about how the support he received from LifeRing was vital to his recovery from alcoholism.  All three speakers answered questions from the floor during the last 15 minutes of the hour.  On a show of hands, all but one of the persons present had already attended at least one LifeRing meeting. Kaiser program coordinator Jeff Blair chaired the session, one in a regular series of guest speaker presentations dating back to 1995.  -- 3/31/05

The Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF) has approved the 2005 LifeRing Congress for 12 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) hours.  A letter dated March 21 from Jeff Willbee, Executive Director of CACCF, to Jason Kelly, LifeRing convenor and Guelph Congress coordinator, conveyed the approval.  The LifeRing Congress will be held in Guelph, Ontario, from Friday April 29 through Sunday May 1, 2005.  For further details, visit the 2005 Congress pages on this website.  --  3/26/05

An article in the March 2005 issue of Addiction Professional magazine takes note of LifeRing Secular Recovery as a support group option for people recovering from chemical dependency. Prof. Robert Sauerland of the University of Cincinnati authored the article based on his visit to a LifeRing meeting and other support group meetings in Cincinnati.  Titled "Take a Crash Course in Your Clients' Support Groups," the article discusses the pros and cons of secular v. 12-step approaches and concludes that "a client with an addiction ought to be made aware of all the support groups available."  Addiction Professional is distributed to about 25,000 treatment providers in the U.S.  The full text of the article is available online at http://www.manisses.com/AP/ISSUES/2005/2March/25.htm   -- 3/26/05

A recent LifeRing presentation given to clients of the Stonehenge Therapeutic Community in Guelph, ON, met with a positive response from clients and staff.  In a letter to LifeRing convenors Jason Kelly and the Rev. Gordon Hill (see earlier story), Emily Pick, the Stonehenge Leisure and Learning Coordinator, wrote, "Your seminar was interesting, informative, and very relevant for Stonehenge clients.  For many members of the Stonehenge community, creating a support network for themselves once they leave here is an integral part of their recovery process.  LifeRing, as you suggested, offes a viable alternative to the traditional 12 Step model and allows individuals more agency in choosing a path of recovery that works for them." Click for the full text of the letter (PDF). Stonehenge is a non-profit addiction agency providing long-term residential care to men and women with a history of chronic drug and/or alcohol abuse.  It was established in 1971. -- 3/26/05

A short summary of the results of the LifeRing Participant Survey taken during January is now available as part of a proposed new LifeRing Newsletter.  A more detailed presentation of the survey results will be posted when completed.  A prototype of the new newsletter is now available for downloading and printing (legal-size paper) in PDF format.  -- MN 3/24/05

Alan Ogborne Ph.D., a senior addictions researcher, has joined the panel of presenters at the upcoming 2005 LifeRing Congress in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, congress organizer Jason Kelly has announced.  Ogborne, who has recently completed a survey of treatment programs for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, will speak on "Research Evidence for the Effectiveness of Different Treatments for Substance Abuse." Mr. Ogborne's findings are said to be consistent with those of Miller and Hester's Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches: Effective Alternatives (see Review).  Mr. Ogborne was for many years a senior scientist with Ontario's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and has more than 100 professional publications to his credit. -- 3/16/05

The first LifeRing meeting in the city of Alameda will open at 6:30 on Wednesday evening March 30 at the Temple of Truth Spiritual Center located at 1300 Grand St. in Alameda.  The meeting room is upstairs.  Founding convenor Frank W., a long-time participant in LifeRing meetings at the Oakland Kaiser CDRP, is starting the meeting in response to many requests for a meeting in the city of Alameda.  Alameda is located on an island on the east side of San Francisco Bay next to Oakland. -- 3/16/05

A new LifeRing meeting for teens only has opened at the Union City CA Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.  The meeting time is Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.  The place is Group Room 3 in Building C at the north end of the campus.  LifeRing convenors Craig O. and Trish S. supervise the group.  The group has been meeting since Feb. 16.  Attendance is limited to people under 20 years of age.  -- 3/5/05

