LifeRing

History of LifeRing

LifeRing was founded in 1997 as LifeRing Press, a publishing company, as an outgrowth out of the northern California branch of Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS). Martin Nicolaus was the founder and CEO in 1997. In 1999, following a meeting of regional representatives, it became LifeRing Secular Recovery.

Major treatment centers in the San Francisco Bay area opened their doors to LifeRing meetings in the 2001-2005 period. In April 2003, the LifeRing Service Center established its own office in Oakland, CA. LifeRing branches sprang up in Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden. By 2008-2009, LifeRing was represented via speakers and/or exhibitors at major professional conferences such as the American Psychological Association, NAADAC, and CAADAC. In 2010, the organization had grown to the point where the Martin Nicolaus was able to retire and hand the reins over to a new generation.

How LifeRing Works

LifeRing tries to support your efforts to strengthen the Sober Self and weaken the Addict Self. LifeRing works through positive social reinforcement. The meeting process empowers the Sober Self within each of us.

We think YOU are the best person to design YOUR OWN program – you know what’s needed in your life and what has to be abandoned. You know what triggers cravings and what provides healthy and strengthening pleasure. You know the path you want to be on and you are the only person who can figure out how best to get there. LifeRing provides safe and supportive contact with others that enables that process to succeed.

LifeRing provides support for you to get and stay clean and sober. You do the hard work, and we offer information, advice, understanding, and lots of support through face-to-face (F2F) meetings, on-line meetings, other on-line resources, and a variety of publications.

LifeRing encourages each participant to tailor an approach to maintaining abstinence from addictive drugs or alcohol to his or her own needs and experiences. Members are free to incorporate ideas from any source they find useful, including other addiction recovery groups. Meetings often take place in the locations also used by twelve-step recovery groups. LifeRing encourages members to use relapses as learning experiences and discourages admonishing members for relapsing. Members are encouraged to see inside them a sober self and an addict self which are fighting for dominance, one side is trying to be sober and well, the other is obsessed with the drug and wants to keep drinking or using.

LifeRing's approach has been described as "a homespun, rather than an academic, product" which comes within the discipline of cognitive behavioral therapy. It is influenced by psychologists such as Carl Rogers and Albert Bandura, and has been compared to William Glasser's choice theory which is based on the idea that past relationships are influential on behavior and addictive behaviors are symptomatic of unconscious psychological needs, and Marsha M. Linehan's dialectical behavior therapy which focuses on learning the triggers to certain types of destructive behavior.

LifeRing meetings use the book How Was Your Week which replaced the Handbook of Secular Recovery which in turn replaced the text used in Sobriety handbook, the SOS way: an introduction to Secular Organizations for Sobriety.

The LifeRing philosophy is expressed in three principles, known as the 3-S philosophy: Sobriety, Secularity, and Self empowerment. Sobriety is defined as abstinence from alcohol and addictive drugs (prescription or otherwise) unless used as directed by a physician as a legitimate medical treatment.[9] The principle of Self-Empowerment encourages each member to develop his or her own program of recovery. Unlike twelve-step programs, members do not have sponsors, but are encouraged to help each other.

The "3-S" Philosophy Sober, Secular, Self-Help

“3-S” is short-hand for the fundamental principles of LifeRing:  Sobriety, Secularity, and Self-Help.

Sobriety. “Sobriety” can mean different things in dictionaries, but in LifeRing it always means abstinence. The basic membership requirement is a desire to remain abstinent from alcohol and “drugs.”  LifeRing welcomes people regardless of their “drug of choice.” Please look elsewhere for support if your intention is to keep drinking or using, but not so much, or to stop drinking but continue using, or stop using but continue drinking.  The successful LifeRing participant practices the Sobriety Priority, meaning that nothing is allowed to interfere with staying abstinent from alcohol and “drugs.”  The motto is “we do not drink or use, no matter what.”

