Responsible Recovery In Pandemic Times

**This is not ideal mutual aid support, but these are not ideal times. If you absolutely have to attend recovery meetings in person, it is understandable. Please practice the hygiene protocols set out by the CDC.

For those of us whose recovery involves mutual aid support such as the rooms of twelve-step, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents unique challenges and balancing considerations. We have to protect our own health and stay sober, while also recognizing the negative impact such social contact can have on the current pandemic.

Let’s be honest, the rooms we walk into to share our experience, strength, and hope are not always the most cleanly.  There however are options that while not perfect, can give us the support we need while being socially conscious of how our actions impact others.

This resource will also be helpful if you must self-quarantine, and therefore cannot get to meetings.

An online resource that is user-friendly, offers complete anonymity, and a wide variety of mutual-aid support ranging from 12-step to Smart Recovery, including video meetings, is “In The Rooms”.

To be clear, I do not view this as the ideal mode of support, but it is an option and as anonymous as a person wants to be. It can be a stepping stone to more brick and mortar mode of recovery.

In the Rooms is an online social network dedicated to the global addiction recovery community for people seeking help, in recovery and their family, friends, and allies of recovery worldwide.

They put it as follows:

“We are not trying to replace Face-to-Face fellowship meetings; rather, ITR is a safe and secure place to come and socialize the other 23 hours a day you’re not in a meeting and to connect with other recovering people around the world.

InTheRooms.com transcends the boundaries of all 12 steps and non-12 step fellowships socially while maintaining the integrity of each by having 40 different fellowship groups represented. ITR currently has the largest AA / Alcoholics Anonymous (208,000+ members), NA / Narcotics Anonymous (155,000+ members) and Alanon (26,000+ members) groups in the world.

For the first time in history, this allows the social interaction between fellowships not found when attending regularly scheduled meetings of any one of these fellowships. We are bringing together members of the global recovery community socially to experience a vast array of tools that can be used to enhance and expand one’s recovery experience and social connectedness.”

The site is not only conventional 12-step support.  You will be able to find:

Faith-Based meetings

Yoga and meditation meetings

Refuge Recovery which is Buddhist Recovery

Meetings for agnostics in both AA and NA

Support for family members

Meeting for grief and codependency

Meeting for people suffering from chronic pain

Meetings for people on MAT (Medically Assisted Treatment)

Closed specialty meetings for men and women

Non-12 step meeting for Sex Addiction