Subject: News & Views: March 2022

Celebrating Women in Recovery

Dr. Nora Volkow to Speak

Advancing Pragmatic Approaches to Addiction Treatment and Recovery

SMART Recovery is pleased to announce that Nora Volkow, MD will be the inaugural speaker for the new Jonathan von Breton Memorial Lecture Series, a new event featuring leaders in the recovery community.

Wednesday, April 6th at 4:00 p.m. ET

Dr. Volkow is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. NIDA is the world’s largest funder of research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. A pioneer in using brain imagery to counter myths that drug use was a moral failing, Volkow recently made a splash with an article in Health Affairs titled “Making Addiction Treatment More Realistic and Pragmatic: The Perfect Should Not Be the Enemy of the Good.” We expect her lecture to build on the themes in that article.

The event is free with registration.

Registration closes April 3rd at 11:59 p.m. ET. The Zoom/YouTube Livestream link will be emailed the week of the event.

Guest Blog

The Women Leading in Recovery

As all of us at SMART Recovery celebrate Women’s History Month, it’s a wonderful opportunity to highlight the amazing leadership and accomplishments of so many talented and dedicated women in the addiction sciences, treatment, STEM, and public policy fields.

Their accomplishments are even more impressive when you consider that the playing field was not always a level one. Ivy League Universities did not admit female students until 1969. Yale didn’t grant a woman a B.A. Degree in Physics until 1978. That woman, Eileen Pollack, has written an eye-opening book on the subject of why women have traditionally been underrepresented in STEM called The Only Women in the Room.

But times have, and are, changing - and women’s leadership in the addiction and recovery fields is more evident and important than ever. Here are just a few of the amazing women working in these fields as scientists, therapists, and authors - all making substantial contributions to the quest to better understand and treat addiction.

facilitator Spotlight

Kristal Field

Kristal Field completed the SMART Recovery facilitator training program in 2021 and is now one class away from obtaining her masters in health administration. Facilitating a SMART Recovery meeting every week continues to teach her valuable lessons and allows her the chance to give back and serve her community. She is so grateful to have the support she needs and looks forward to having the opportunity to grow the SMART Recovery network.

Watch Now

Podcast

Finding the Woman Connection

Loretta Billingsley has been working in the media industry since the 1980’s and still loves what she does to this day. Another thing she loves is facilitating the SMART Women’s meeting on Saturday mornings. Loretta knows the personal growth and connections formed during those meetings have helped change lives, and for that she is grateful. In this podcast, she talks about her four levels of collective sharing, using practices instead of tools, and much more.

Listen Now

Life beyond Addiction

Shardae Sharpe

Shardae Sharpe started college at 15 years old. Not having parental control and mental maturity, she began drinking alcohol. Her substance use continued all while she was struggling with school and relationship issues. Her path to recovery didn’t start with SMART, but through her job at Sober Grid, she has learned the program and is now taking the facilitator training course.

Watch Now

NAADAC Webinar

Dual Diagnosis in Women: Diagnosis,
Self-Harm, & Treatment

SMART strives to bring timely, content rich articles and information to our community from a variety of sources.

This webinar is designed to expand the knowledge of clinicians who work with the female population. Women are at a higher risk for developing a dual diagnosis. However, they are less likely to seek treatment due to the fear and stigma involved in receiving treatment. Women are also more likely to be misdiagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. This mistake, therefore results in improper treatment and often times a relapse. In addition, women experience higher rates of self-harm behavior. Unisex treatment centers are often times not equipped or trained to treat special areas of women issues, which include childhood trauma and abuse, resulting in poor success rates. Proper training and understanding of women’s issues can increase success rates and sobriety in women.

The webinar is free to watch.

Watch Webinar

In Other SMART News

It's Time to Take on Addiction

Help Smash the Stigma

Take On Addiction is a 30-day challenge starting April 1^st. Participants can run, walk, cycle, or choose their own time-based activity to complete.

During the month, participants are encouraged to fundraise for SMART Recovery and help reduce the stigma associated with addictive behaviors.

Volunteers Needed

Study on Personality Type & Addiction

SMART Recovery is excited to partner with iConnectHealth to conduct a robust study determining the relationship between personality type and addiction problems, and to identify which factors may mediate that relationship. The research will also explore the potential benefit of matching mutual help groups and/or treatment orientation with personality types.

Study participants:

Must be 18+
Take the online survey in English
Have attended or currently participate in a SMART group
Will receive an individualized De-Stress Rx report which identifies your most powerful stress triggers, symptoms, and strategies for reducing stress

Join the Study - Take the Assessment

Download the Study Flyer

Insiders+ Access

Gaming Addiction is REAL

Alex received his first video game station at the age of two. His love and eventual addiction to video gaming continued throughout his life. It wasn’t until recently that Alex found SMART Recovery, and has made positive changes to his life and began managing his problematic behavior.

Watch Now

Podcast

A Trip to Psychedelic Summer Camp

Ted Perkins, aka the “Tips & Tools Guy” is a SMART facilitator and producer of our popular SMART Recovery video series including Tips & Tools for Recovery That Works, Life Beyond Addiction, Facilitator Spotlights, and more. A natural skeptic and avid humanist, he has always been open to ways to better himself, especially in his recovery. One way in which he’s done this is looking into the possible therapeutic value of psychedelic drugs. In this podcast he openly shares some of his experiences with people so they can understand the powerful impact they made in his life.

Listen Now

SMART Recovery International

expanding the Global Reach

SMART Happenings

Join the SMART Insiders+ Program

Help Us End the Addiction Epidemic

When you sign up for the SMART Insiders+ Program, your modest monthly support goes right to work helping people everywhere recover and thrive. As an Insiders, you'll receive a cool welcome package with free perks, certificate of enrollment, and have early access to free cutting-edge news, videos, podcasts, interviews, and much more!

Become more engaged. Be part of the solution. Join today!

Text INSIDERS to 41444

Join Online

Shop with SMART

Shop and Support SMART

Amazon Smile

As you're shopping online, don't forget SMART when ordering on Amazon. Select SMART Recovery USA, Inc. as your charity, and AmazonSmile will donate a portion of your eligible purchases to SMART. This also works in the app!

Start Shopping with AmazonSmile

Stay Connected