LifeRing convenors Katie F., Craig O., Alicia B. and Marty N. participated in an all-day conference of about 200 chemical dependency and mental health providers from Alameda County on Wednesday March 2, and led an hour-long workshop presentation on LifeRing in the afternoon. LifeRing brochures and books reached participants from a table in the hallway. The inclusion of LifeRing in the conference program marked a step forward in professional recognition. LifeRing was also mentioned on several occasions in plenary sessions and other workshops during the event, held in the Clark Kerr Conference Center on the University of California campus in Berkeley.  Katie F. organized LifeRing participation in the event and coordinated with conference organizers. -- 3/3/05

LifeRing convenors Owen P., Carola Z., and Marty N. presented LifeRing to a meeting of staff of the Center for Recovery in Concord CA on Friday afternoon Feb. 25.  The Center is attached to John Muir/Mt Diablo Health Systems and is the leading chemical dependency inpatient program in Contra Costa County, a largely suburban area about 30 miles east of San Francisco.  Marty presented the basic LifeRing philosophy.  Owen and Carola were former patients in the program and gave strong personal endorsements to LifeRing for helping them achieve long-term recovery.  -- 3/3/05

LifeRing Guelph Presents to
Homewood Health Centre

LifeRing convenor Jason Kelly recently presented LifeRing Secular Recovery to the Homewood Health Centre (famous from William White's Slaying the Dragon book).  Jason was invited to present at the Homewood Health Center’s Transitional Care department for several of the case managers/counsellors at this facility. 

Jason reports the presentation went really well and there were suggestions from Homewood staff that Jason present to three other divisions of the Homewood also.  This is really great news. 

Although Women for Sobriety has managed to be an option for clients at the Homewood’s Addictions Division, all members MUST also attend AA/NA/Other 12 step meetings if they wish to graduate from the program.  Canada has not yet had a Supreme Court challenge on the legality of mandatory attendance in programs that are religious by nature.  Jason reports that he has spoken with women who have really taken offense to this compulsory AA attendance rule but felt they had no choice as one reported, “Children’s Aid Society needs to see that I have graduated so I have no choice but to attend the AA meetings, even though I don’t like them and prefer WFS and LifeRing.” Anonymous client from Homewood.  -- 2/21/05

The LifeRing Service Center in Oakland CA now has a toll-free telephone number: 800-811-4142. The new number allows people anywhere in the US and Canada to call LifeRing at no charge to them.  The existing local number, 510-763-0779, will continue to operate as usual.  The same numbers will reach LifeRing Press. Because the Service Center is staffed entirely by volunteers who may not be available at any given time, callers are asked to be patient if their call goes to voicemail.  Every effort is made to return calls the same day.  -- 2/15/05

'Twas a dark and stormy night, the gate was locked, the phone was off the hook, the passcode didn't work, and the session was double booked, but the LifeRing message got out anyway to an audience of nine patients and two counselors at the Bayside Marin inpatient treatment center in San Rafael Monday night Feb. 14.  LifeRing convenor Marty N., scheduled as guest speaker, found the security system at the facility's gate out of order during a downpour.  Luckily an employee going off duty opened the gate and let him in. Due to a scheduling mixup, another guest speaker was already present. No matter. An amiable arrangement was reached to split the time, and the audience got to hear an AA presentation and a LifeRing presentation all in the same hour. It was a friendly and mutually respectful session.  Several audience members said they appreciated the opportunity to see firsthand that there is more than one road to recovery.  -- 2/15/05

