LifeRing Secular Recovery (LifeRing or LSR) is a secular, non-profit organization providing peer-run addiction recovery groups. The organization provides support and assistance to people seeking to recover from alcohol and drug addiction, and also assists partners, family members and friends of addicts or alcoholics. It is an abstinence-based recovery program with three fundamental principles: sobriety, secularity and self-empowerment. The motto of LifeRing is "empower your sober self."
LifeRing originated in California in 1997 as LifeRing Press, a publishing company separate from its parent organization, Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS). It incorporated officially in 1999 under its present name, and is no longer affiliated with SOS. LifeRing holds face-to-face meetings in the United States, Canada and Europe, and also supports online meetings, chat rooms, and e-mail support groups. Although the organization is non-religious, it caters to people of all faiths or none, and around a quarter of LifeRing members say they attend some form of religious group. Group participants are encouraged to tailor their program to their own needs and circumstances. Each member is free to incorporate ideas from any source they find useful, such as materials from other addiction recovery groups, including religious-supported approaches like that used by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). LifeRing has been described as "one of the major secular alternatives to AA."
History
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, a position he held until 2010 when Craig Whalley took over as president. The LifeRing service center is located in Hayward, California. In 1999, following a meeting of regional representatives, it became LifeRing Secular Recovery, and in 2001 it held its first constitutional congress. The organization holds an annual congress each year where board members are elected. LifeRing is non-profit making and raises all its funds from the sale of books and merchandise, collections at meetings and by donations; although remaining broadly similar in outlook, LifeRing is no longer affiliated with SOS. LifeRing has been represented by speakers at professional conferences of organizations including the American Psychological Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals (NAADAC), the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (CAADAC), Multiple Pathways of Recovery Conference (2015), and FtBConscience 2 (2014).
LifeRing's success rate was studied in 2016 by the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, California, following several applications for funding over the years. The report found that members of LifeRing reported higher levels of satisfaction and cohesion compared to twelve-step participants, despite lower levels of attendance at face-to-face meetings, and concluded that there is a real need for incorporating the LifeRing methodology into existing addiction treatment networks. Further research is needed in order for it to be incorporated into a professional clinical setting, as most of the data available prior to the 2016 study was anecdotal in nature. In the mid-1990s, high-profile cases held that requiring individuals who have been mandated to undergo drug or alcohol rehabilitation to attend a program with religious content is impermissible coercion under the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, and thus secular alternatives are needed. Consequently, it has been acknowledged that there is a pressing need for professional recognition of secular groups such as SMART and LifeRing which may encourage them to become more mainstream and widespread.
Methodology
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. 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. In order to participate the ethos is summarized as
