We examine the 4th Tradition, Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or NA as a whole. What does the Fourth Tradition actually tell us? When does Tradition Four say we have crossed the line into what affects other groups or NA as a whole? Is there any clear lines drawn in the sand about what groups can and cannot do? We further explore the idea that some consider virtual meetings to not be actual groups because they do not have a meeting place. Is the internet a place? In the end, we come to an understanding that Tradition 4 is less about setting the rules for what groups can and can't do, but more about while groups are practicing their autonomy to self-govern, it's imperative that they remember the second part of the tradition, to maintain the focus of practicing principles to not make anyone else's life worse. This tradition is all about part two, to keep in mind how our actions can possibly harm others. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

When the medical system is set up to see as many people as possible, and attempts to combat the opioid epidemic by shaming anyone who uses substances, what options do we have to help those in the community? How about taking vigilante nursing to them? We talk with Jason B. to find out what exactly he does in his work. Jason fills us in on why he got into helping the substance use community, how he goes to their houses and provides education on how to take care of wounds, and advises people on if they need to visit the hospital or not. Jason uses care and compassion to help those in the area who have found care and compassion to be highly lacking in the medical community. Jason also informs us about best practices for preventing the need for wound care, how he has changed his mind about harm reduction, and how he believes the medical field needs to be built again from the ground up to actual meet it's original goals of helping people. Listen in and learn all about vigilante nursing and renegade wound care in our modern society. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

When is it okay to make fun of people? In a spiritual program, when do we stop to consider what the line is and if we have crossed it? Can we make fun of people we are close to? Can we make fun of people who will never know about it, and therefore not be hurt by it? Are there certain topics that aren't okay to joke about? Is there a universal line about what is allowed to be laughed at and what isn't funny, or do we each draw our own line? If we have ever made fun of anyone, laughed at a joke about someone, or even watched a comedy show, can we claim the high ground when we think someone has crossed our personal line? We invite Chris B on to help us explore the rules around jokes. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

We examine tradition 3, the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using. What does this actually mean in the 12 step fellowship world? Are we becoming members of the program, or of the fellowship? What does this mean about how we treat people at our meetings? Is everyone truly welcome there? Are we also free to leave at any time we don't want to be there? How does this apply to the influx of persons on medication assisted treatment or harm reduction methods? Are they just as welcome? Do we have the right to ask them not to share if we consider them to have used that day? We address all these questions as we talk about the third tradition. We also talk about how this might look if we applied this tradition to the government level. How do the principles of tradition three carry over into our outside lives? Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

We have Jenny on to talk about being non-anonymous. Jenny recently decided to tell the world of her substance use history, and the fact that she is in recovery. We talk about what led up to her making the decision to let her world know that she identifies as having struggled with alcohol, and as someone who no longer drinks. Jenny tells us about what made now the right time to make the decision to tell everyone. We also discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of exposing this part of herself to the world. We also explore recommendations, as someone who just outed themselves, for the process of how to go about it, what things to consider first, and what implications it might have in your life. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

Jenny has previously been on our episode about Recovery Dharma and a cohost on our episode about Adult Children of Alcoholics. We also talk about our Stigma episode. 

We invite Carlos H onto the show to talk about his experiences with drug policy, advocacy, and activism in the Baltimore recovery community. Carlos has been deeply involved in policy work since he first found recovery. He has been involved in many organizations in Maryland, in different ways trying to improve the recovery scene to help save lives. Today we focus on the struggles with recovery housing, how grant funding seems to end up in the hands of for-profit treatment centers instead of non-profit community organizations, and how policy has failed to solve the problems in minority communities. Carlos also explores what it will take for change to happen in communities of color. Listen in as we celebrate all the work Carlos has done for the recovery community with Maryland Recovery Organization Connecting Communities, Light Street Housing Corporation, Citizens Planning and Housing Association, Maryland Chapter of National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems,  Maryland’s State Drug and Alcohol Council, and is currently working at Dee's Place. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

We invite Kassandra Frederique, the Executive Director at Drug Policy Alliance and Tracie Gardner, Vice President of Policy Advocacy at Legal Action Center to help us explore the war on drugs through the lens of racial justice. We learn about the beginnings of drug policy, which started out punishing only the mode of opium use that was popular among Asian immigrants, the progression to the politics of Nixon changing his stance from one of therapeutic interventions to one of tough on crime during his run for presidency, the devastation the Rockefeller Drug Laws had on communities, and how the modern day war on drugs has seeped into every government system, as a form of controlling minorities. Kassandra and Tracie excellently explain how each governmental system has it's own version of the war on drugs, how professional health care has abandoned helping persons with mental health, and how the system continues to exclude people of color. The conversation further goes into how the systems that started out as discriminatory toward race, have further taken on discriminatory attitudes toward class, only leaving the wealthy in our society not impacted by it. In celebration of Black History Month, we acknowledge the impact these systems have had on the vulnerable minority population, and celebrate how amazing humans such as Kassandra and Tracie are leading the charge of policy reform to create a better landscape so that future generations won't have to be negatively impacted in the same ways and so we can create a safe and healing environment for all. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

To learn more about Drug Policy Alliance, go here: https://drugpolicy.org/

To learn more about Legal Action Center, go here: https://www.lac.org/

Tradition 2: “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority— a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern." We talk about the difference between group conscience and group opinion. We explore the idea that spiritual principles can never be in conflict. We mention that we have to pick the right person for the individual job, not just the person we like the most. We mention how egos and personalities can get in the way of group conscious, and our responsibility to the group to clear our ego out of the way before proceeding with a vote. We try to extend the principles and concepts of tradition 2 into the family, community, and government levels as to how it might look if we practiced it there. Further, we explore whether we would be better parents and partners if we led by example and with humility versus leading by dictating. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

We explore Sexaholics Anonymous (SA), Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA), and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) this week. We look at what each defines as acting out behavior, and what each program defines as sobriety or sexual clean time. We talk about SAA's 3 circles concept, and similarly, SLAA's idea of top and bottom lines. We give some descriptions of what sex or love addiction can look like in your life, to give you some new ways to examine your own life to see if you might qualify. Ritualistic masturbation, seeking comfort from emotionally unavailable partners, and other attention seeking behaviors often go unnoticed in our society or are made out to be normal behaviors. Finally, we answer some of the questions on SLAA's quiz to see if a person identifies with some of the behaviors and feelings of a sex and love addict. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.

To take the SLAA quiz for yourself, go here: https://slaafws.org/40-questions

To take the SAA quiz, go here: https://saa-recovery.org/am-i-a-sex-addict/self-assessment/

This year we are going to examine the traditions and how they apply to life inside and outside the 12 step program life. Sounds incredibly boring, for sure, but hopefully we can find connections and ways to make it interesting. We explore themes such as "does having a singular purpose in our program ensure unity?", "can you have unity without having a common goal?", "is unity a spiritual principle, or the outcome of working spiritual principles?" and "is there a time when it makes more sense to not act in unity?" How often have you thought about the goals or purpose of your family? Or your community? Or country? Amazing that we don't ever consider what the goal or purpose of our family is, much less what other members of our families think the goal or purpose is, and what goal or purpose actually unites us. Maybe this is why family units struggle to find unity, they are all working towards a different goal. Listen in and see if you agree with the idea of how unity works. Join the conversation by leaving a message, emailing us at [email protected],  or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or find us on our website at www.recoverysortof.com.