LifeRing has been invited and will participate in an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) conference sponsored by the Berkeley Alcohol and Substance Abuse Providers association (BASAP) on Wednesday, March 2.  The all-day conference, to be held on the Clark Kerr Campus of the University of California in Berkeley, is free. The expected audience consists of chemical dependency and mental health treatment providers and other interested persons in and near the County of Alameda.  Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley will open the proceedings at 8:30 a.m.  A free lunch with entertainment by Country Joe McDonald is provided for persons who register before Feb. 25. The LifeRing presentation will be part of the afternoon session beginning at 3:30 p.m.  To get a copy of the free registration form, click here (PDF).  - 2/7/05

All but four out of a group of 48 patients in the Early Recovery segment of the award-winning Chemical Dependency Recovery Program of Kaiser Permanente in Oakland CA had attended at least one LifeRing meeting, LifeRing convenor Marty N. found during a presentation to the group Tuesday evening Feb. 1.  "When I asked for a show of hands, how many had attended, practically every hand went up. I had to ask how many had not attended to get an accurate count," the speaker said. The number of sobriety days in the group ranged from five to 140 days.  Many in the group said they also attended twelve-step meetings. Marty's LifeRing presentation was one in a series taking place approximately every eight weeks, dating back to 1995.  There are five LifeRing meetings at this facility.  Kaiser program coordinator Jeff Blair chaired the session.  The next LifeRing presentations are scheduled for April 19, June 14, August 9, and Oct. 4, 2005.  A November date will be announced. Usually several speakers share the LifeRing presentation duties at these events, but this date was only announced at the last minute.  -- MN 2/2/05

Registration for the 2005 LifeRing Congress is now open, the Congress organizing committee has announced.  The price for the event, including the full program plus the Saturday evening banquet, will be US$69 or $85 Canadian.  Popular recovery author Charlotte Kasl (Many Roads: One Journey) and veteran counselor-trainer Ronald E. Warner (Solution-Focused Therapy) will be guest speakers.  The Congress will take place from Friday April 29 to Sunday May 1 2005 at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Lodging is available at the University for as little as US$ 24.80 per night in student dorms. A range of more luxurious lodging is also offered.  Meals other than the Saturday banquet (included in the ticket price) can be had at economical rates in the campus cafeteria or in nearby restaurants.  The ticket price is low thanks to the generosity of a number of Canadian and U.S. donors who have contributed to the Congress fund.  For more information about the Congress, click here.  -- 1/31/05

The LifeRing Service Center is conducting a survey of all LifeRing participants during January.  The questionnaire is designed to elicit membership suggestions for improving the organization's services, for the information of delegates to the upcoming LifeRing Congress.  Survey results will also form the basis of a planned article about LifeRing in a peer-reviewed professional journal.  The survey consists of 30 questions, some in multiple choice and some in essay format.  It is being made available both online, as an electronic survey, and in print form.  All LifeRing participants, whether on their first visit or veterans of many years, are asked to fill out the questionnaire.  LifeRing convenors are requested to set aside approximately 10-12 minutes of meeting time to allow participants to fill in the questionnaire, and to collect the results and send them to the Service Center.  More information about the survey is here.  -- 12/30/04.  The Survey closed at midnight on Jan. 31.  - 2/1/05

A new LifeRing meeting will start on Saturday Feb. 5 2005 in Hollywood CA, its founding convenor Tim M. has announced.  The meeting place is The Village @ Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N.McCadden Place in Hollywood.  The meeting time is on Saturdays from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.  Tim, the convenor, is a former member of the popular Saturday morning LifeRing meeting at the LGBT Center in San Francisco and recently moved to the Los Angeles Area.  For further information contact Tim at 818-762-5987 or email tmouton@earthlink.net. 

The Friday evening LifeRing meeting in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia, is moving to Parksville effective Feb. 4 2005, its convenor Jack McNeil has announced.  The new location is the Society of Organized Services Center, 245 W. Hirst Ave., in Parksville.  The meeting time remains 7:30 - 8:30 p.m.  For more information telephone Jack at LifeRing BC, 877.752.1058, or email jr.mcneil@shaw.ca    --1/25/05. 

