After the withdrawals

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

I asked med help if there could be a community leader for those that are past w/d's but still use the forum for support and to possibly spread what knowledge those at that point need....... of course they asked me what ideas I had - so I am passing that along.....any ideas about helping long timers and still being integrated with the forum?

[worried878]

I do see the problem as not many stay during recovery...people get clean/or dont  get clean and move on////i see it right now to be a handful of people...but perhaps if advertised as recovery for substance abuse peple would come out of the wood work...good idea

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

Avisg is most correct....the forum that I am thinking of would have to be integrated with both addiction and social.....Avisg is getting the ball rolling by establishing recovery information in the Health pages.....please dont think for a minute that I feel the forums should be divorced from each other.....they are all stages that avisg talked about in earlier post - - - and steps toward getting back into life. It all needs to be done together. But I - like many others - thought that a couple of weeks would take care of this addiction business. Faulty reasoning. Its gonna be a long fight for me....but I do well in the fray, so lets find, fix, and destroy the enemy!

[avisg]

The reason I think this forum works so well is it does  because we have people in all different stages of withdrawl and recovery .I think it is very helpful when you are in WD to see someone who has been in recovery for three or four months It give them hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.

I do think it would be great however if we compiled as much recovery care information as we can almost like a guide and put it in the health pages have our members add to it as well. I will start working on it .If anyone has information let me know together we can make a great guide for others.

[Mikeinthesouth]

I would hate to see anyone with a long time under their belt moved away to some other forum if that is being considered as we need those people here as well. I know I need you guys here. Joan I agree and I am leaning on you guys strength everyday just to make it to this 15 day marker. I really have no suggestions and I just wanted to make that point. Thanks, Mike

[Sunnyd210]

I think that sponsor thing sounds like a great idea! I would be interested in being a sponsor. I havent been here very long just a month but I have seen alot of people come and go I think the only problem would be is it would take some commitment on the part of the newbie because its the worst when u try and help someone and then they relapse and never check in so u have no idea how they are doing?? Im sure u guys get used to that after awhile??

[joann1975]

I know that's the problem...you would have to be committed....I would be... I am kind of doing it with someone on here now. We just PM each other minimum once a day.... see how it's going.... feelings all that stuff.... would take committement and determination on both parts. I was thinking even like a buddy system.... if 2 people are in wds they could lean on each other etc.... something like that!

[GoingToMakeIt]

From what I hear, they did do the sponsor type thing here a long time ago. One of the problems is there are so many in need (newbies) and not as many in recovery sticking around.

[desperate1111]

i am 164 days clean today and i still need help and support. a recovery section sounds like a good plan. i like the sponser idea too from joann. its a long road and gtmi said it best, quitting is the easy part. i am constantly looking for posts from ppl that have been clean for a long, long time and what it takes to completely recover.

[GoingToMakeIt]

It is a much needed area. We spend so much time getting people clean that we really don't spend the time on the recovery part of this. Recovery takes more commitment than quitting. It is long term and full of many pitfalls, hill tops and valleys. Moods, cravings, nutrition & supplements and support are all areas that need to be addressed.

[joann1975]

I will have to think on that one eagle...it's a good idea though... I had thought about doing a thing like (and it would have to be individual medhelp couldn't really monitor or force it) AA / NA where you sponsor someone in a sense... like check in through PM each day share your thoughts and plans etc... I know it sounds silly...but if those further into recovery felt they could take a "newbie" on the "newbie" would feel they had someone there for them daily and the "vet" so to speak could be passing on their knowledge and experience... does that make sense? I know it would need tweaking and not be perect and would be absolutely VOLUNTARY...

or if we did have different rooms/forums....still using/wds/tapering....recovery...social

hope my rambling had some kinda ideas in it! :)

[addictedme]

Yep.it could be the recovery forum. This is probably the best site for support thru wds,advice on tapering,etc. Maybe the reason people come and go is because it takes a special addict to get clean and then stay to reach out to others like the regs here do.I had a commitment to take a meeting into a detox ctr every week and after a year I was burned out on seeing folks in the throes of wds. I switched to a weekly meeting at the salvation army where most everyone had at least a few months clean and were working on change, (recovery). It was much easier so like I said,,the regs here are special. Recovery can get pretty personal so it would take some thought but they probably didnt expect this site to be so succesful.