We recently reviewed “Goodbye Hangovers, Hello Life,” by Jean Kirkpatrick, the founder of Women for Sobriety, so it seemed only fitting we should do a quick profile on the organization she built as well.
The goal of these Quick Profiles, as always, is to give you an idea about programs that are out there to help people cut back or quit drinking, since everyone seems to default to Alcoholics Anonymous or rehab.
So, to give you a quick idea of Women for Sobriety, here are the main tenets we’ve discovered. For more info, check out their website.
It is purely abstinence-based; it does not condone moderation, and as the name implies, it is for women only.
It provides an in person support group that’s not religious in nature, although members do discuss their spirituality in the broadest sense.
It tries to help women build up their self-worth in the face of possible feelings of guilt or humiliation. One of the core ideas is that this kind of program benefits women more than programs like AA that are more focused on making sure the drinker sees the harm they’ve done.
They also emphasize emotional and spiritual growth and a healthy lifestyle. It’s not just what you don’t do - it‘s what you do. They believe (and we support this idea) that alcohol addiction is often a result of trying to apply a chemical bandaid to an underlying emotional problem. Fixing the problem, then, is not just about stopping drinking, but about starting to live a more meaningful life.
They think knowledge of yourself is a key part of getting better. A lot of their program, seen in their 13 Acceptance Statements, is about seeing yourself as a confident, capable woman, who can control her life and her actions through her thoughts. Often, the group supposes, women are beaten down by pressure to be perfect wives, mothers, and career women all at once, and see themselves as failures when they shouldn’t. Building yourself back up is a key part of being able to take control.
Overall, there are some elements we really like, like the understanding that emotional problems often underlie drinking problems and the idea of making changes to support emotional and physical health at the same time. But we believe moderation is a viable option for some people, and it’s sometimes important to think about the past in order to figure out what went wrong along the way.
If you’ve decided to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Try the Drinker’s Helper app on the iOS app store today!