The Guelph (Ontario) Mercury published a story featuring the upcoming '05 Lifering Congress in its Jan. 17 issue.  Written by staff reporter Brian Whitwham, the story quotes Guelph LifeRing convenor Jason Kelly saying "We've been so well received.  It feels like the city was waiting for this." The story details the featured guest speakers at the LifeRing Congress, author Charlotte Kasl (Many Roads, One Journey) and Ronald Warner (Solution Focused Therapy).  The Congress will happen April 29-May 1.  View the clipping.  More about the Congress.

A new LifeRing meeting will start on Thursday Jan. 27 2005 at the Public Library in Pleasanton CA, founding convenor Jim W. has announced.  The group will meet every Thursday except the first Thursday of each month from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Small Meeting Room of the library, located at 400 Bernal Court.  The new Thursday evening meeting joins the established Saturday morning meeting at the Kaiser medical complex to become the second LifeRing meeting in Pleasanton, a suburb east of San Francisco.  Click for the complete San Francisco Bay area LifeRing meeting schedule.  -- 1/12/05

The regular monthly convenor workshop in Oakland met on Saturday Jan. 8 at the LifeRing Service Center and, in addition to eating pizza and doing the regular agenda, the participants stuffed and sealed about 300 envelopes for two separate mailings.  One mailing consisted of the current San Francisco Bay Area LifeRing meeting schedule and the print-format Bulletin Board and the Welcome to LifeRing brochure, and was addressed to known referral sources in the seven-county area.  The other mailing consisted of the Welcome to LifeRing brochure, the Sobriety Is Our Priority brochure, and a cover letter by Denver convenor Kathleen Gargan to Colorado treatment professionals advising them of the Denver LifeRing meeting. This was addressed to more than 160 licensed substance abuse treatment facilities in the five-county area centered on metropolitan Denver, based on the federal database maintained by SAMHSA.  Part of the group proudly posed with the finished mailings afterward (see photo). The Denver mailing was at the request of the Denver LifeRing meeting and is one of a series of similar mailings performed by the LifeRing Service Center in the past. Convenors from Oakland, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Berkeley, and Burlingame participated in the meeting.  -- 1/8/05

Under the headline "LifeRing just that for those overboard," the Guelph ON Tribune carried a feature story about LifeRing in its January 4 issue.  The story, by staff reporter Virginia McDonald, included a photo of LifeRing convenor Jason Kelly together with the Rev. Gordon Hill, a retired Baptist pastor and recovering alcoholic who credits LifeRing with giving him support at a critical time.  The article notes that the LifeRing community in Guelph "has expanded to 50 members" and that it will host the LifeRing Congress at the university in the spring, "drawing international speakers and top addiction professionals."  View a link to the story in the online edition of the Guelph Tribune.  View the print clipping (PDF).  View the online story in print format (PDF).  -- 1/5/04

A new LifeRing meeting will begin Jan. 8 at noon at the Mills Peninsula Hospital Chemical Dependency outpatient facility, located at 1848 El Camino Real in Burlingame, CA.  The group will met in the facility's Lecture Room. Attendance will be mandatory for clients in the program.  The meeting grew out of a presentation to program staff by LifeRing convenors, see bulletin below.  LifeRing convenor Gail C. will convene the new meeting.  -- 12/31/04

Popular recovery author Charlotte Kasl and veteran counselor Ronald E. Warner will be the guest speakers at the 2005 LifeRing Congress, Lifering CEO Marty Nicolaus has announced.  Kasl is best known in recovery circles as the author of Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the Twelve Steps, a groundbreaking work that opened many eyes to the larger universe outside the 12-step domain. Kasl was also a guest speaker at the 1999 Secular Recovery Conference in Berkeley, CA, a forerunner of the annual LifeRing Congresses.  Ronald E. Warner, a faculty member at the University of Toronto, is director of the certification program for Solution Focused Therapy, a secular counseling modality that discourages dwelling on the past and motivates clients to move toward their vision of a better future.  The LifeRing Congress will take place in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on April 29, 30, and May 1, 2005.  LifeRing Convenor Jason Kelly in Guelph advises that the event will be hosted by the University of Guelph.  Congress attendees will have the economical option of lodging in college dormitory rooms or of booking rooms at nearby hotels.  Details and registration forms will be available shortly. --12/29/04

