Heroin Anonymous
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Based upon the same principles and traditions found in Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs, those who take part in Heroin Anonymous (HA) meetings often find the support they need to avoid relapse and stay clean for the long term.
Heroin addicts who are ready to stop abusing heroin and start living a life without drugs of any kind often turn to 12-step programs like Heroin Anonymous (HA).
If you’re at the very beginning of your journey to recovery and are physically dependent on heroin that you seek medical help. Detox that addresses withdrawal symptoms can save your life, helping you to safely stop using heroin and putting you in a better position for a positive start in addiction treatment and 12-step meetings. Contact us today if you would like to learn more about your options in heroin rehab.
Heroin Anonymous Quick Facts
- Heroin Anonymous is focused solely on helping heroin addicts stop using all drugs and alcohol and avoid relapse.
- The only requirement to be a member of HA is the desire to stop suffering due to heroin addiction. There are no dues, fees, attendance, or performance requirements.
- Heroin Anonymous is a nonprofit group and not affiliated with any religious sect, political party, business, or cause of any kind.
- HA is not heroin addiction treatment. No assistance with detox or psychotherapy is provided. Those who participate in HA have already gone through heroin rehab and are not using heroin.
Benefits of Heroin Anonymous
- Active engagement with your recovery as you work the steps, attend meetings, sponsor others, and volunteer your services
- A social support system to turn to when you feel tempted to relapse
- Regular meetings to attend that provide structure to your recovery
- An opportunity to vent and share stressful issues before they push you to relapse
- The chance to work one on one with your sponsor or sponsees in the healing process
Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Heroin Abuse
Many who use heroin rationalize that they are hurting no one but themselves or that they don’t have an addiction because they can quit anytime. How do you answer the following questions?
- Do you feel angry, resentful, hopeless, depressed or fearful about your heroin use?
- Do you use the heroin you have until you run out?
- Do you have health problems (e.g., infections at injection sites, trouble breathing if you smoke the drug, sinus problems if you snort it, etc.) due to your heroin abuse?
- Do you use needles to inject heroin? Have you contracted hepatitis C or HIV as a result?
If you have tried to stop using heroin but been unsuccessful or if you need help dealing with the withdrawal symptoms associated with detox from the drug, heroin rehab followed by Heroin Anonymous meetings can help.
Singleness of Purpose
Heroin Anonymous focuses specifically on helping addicts who are addicted to heroin only. It is requested that only those who have a problem with heroin specifically take part in meetings. The idea behind this is that, with singleness of purpose, they maintain dedication to the goal of helping heroin addicts, which makes them more effective.
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Do You Need More Heroin Rehab Info?
If you are using heroin regularly, Heroin Anonymous will not be able to help you get clean. You’ll need to detox from the drug in a medical setting to ensure your health and safety during the process. Your first step is to enroll in a heroin addiction treatment program that provides medical and psychotherapeutic treatment. Call now to be matched with the right program for your needs.
Getting Support from Heroin Anonymous
Article Contents
The 12-step group has been an important part of the addiction recovery landscape since Bill W. and Dr. Bob formed Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.1 Since that time, a number of different organizations, inspired by the work of AA, have been created to help individuals with everything from gambling problems to sex addiction.
In 2004, one of these offshoot programs was created to help individuals who were in recovery from heroin dependence. Heroin Anonymous is a group of men and women dedicated to helping any heroin addict through regular meetings, sponsorship, and on-going support.
What Is Heroin Anonymous?
Heroin Anonymous is a nonprofit organization of men and women who meet regularly to support each other in their sobriety. They practice complete abstinence from all drugs and alcohol. The only requirement for membership is a person’s desire to stop using heroin.2
The group does not provide counseling, psychological treatment, or medical care, and it is not affiliated with any political or religious groups. It is fully self-supporting and does not accept outside contributions. Members come from all walks of life.2
History
Heroin Anonymous (HA) was founded after Paul F., a recovering heroin addict in Alcoholics Anonymous, received a call in 2004 from Mike S., another heroin addict. Mike asked Paul why there wasn’t a 12-step program for heroin addicts. They decided to start HA so that heroin addicts would have their own place to gather with people who understood their experience.2
They held the first meeting on August 12, 2004 at a halfway house in Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, the organization has grown, and meetings are now held in multiple countries.2
How Do Meetings Help Recovering Addicts?
Whether an individual is currently in heroin addiction treatment or completed a rehab program years ago, Heroin Anonymous helps people maintain recovery focus and provides the chance to get support from other recovering addicts. At regular meetings (held at different locations throughout the country) recovering heroin addicts come together and share stories about their addiction, how far they have come, and the challenges they still face every day.Sponsorship plays a key role in HA meetings. All members are encouraged to reach out to another HA member and ask them to be their sponsor. A sponsor is a fellow recovering addict—someone who is living a sober life and worked the 12 steps. The sponsor supports the person anytime they need it—including moments when relapse seems inevitable. During these stressful times, the sponsor is only a phone call away—and ready to help the person stay the course of recovery. Sponsors also help newcomers work toward completing their own 12 steps. They do not, however, give someone a job, money, or a place to live.
The 12 Steps of Heroin Anonymous
Heroin Anonymous uses a similar set of 12 recovery steps to that of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step fellowships. Members complete each step one at a time, with help from their sponsor, and often provide help to others who are also working the steps.
The steps reference God and a higher power. But the person can use any higher power they’re comfortable with, such as nature or the group itself.
The 12 steps are:3
- We admitted we were powerless over heroin—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to heroin addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
More Facts About HA Programs
If you or someone you love is interested in taking part in a Heroin Anonymous meeting, here are some additional things you should know:
- There is no official membership fee for Heroin Anonymous. Instead, individuals are asked to make small donations at each meeting for expenses.2
- Anonymity is important. It is one of the group’s 12 traditions.5
- It’s not hard to find a meeting. There are HA meetings taking place in almost every major or mid-size city in the United States. Finding one is as easy as consulting the Internet or a local heroin drug rehab facility.
- HA focuses on heroin addiction. The organization maintains a “singleness of purpose,” which means that while they do not exclude other addicts, they recognize that they are limited in who they can help and are best prepared to help other heroin addicts.4
- Meetings can vary. The main types of meetings found at HA are Big Book study meetings, speaker meetings, participation meetings, and step discussions. Most meetings contain similar elements, however, including welcoming new guests, reaching out to people who have a desire to use, helping people find sponsors, handing out keychains or other tokens to recognize people who have achieved stretches of sobriety, and opening and closing with a prayer.6
Heroin Anonymous, and its philosophy of giving one’s self up to a “higher power,” is not for everyone. Some people may be uncomfortable with the more spiritual elements of the group. However, HA meetings can be helpful to anyone as a form of peer support. Those who are in need of support during or after completion of a heroin rehab program may want to consider attending a group meeting or two to see if it helps them achieve their goals.
If you need help finding a treatment facility near you, contact our helpline. One of our support specialists will be happy to assist you.
Sources
[1]. Alcoholics Anonymous. Over 80 Years of Growth: Men on a mission.
[2]. Heroin Anonymous. What Is Heroin Anonymous?
[3]. Heroin Anonymous.Twelve Steps of Heroin Anonymous.
[4]. Heroin Anonymous.Literature.
[5]. Heroin Anonymous.Twelve Traditions of Heroin Anonymous.
[6]. Heroin Anonymous. Resources.