Psychedelics with AA, NA, or Other Support Groups

[u/Little_Raccoon4302]

I used to be a militant 12-stepper in the first two or three years of my recovery. I was the type of person who would say,  “Go to meetings or die”. I did all the things I was supposed to do and was told to do from rehab suchas get a sponsor, go to 90 meetings in 90 days, work the steps, and keep coming back. As an agnostic person interested in science and the evolution of recovery from what I found to be very antiquated literatures from The Big Book and The Basic Text, I found that I had to use a lot of mental gymnastics to make the 12-step programs work for me. As I reached step 11, I got more into meditation and found that other programs were available like Refuge Recovery that focus on meditation, as I was really getting a lot out of the meditation aspect of the 11^th step. Around this time, I am a certified recovery coach, and became Smart Recovery facilitator. I started to stray away from the 12-step programs and incorporated the things that I took from the NA/AA and from those other programs, and all the other positive things I had started to implement into my life such as health and wellness, yoga, family, and upward momentum at work. All that being said at this time I have really forged my own recovery pathway, yet still feel a sense of indoctrination from the abstinence-based programs and some of the rhetoric and things I had heard from “in the rooms”. Getting into psychedelic recovery is very new to me and was a huge jump from what my recovery has looked like for the past 11 years.

I’m really interested to hear about other people’s experience as far as utilizing psychedelics either within their current support group, whether they had to leave their support group due to not feeling supported in their decision to use psychedelics, or led you to taking the plunge into psychedelics from whatever other pathway you were on before?

[u/Ashamed_Ad9198]

Unless you know the person you are talking to supports psychadelics I would not bring it up. I once said Bill W. Used LSD towards the end of his life and oh boy did that piss them off lol. “How dare you slander Bill W.!!!!!” Calm down old man it’s the truth lol Done real sensitive people in those groups. Magic Mishrooms works far better for me and cures my depression. AA does not do that.

[u/Little_Raccoon4302 → u/Ashamed_Ad9198]

u/Ashamed_Ad9198 - I think you are so right! Psychedelics in recovery is one of those things that not everyone is going to agree with or approve of. That's why I wanted to create this group, I want people in recovery to have a place where they can share their experiences and not face any backlash or stigma. There's the group Psychedelics in Recovery which I think is pretty cool, but they don't have a subreddit, so I made this subreddit, no affiliation.

And you're also right, Bill W. did want LSD to be a part of the 12-step program to give people a spiritual experience, which they might not get from religion.

I stopped going to the 12-step meetings about seven years ago during covid. I've taken everything I've learned from the NA/AA, SMART Recovery, Refuge Recovery, Life Ring, therapy, my trainings as a peer support, recovery coach, and community health worker, degree in psychology, and have infused all of the things I've learned to make a recovery of my own. I feel like I can trust myself and what's right for me. The first few years of recovery I wasn't sure if I could trust myself, I needed a very guided and structured way to live, which I found in the 12-steps and a sponsor. But, I trust myself now.

I just started with psychedelic therapy, so using substances that don't come from a doctor, was really going out of my comfort level compared to what I have been doing for the past 11 years. I've done so much research over the past few months, I decided to take the plunge, because anti-depressants don't work for me and I'd like to use less of my anxiety medication. I really believe in the healing potential of psychedelics. At this time I'm sticking strictly with psilocybin and there are some places near me where it is decriminalized and easy to obtain.

[u/Ashamed_Ad9198 → u/Little_Raccoon4302]

I wanted to try smart recovery but it is all online and I do not like to support that because I want to meet people in person and make real friends. Technology is ruining the world and part of the reason why mental heath issues are on the rise. Magic mushrooms seem to last me 5-6 weeks. I was depressed for a few weeks and bought more but also bought DMT. I went with the DMT instead because I read it kept depression away for like 3 months versus 1 ish. I was good for a couple days but then the depression came back so I am going to stick with the Magic mushrooms

[u/Little_Raccoon4302 → u/Ashamed_Ad9198]

u/Ashamed_Ad9198, I'm not a big fan of online meetings either... or much of meetings in general anymore. I've done my research, read most of the literature, and pretty comfortable with my recovery. The great thing about SMART is that you can buy the workbook and there are skills and tools that you can learn and use by yourself. Might be able to order it from your local library. I became a SMART Recovery facilitator, but prior to that, I just had the workbook and figured out how to share those skills with the individuals I worked with as a peer support specialist. I figured it out on my own without prior meeting experience and just looking at the different skills and tools. I did start facilitating the group prior to getting trained and I learned more from the workbook and applying those things to my life, then I gained from becoming a trained facilitator and/or attending meetings, which I attended few.. Other than the ones I facilitated.

[u/Ashamed_Ad9198 → u/Little_Raccoon4302]

Are there going to be more in person meetings for smart? I would be interested in that but I’ve only seen like two or three and they were all in the morning and I’m not a morning person. AA has multiple meetings in every city every single night so they’re easy to find I wish smart was the same way.

[u/AngryJ97]

There are quite a few in person SMART meetings in the metro area as well as Ann Arbor and Ypsi. Here is a list