Under the heading "LifeRing offers an option in recovery," the Contra Costa (CA) Times carried an article about LifeRing in its Dec. 23 issue.  Written by Theresa Harrington, the reporter who attended a LifeRing meeting earlier in the month (see item below), the article says, "In the Bay Area, hundreds of men and women in recovery have found help getting through the holidays -- and the rest of the year -- through LifeRing, a support group that offers a nonreligious alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous."  Click here for complete text on the newspaper's website (limited time only).  Click here for a printable version in online format (PDF). Click here for a printable version in print format. The Times is a daily newspaper, a member of the Knight-Ridder chain, serving a large, mainly suburban area east of San Francisco. 

LifeRing convenors Gail C., Katie F. and Marty N. met with Mike Menefee M.D., director of the Mills-Peninsula Recovery Center in Burlingame CA, and with six members of the Center's counseling staff, on Tuesday afternoon Dec. 14 to explain the LifeRing approach.  After a brief presentation and a question-answer session, staff reached consensus that the Center should host a LifeRing meeting, and in consultation with Gail, the future convenor, the time of Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. was settled on.  The new LifeRing meeting will start in the second week of January. Details will be announced.  -- 12/14/04

In response to a contact from LifeRing convenor Carola Z., reporter Theresa Harrington from the Contra Costa (CA) Times attended the Thursday evening LifeRing meeting at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Walnut Creek on Dec. 9. The weekly paper, part of the Knight-Ridder chain, is planning a recovery feature in an upcoming edition.  Harrington introduced herself as a reporter at the beginning of the meeting and asked permission to sit in.  All the participants readily agreed, and also gave her permission to take notes, provided she did not publish names or identifying details. A very good meeting ensued, and Ms. Harrington stayed on afterward to ask questions and interview participants.  Carola Z., who initiated the contact, convenes the Monday noon women's meeting and the Friday noon holiday support group in Walnut Creek, a suburban town east of San Francisco.  -- MN 12/13/04

LifeRing convenors Katie F. and Marty N. met with Khatera Aslami, Director of Rehabilitation, and with Dawn Mills, a staff member of the Villa Fairmont Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro CA, in the afternoon of Dec. 9.  After a brief discussion of the LifeRing approach and of patient confidentiality issues, Ms. Aslami led us on a tour of the 124-bed county-run facility.  Villa Fairmont provides "sub-acute" mental health care, meaning that patients have generally been stabilized and can expect to spend up to six months here.  Ms. Aslami estimated that from 50-90 per cent of the patients had substance abuse issues.  We were shown possible meeting rooms for a LifeRing meeting, and arrangements to schedule a LifeRing meeting at the facility were set in motion.  Katie, who convenes the LifeRing meeting in the closed psychiatric emergency ward at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley, among others, had arranged the appointment with Villa Fairmont staff.  -- MN 12/13/04

LifeRing has now been given equal presentation time in the education program for first-time driving-under-the-influence offenders at the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (NCADA) in San Francisco. From now on these informational presentations will be made about three times a month by speakers from LifeRing.

The first of these presentations took place on December 2nd. LifeRing Convenor Gillian E. presented to about twenty clients at the NCADA office on Market Street, with LifeRing convenor Marty N. lending support. The surprise was that these people have not been mandated by the courts not to drink at all, they have only been mandated not to drink and drive. None of the attendees seemed to think that they had to stop drinking, or would admit that they had a serious problem with alcohol.

