Welcome
to LifeRing! I'm Marty, and I'm the webmaster of the LifeRing web
site. When I first got sober, my case manager at the Kaiser Permanente
treatment program in Oakland, California gave me the option to attend either
12-Step support groups or the alternative support groups that are known
today as LifeRing, or both.
That was at the beginning of October, 1992.
I chose LifeRing, and I've never regretted it. LifeRing meetings have been
the perfect recovery environment for me. The support has been
tremendous. The personal recovery plan I put together has worked well for me
so far. I've had no relapses. I've enjoyed my sobriety tremendously --
it's given me new energy and a new life.
This website is an effort to share the
LifeRing concept as I understand it so that others can be as fortunate as I
was. Here's a brief overview of what you'll find here.
If you're new in recovery, have a look
at the Frequenty Asked Questions
page, or at the article "If This Is Day One,"
or look at the Keepers section for a
selection of anecdotes, stories and short essays, or get started building
your personal recovery plan with
Recovery By Choice, the
workbook that readers
rave about at many different stages of their recovery journey. Check out a selection of sobriety tools
contributed by people who found them personally useful (Toolbox). Locate a nearby
licensed treatment facility, and
just maybe find one of the exceptional providers who offer a secular or
secular-tolerant program (Treatment).
Do you sometimes feel you're all alone? Unhooked.com is a
gateway to get
connected with likeminded people all over the world. You can:
- "Talk" with others in real time
in the chat room during scheduled chat meetings, or invite a friend and
meet in the chat room any time, using your browser (Chat)
- Participate in two large and busy LifeRing
email lists and in several smaller ones using
your email program (Connect Online)
- Browse thousands of public messages, and
post your own, on the LifeRing Recovery Forum, using your browser (Forum)
- Find the current schedule for LifeRing
face-to-face meetings in the United States and some abroad (Meetings)
- Follow links to other recovery
organizations and to hundreds of web sites with related content (Links)
If you're an avid reader, go to the
LifeRing Press bookstore for
LifeRing titles, browse the Booktalk
blog for
dozens of book reviews of interest to people in recovery (and leave your own
comments on the titles reviewed), dive into the
Science section for a diversity of research articles from the scientific and
popular press, or venture into the Cutting Edge section for articles on
controversial topics that push the envelope of the recovery universe.
Smoking can be a hot topic for people
in recovery. If this is an issue for you or for someone with whom you
share air space, check out the "Where does nicotine fit into my recovery
plan" page.
Do you like Poetry? Art?
Music? Recreation? Food? We've got contributions
in all these areas. Check out the Poetry page, the
Art Gallery, the
Music page, the Recreation
page, and a newly updated and expanded Food and Beverages section.
News items about LifeRing appear on
the Bulletin Board page. There's a daily news feed from Join Together
Online that covers
national events related to substance abuse and
neighboring topics.
Curious about LifeRing? Read about the
basic LifeRing philosophy (The
"Three S"), consider an essay about how LifeRing works
to produce recoveries (How Our
Meetings Work), find out how LifeRing is organized
and who the people behind it are, and read about our history (About
LifeRing). Browse the annual
Congress pages.
If you're interested in starting a LifeRing
meeting, check out the Convenor page, read the online chapters from
How Was
Your Week (or buy the book), browse the Meeting Starter Kit page, join the
convenor email lists, or send an email to the
LifeRing Service Center -- its
mission is "Serve the Meetings."
If you're looking for chemical dependency
treatment for yourself or a loved one, you can find
a short list of facilities where
LifeRing is understood, as well as a link to the
federal database containing every
licensed treatment program in the U.S.A., searchable by city, state, or zip
code.
If you're a treatment professional, you can
find letters of reference, an FAQ page, selected book reviews, and other
material that may be of interest on the Treatment Professionals' page.
I would not be sober today without the
efforts of earlier generations of pioneers who built the meetings that
were there for me when I got my wake-up call. I hope that you, too,
when you've tasted the benefits of a sober and drug-free life,
will put some of your newfound energy back into this wonderful support
network. Give something back, so that others may be as
fortunate as you were. If you aren't able to devote your time and
talent, you can support LifeRing by making a direct
donation to defray our expenses. We're an all-volunteer
organization, doing good because it feels good and helps us stay clean and
sober.
Thank you, and enjoy your browsing experience on
unhooked.com.
- -- Marty N.
