On the Web: Sobriety Tools in Cyberspace

Finding sobriety support for your clients has never been easier. All they need is access to an Internet connection –either in their homes or available in many public libraries – and a vast universe of online support networks are literally right at their fingertips. Seeking online support can be beneficial to a person suffering from alcohol and/or substance use disorders in that it allows them to understand just how widespread the problem of addiction actually is, and to gain access to new ideas for achieving and maintaining sobriety.

Internet sites that support recovery are up and running 24 hours per day. If your client is having a difficult time at 2:00 a.m., he or she isn't likely to find an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting in session, and may be reluctant to call and awake friends or sponsors. Barring power outages, the Internet never sleeps, so your clients can always turn to recovery websites for advice and to hear others' stories for inspiration.

Many of the recovery Internet sites allow for discussion either through message boards or live chat, which means your clients can read back-and-forth conversation about important topics, such as cravings, and solicit advice on how to handle problems. This venue allows the client to enter into online discussions, asking the questions that they want answered.

One other feature about web-based recovery sites that can be very helpful to people is the fact that they are truly anonymous. Your clients do not have to show up in a church basement or a meeting hall; aren't required to use their real names; and are interacting with people who might be from other parts of the world. For those who are initially too fearful or ashamed to attend 12-Step meetings in their home communities, this option allows them to get familiar with recovery language, concepts, and ideas, which can help the client feel more comfortable when they walk into their first face-to-face meeting.

You can teach your clients to locate recovery-related websites, using an Internet search engine such as Google.com or Yahoo.com. The client can try several combinations of sobriety-related keywords. For example, he/she might use key words, such as “alcoholism recovery,” “sober support,” or “how to stay sober.” Remind the client to put the phrase in quotes to narrow the search. The search may require a bit of effort to weed out extraneous information, but it should eventually generate helpful websites.

Sites for recovery
Sober24.com, at http://www.sober24.com, is one of the Internet sites that provides meaningful help to people in recovery. The site allows for a 60 day free trial membership, after which you can join as a member for $12.00 per year. It is easy to navigate, and offers a variety of helpful tools. The site also includes discussion forums with topics like “Weekly Topic,” “Beginners and Newcomers,” “Life in Recovery,” “Just for Fun,” “Gambling and Debt Issues,” “Grief Forum,” “Relationship Issues,” and “Steps and Traditions.”

On the website, clients can read individual members' discussions, including their support of one another; tips and ideas for getting through difficult times; and countless suggestions about what works in sobriety. Many clients benefit just from reading what others have written, or they can jump in with their own issues, sharing how many days they have been sober perhaps, or asking a question about things like sleep difficulty or how to deal with friends who still drink or use. Once someone posts his/her own message, he/she can check back frequently to read responses.

Sober24.com also hosts “live” Internet meetings that occur in real time. It operates like a chat room, where people who are dealing with addiction can “talk” back and forth with others via the computer, or just read what others are writing to one another. In addition, the site has an online tool that helps track an individual's progress in sobriety, and can be used to set up an electronic “call for help” that will go out to certain people (pre-selected by that individual).

Another useful site on the Internet is The AA Grapevine Online at http://www.aagrapevine.org/. The Grapevine is a magazine published by AA since 1944, in which AA members from around the world discuss or debate ideas about AA, recovery, alcoholism and related topics. Like Sober24.com, they have discussion forums where clients can scroll through other persons' posts, or post their own thoughts or feelings on something related to sobriety. In addition, they have a digital archive of all of the articles from The Grapevine , sorted by topics. To access the digital archive, one must subscribe - $2.00 for one month, or $15.00 for one year. They also have a special welcome message for newcomers with some helpful links attached.

To find and attend an AA meeting online, send your clients to http://www.aa-intergroup.org/ and tell them to scroll down to the section that reads: “Looking for an online meeting,” where they can choose between an e-mail style meeting and a live chat meeting. The inter-group page has other helpful links as well, and can help people get quickly connected to AA support. The site also features links for meetings in many languages, as well as special focus meetings – such as for women only, or for the visually impaired.

The AA History and Trivia site, at http://www.aahistory.com/, has a sobriety calculator that allows your clients to see how long they have been sober down to the second. It also has a wealth of materials available, including tapes and compact disks of AA speakers, and a detailed history of the origins of the Serenity Prayer.

At http://www.aastories.com/ your clients can read personal accounts about how others got sober. At http:www.facetheissue.com, they can view a short, animated movie about alcoholism, narrated by Nicole Kidman.

No substitute for physical interaction
Many recovering people feel that online involvement has greatly boosted their recovery and sense of connection to others who are going through the same thing. However, there also is a great deal of discussion about how important it is that online chat rooms and AA discussion boards should not replace face-to-face 12-Step meetings. The reasons for this are sound. While there is excellent support online, the people your clients are interacting with through these websites are not likely to be in close geographical proximity, so they can't meet these recovering friends for a cup of coffee, or see a movie together. To be able to socialize with other sober people, it is important for your clients to make friends with other sober people in their communities.

When suggesting recovery websites, be sure to caution your clients to watch out for unscrupulous people. They should not give out their physical address, phone number or credit card information to individuals they do not know.

Kelly Madigan Erlandson has been a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Nebraska since 1983, working mainly at the Independence Center, a hospital-based treatment center. She has been a Site Visitor for the U.S. Department of Education Drug-Free Schools Program, is a sought-after public speaker, and won the Distinguished Artist Award in Literature from the Nebraska Arts Council this year.