So this was a new experience in terms of how to talk about LifeRing and sobriety in general. The main theme of the presentation had to be letting these people know that sobriety was not the end of their lives – that there is fun and achievement after giving up the booze – and that LifeRing was available as a support should they ever decide, in the future, to become sober.

The group was very quiet and unresponsive as Gillian ran through the Three S’s of LifeRing. Things warmed up a bit after she organized the group into a circle to give them a better idea of what happens at a LifeRing meeting. This was a great example of how the ‘speaker and audience’ model excludes people, while the circle ‘we are all equal here’ model opens people up and allows them to talk. A lot of ground was eventually covered during the hour-long event.  -- Gillian Ellenby 12/9/04

P.S. LifeRing convenor Marty N. did the NCADA presentation on Wed. Dec. 8 to a different group of 16 first-time DUI offenders.  As with the previous presentation, the LifeRing talk directly followed a 45-minute talk by speakers representing Alcoholics Anonymous. 

LifeRing convenors Henry S., Gail C., and Marty N. gave a presentation about LifeRing to a packed room of 52 patients in the Early Recovery segment of the Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency Recovery Program in Oakland CA on Tuesday evening Dec. 7. 

Henry, who co-convenes the Thursday evening LifeRing meeting at that facility, and is a regular participant in the Saturday morning LifeRing meeting there, knew almost everyone in the room personally because almost everyone had already attended LifeRing.  Henry spoke movingly of his own struggle to find recovery, and about the positive support he had found in LifeRing. 

Gail, who hopes to start a new meeting in the Peninsula soon, spoke about her childhood in Texas and about the fresh air that she found in LifeRing.  Marty concluded with brief reminiscences about his early recovery and about the features of LifeRing that he found most valuable. 

There was a lively and friendly question session, much of which focused on the issue whether the best part of LifeRing was the nonreligious atmosphere or the presence of crosstalk. The session ended with a solid round of applause for the three speakers.  Kaiser Program Coordinator Jeff Blair chaired the hour-long event, one in a series that dates back to 1995.  -- M.N. 12/13.04

Fourteen San Francisco Bay Area LifeRing convenors and future convenors met on Saturday Dec. 4 at the LifeRing Service Center for the monthly convenor workshop.  We spent approximately the first hour checking in with each other using the "How Was Your Week" format, and the second hour discussing convenor issues.  Among the convenor topics this month was a report on a recent breakthrough in getting LifeRing speakers invited at NCADA (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction) programs, by Gillian E. (see story above), a report by Gail C. on a possible new meeting on the Peninsula coming soon, discussion on scheduling issues at Union City, how to help people survive the holidays, a preview of the '05 Congress, possible guest speakers there, and the upcoming membership survey scheduled for January.  While we discussed issues, our fingers were busy stuffing and sealing close to 100 envelopes containing the December local meeting schedule and other LifeRing brochures, addressed to referral sources in our database in each of the local counties where current LifeRing meetings are active. 

Please note: because of the January 1 holiday, the January convenor workshop will meet on Saturday January 8, 2005.  -- Marty N. 12/13/04

The Monday night LifeRing in Vancouver B.C. (Canada), founded by Jack McNeil in June of this year, has given birth to two additional LifeRing meetings in the city.  The new meetings are:

• Wednesdays, 7:00 p.m., at the Ravensong Health Center, 2450 Ontario Street, Vancouver; and
• Fridays, 7:00 p.m., at the Three Bridges Addiction Team, 1290 Hornby St., Third Floor, Board Room, also in Vancouver.

The first meeting of the Wednesday night group was Sept. 22 and the first meeting of the Friday night group was Oct. 1.  The convenors of both new meetings came out of the original Monday night meeting, which continues at the Three Bridges Addiction Team, 1290 Hornby St., Third Floor, Board Room.  Jack delayed announcing the new meetings until it was clear they were viable and had support.  -- 11/29/04