Tag: aa

Through his own path to recovery, Stevie G stayed at a halfway house. While there, he found connections and moved forward in his own recovery, but he saw some things that were disturbing, as if the halfway house had lost the focus on helping recovering alcoholics. After leaving, Stevie was presented with the opportunity – a friend owned some 3 flats – and Stevie said “I think we can do better for people”. That was 30 years ago and he continues to work in the sober community with RCOSA sober living.

RCOSA is a privately funded non-profit organization providing sober living where individuals work on building a foundation for sobriety through love and support, and incredible counselors with lots of experience to help individuals cognitively and emotionally. Everyone gets their own room with different buildings for different demographics like age,and there are two groups a week with group and individual counseling. RCOSA has created a space where people feel like they are vested in their recovery, and have fun along the way. The facilities are top notch, costs are reasonable, and the location is very accessible. Individuals walk into an instant community.

Benefits and focuses of sober living:

• Community
• Accountability and structure
• Direction and Guidance
• Incredible Counselors: individual and group

Thousands of people have gone through RCOSA. The average length of stay is a little under a year. Why? Because 

the idea of 28 day treatment is unrealistic – individuals are not cured after 28 days. It takes 6 – 12 months to change those neural pathways and stay at RCOSA is a minimum of 3 months. That’s where the value of RCOSA is, and that is why esteemed alumni are seeing such a benefit. 

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

Mentioned in this episode:

RCOSA website: https://www.rcosa.org/

Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous: https://www.amazon.com/Alcoholics-AAWS/dp/1893007162/

Page 86: https://anonpress.org/bb/Page_86.htm

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Sober.Coffee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sober.coffeepodcast/

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Dr. John shares three ways to go: Drunk, Dry, or Sober. While dry is miserable, restless, irritable, and filled with discontent, and obsessive worry – sober should be the opposite, right? Wrong. Join Mike & Glenn and special guest Dr. John to discuss what it means to be sober.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

Mentioned in this episode:

The Wounded Healer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385148038/ref=as_li_tl

H.O.W. in Recovery: https://www.careaddiction.com/edu/how-do-i-get-sober

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

On their own path to recovery, Mike and Glenn will be the first to tell you when it comes to cravings vs addictions, both words are subjective. Discussing it at the coffee shop, they both agree – cravings are one sign of addition and fertile soil where addiction can really grip in and grow. When you’ve lost control of a craving and you just keep doing it, that’s an addiction.

Sober curious and wondering about cravings? Glenn suggests cravings last about 20 minutes. Can you suffer better for 20 minutes and use tools to get out of the situation like changing your environment or calling a friend?  

On the road to recovery? Be aware when you’re going into a situation where you might be tempted – yes you may have a craving, but deal with it. Process it and have a plan.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

Want more clinical information about Cravings vs Addiction?

Visit Care Addiction Center’s Resources For Recovery Blog: https://www.careaddiction.com/edu/cravings-vs-addiction

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Sober.Coffee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sober.coffeepodcast/

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Dr. John relates the “ISM” of alcoholism to the human condition, a yearning to fill the void, a yearning for wholeness and connectedness. With Mike & Glenn, he discusses the viewpoint that we don’t need AA to tell us that drinking makes life s*&% or that if you don’t drink your life will be better. What we need AA for is that even when we don’t drink and things get better, even when we clean up our act, we still have a hole in our soul, still yearn, still hunger. If alcohol is the only thing that fills that void, it’s easy to relapse. Which makes working the program, going to meetings and staying connected important on the path to recovery.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Steve G joins Sober.Coffee at a table for three and gives us a glimpse into his life and how he found sobriety. A sneak peek – it took losing everything over a 20 month period, being homeless and living in the back of a Jeep Renegade, then finding himself in a surprise intervention to get Steve on the path to recovery. 

Now, 30 years sober, Steve still goes to a lot of meetings. Why? Because nothing will so much ensure immunity from drinking as intense work with other alcoholics. Besides sponsoring others, going to meetings, and being available to meet for coffee – Steve focuses on sober living, and is the Executive Director for RCOSA, a sober living community in Chicago.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

Mentioned in this episode:

RCOSA: https://www.rcosa.org/

Blue October Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJTMBGFJVkk&feature=youtu.be

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Sober.Coffee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sober.coffeepodcast/

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Dr. John joins the Sober Coffee shop with Mike & Glenn to explore Step 1 and why it is more complicated than it appears. After all, rarely will a person fail if they thoroughly follow the path. Yet 90% fail. Why?  Because they don’t embrace the first step – you’re f&#@cked. Learning to live this reality is how you get better. Listen in for a deeper dive.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Curtis and Danni had two very different journeys to recovery. While Danni’s tough childhood was filled with abuse and exposure to alcohol and drugs, Curtis was surrounded by social drinkers. Each shares their experiences from the first drink to how they found sobriety, and how they ultimately met each other and embarked on a business venture to create The Sober app. 

The Sober app is a safe space where anyone suffering with addiction, or wanting to stay connected, can go to find recovery tools or get help virtually. From meetings and education to resources and community, it can be found on the app. 

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

For more about Danni, Curtis & The Sober app:

Danni on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sober_socially/

The Sober on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thesober.app/

The Sober website: thesober.passion.io

Download The Sober app on Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.po1n27xul1xr.p3l6x32ygapp

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

From how to pick a sponsor to why old timers and newcomers are – and are not – so different, Mike and Glenn talk about perceptions, reality, and what those years of sobriety actually mean. Coffee is sipped, experience is shared, and the secret sauce is revealed. Listen in to the coffee shop for the 7 keys and most important pieces of advice from admittedly not old timers. 

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

Resentment is bitter indignation and a negative reaction to perceived mistreatment. Every time you see something, or hear something, it gets processed through your filter. You’re either going to process it as a personal assault on your pride or ego – or you will have acceptance.

Talking about emotional perception and the role it plays in resentment, Mike & Glenn discuss resentment in addiction and in recovery. What fuels it? How does it start? And more importantly, ways to combat resentments, ways to live so you don’t pile them up – and when they do come, ways to dissect and diffuse them.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

Mentioned in this episode:

Big Book of AA: https://www.aa.org/the-big-book

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com

The foundation to building a life in recovery doesn’t always start with lofty goals and high expectations. Sometimes slow and steady builds the sturdiest foundation. The question “how are you doing now that it’s the middle of the year?” starts an open conversation about what the middle of the year and the middle of recovery looks like for Mike  and Glenn – and just how much it has to do with how they started. 

The answer to the question of how you are doing depends on whether you’re comparing now to the start of the year, or the start of recovery, or even the start of the yesterday. Sure, someone might be doing great compared to before sobriety, but Mike & Glenn suggest that how you find growth is to ask, “are you doing better today than yesterday?” It’s part of being patient, and if you are thinking about changing your lifestyle, know that recovery is going to take time. It’s important to let it play out, be patient, and lay that foundation.

If you know someone who needs to hear this episode, share it with them!

For more about this podcast:

Visit Sober.Coffee website: https://www.sober.coffee

Recorded at Audiohive Podcasting: https://www.audiohivepodcasting.com

In collaboration with Care Addiction Center: https://www.careaddiction.com