Is an online recovery group enough support?

Has anyone relied only on online group recovery and found that helpful or do you also have a real life support group/sponsor/therapist?

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I use all four. I’m in a 12 step program in real life, I have a sponsor there, I’m seeing a therapist, and I use this community to help me stay sober.

This app and community are wonderful and certainly helpful. For me it doesn’t replace face to face meetings though. For me this is a supplement. I know finding a group can be challenging, especially for rural folks, but I’ve found in person help to be very powerful.

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I agree w Mike. I would try to find as many support tools/outlets as possible. Think of it as tools in your sobriety toolbox.

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I do a lot of online Forums because I’m disabled and helps me out a lot because I can’t get to meetings and there’s always someone there to talk to it helped me out quite a bit this weekend my father is a drinker and my drug of choice is alcohol I live with my father and he makes it extremely difficult to stay sober but because of these online forums and online meetings it makes it a little easier to stay clean because I know someone is there listening even if they’re not physically there I know there listening

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Each person has to walk their own path. Despite our common interests in living healthier lives, everyone in the forum has different needs, tolerances and mental outlooks on sobriety. We all share common goals, but there are different paths to take and as @Ready pointed out, these are all tools in the tool box. For some, meetings are absolutely essential…without AA or some of the other face2face support groups, they would be at a complete loss in their sobriety.

This online forum is my support group. I don’t do meetings and don’t intend to at this point in my life. That could change, if it does, I will be open to it. I have gone to a couple counseling sessions…that’s all it took for me to realize what I need to do. I will likely go to a counselor on a semi annual basis, just to get an annual “tune-up” …aside from that, exercise and meditation are my therapy tools. I have been on meds for a short period, but am currently weaning off of those.

You really have to pick what works for YOU. Some people need all of those tools, some maybe one or two of them, depending on circumstances in life, those tools may come in and out of the tool box as needed. I don’t think there is a one size fits all answer to that question. If it works and it’s healthy, by all means do it.

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Hi! I’m attending two AA meetings per week and one NA meeting because police got my driving card :slight_smile: They are definitely helpfull for me.

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I’m using this Forum only 'cause I live in a small town and we don’t have any kind of groupmeetings here.

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As stated, everyones recovery path is different. Ones need may not be another’s.

For me and i can only speak for me. I feel that face to face contact is essential for me. For instance online, is kind of like texting. You never know the emotion behind the comment. Sometimes things are taken the wrong way, and vice versa. I can say yea, im okay and really not be. And no one would ever know. Id be driving myself crazy and no one would ever know. But if they saw me at a meeting or something, theyd know immediately something was off. Way off most likely. I learned to lie and cover all that messed up shit, ya know. And today i know great people that can actually help me through hard times. But theres also a little voice in my head that says, no one cares, dont bother them with that, your inconveniencing them. And in reality were not… just our disease talking… but the internet doesnt remind me of that, but people do.
So for me, online is not enough!
When i first got into recovery. I was really sick! I needed help bad! I needed people and a face to face sponsor so they could call me on my shit. I needed that from people.
Also this was commented earlier, but in recovery, ive gained many tools and ways to help me stay sober on the daily. Online is just 1 tool. I cant build a house w just 1 tool. I need multiple tools to keep it standing. Make sense? Hope my experience can help.

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Thanks all for comments. I work a demanding sched on second shift so any kind of group meeting is a challenge. I do have a therapist but have not yet revealed to her the extent of my drinking. I am a high functioning anonymous drinker. I have intended to tell her at my nxt appt.

This app is great and it really is helpful to be reminded through the honesty of others … I do not isolate socially but I do isolate and hide how much and how often I get drunk. It is way time to Be my Best Optimum Self which means living sober. As I review my alcohol habit from the time of my adolesence, whenever I allow alcohol in my life it always, always results in me developing a daily habit that grows and grows. Progressive disease for sure.

Moderation does not work.for me. I did my research in several studies over a period of years with the same results! :slight_smile:

I am once again breaking up with alcohol and embracing a sober way of life.

First grandbaby due in May and they will be living with me so there is also that consideration …I wanna be a sober in the moment Grandma!

Grateful to find this group. I look forward to mutual encouragement and fellowship despite the limitations of online communication.

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Great analogy… def the right set of tools in any project makes it doable and easier !

When i got sober there wasnt any internet as we know it to day ,changed days

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That awareness and honesty is huge…well done!!

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I use a lot of different sources and they all seem to help me. Sometimes I go on this 20 times a day, if I’m able to get to a meeting I’ll go to those as well. All of my friends and family know that I’m trying to stay sober so I look to them for help too. I can’t really rely on just one thing. I look for support everywhere in my life and I think it’s really helped me. Everyone’s very understanding which at first I was scared they wouldn’t be but they are. I guess having many forms of support also allows me to see different perspectives that I didn’t think of before.

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Ive heard people say it has been a help if you cant get to a meeting. Perhaps not regularly??? Im going to try it out!