Secularity. LifeRing Recovery welcomes people of all faiths and none.  You get to keep whatever religious beliefs you have, and you are under no pressure to acquire any if you don’t. Participants’ spiritual or religious beliefs or lack thereof remains private. Neither religion nor anti-religion normally comes up in meeting discussion. Participants are free to attend both LifeRing and Twelve-Step meetings, but LifeRing supports recovery methods that rely on human efforts rather than on divine intervention.

Self-Help. Self-help in LifeRing means that the key to recovery is the individual’s own motivation and effort. The main purpose of the group process is to reinforce the individual’s own inner strivings to stay clean and sober.   LifeRing is a permanent workshop where individuals can build their own Personal Recovery Plans. LifeRing does not prescribe any particular “steps” other than abstinence and is not a vehicle for any particular therapeutic doctrine.   LifeRing participation is compatible with a wide variety of  abstinence-based therapeutic or counseling programs.

What Happens at LifeRing Meetings?

Our meetings, whether in person or online, consist of addicts using their Sober Self to connect with the Sober Self of other addicts. We share advice, understanding, and encouragement. We focus primarily on our current lives, not on the hurts and damages of the past. Two addicts, talking Sober-Self to Sober-Self, learn from each other, and gain strength from each other.

LifeRing meetings generally convene in a circle so that everyone can make eye contact. Opening statements are very short. The usual topic is “How was your week?” This invites participants to report the highlights and heartaches of their recovery since the last meeting, and to look ahead to the next week. After each person has reported, others may ask questions or provide positive feedback. The atmosphere is like a conversation in a living room with sober friends: open, helpful, and often humorous. We pass around signup sheets to allow people to contact one another between meetings and become sober friends. If informal mentor/mentee relationships form, that’s fine, but our focus is on supporting individuals to find their personal recovery path.

Attending meetings (whether online, email-based, or face-to-face) provides a good place for the sober self to learn from and be strengthened by the other sober voices there. Meetings are run by volunteer peers, known as 'convenors', not led by professionals, and members are allowed to give each other feedback during them. Members are encouraged to raise their hands when appropriate to address and answer another member to offer support or comment while the meeting is in progress.

While the meetings online and face-to-face are informal there are some basic rules: Members should be clean and sober (not under the influence of drugs or alcohol) if they want to speak at a meeting (only the desire to be sober is required for attendance), no religion, politics or demeaning others' attempts to achieve sobriety is allowed, members must stay respectful of one another, and no 'drunkalogues' (long-winded talk of past drug or alcohol use). Despite the secular nature of LifeRing a 2013 membership survey showed that just over a quarter of members attend some form of church or other place of worship, a drop from 40% in 2005.

LifeRing has more than 200 face-to-face meetings in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Family members and friends of LifeRing members can attend meetings provided they are clean and sober at the time of the meeting. There is no requirement to call oneself an addict or an alcoholic during meetings. Meetings usually last an hour and are free to attend, however donations are usually solicited.

LifeRing also provides daily meetings online, using a chat-room format, and the chat-room is also available outside of scheduled meetings. There are also multiple e-mail support groups including LRSmail which has now been running over 15 years and a group for friends and relatives. There are e-mail groups which in addition to recovery issues also focus on providing support on body image, mental health, LGBTQ, workbook study and convening a meeting. There is also a book club and an e-mail group for the UK. LifeRing hosts a social networking site at Ning, a bulletin board forum and a one-to-one e-mail befriending service. As with SOS, where it began, "Its main strength lies in its online presence."

The convenor will usually begin the meeting by asking "How was your week?" Individuals will contribute their experiences as they feel ready and other members are encouraged to interact and give feedback. Convenors should have a minimum of 6 months continuous sobriety in order to host a meeting and usually attend workshops where possible and keep in touch with other convenors online.

Find a LifeRing Group Near You

If you'd like to find a LifeRing group near you click here. You can also download some PDF literature here, or purchase all LifeRing literature from the LifeRing Store here.

For those who do not live close to a face-to-face meeting or who are more comfortable communicating with the online LifeRing community, LifeRing has online meetings, email groups, ePals, and a Delphi forum.

RecoveryHQ.com is not affiliated with LifeRing or any of its subsidiaries. This information is provided as a resource for those seeking third-party information.