Women For Sobriety

While Women For Sobriety has some factors in common with the more well-known 12-Step Programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, this program also has some very important differences.

image: female teen in agony from alcoholism

Women For Sobriety is a fine program for any woman who is struggling with alcohol or drug dependencies or other related problems.

The main focus of Women For Sobriety is called the "New Life" program. This includes thirteen concepts which are absolutely essential for women who are dealing with a difficult problem.

These concepts are primarily focused on the woman's need to gain self-acceptance, self-esteem, and self-empowerment.

While concepts such as "the past is over," and "I am in charge of my own life," may seem like little more than basic common sense to most people, for women who have battled alcoholism, drug addiction, or other life-encompassing problems, they are facts of life which must be newly learned.

Women For Sobriety teaches women that they are not helpless, that they do not need to be victimized, and that they are indeed strong, competent human beings!

In addition to alcohol-related pancreatitis, heart disease, cancer, and liver disease, excessive drinking over time is also associated with the following health conditions: infertility, irritated stomach lining and bleeding from stomach ulcers, obesity, nerve damage, vitamin deficiency, skin problems, muscle disease, sexual problems, epilepsy, and loss of brain cells.

In addition to the relevance of these concepts, the way that they are presented is equally important. Unlike the more widely-known programs, which grant a most significant part of a person's ability to recover or "heal," Women For Sobriety's New Life program urges women to take on that role themselves.

Although other program members are there for each other, the theme is that each person's ability to "heal" and recover is within herself, rather than having the program, group, or individuals become yet a different dependency.

As many people who leave their drug or alcohol dependencies behind, but only to substitute dependency on their program, it is easy to see why Women For Sobriety has a much better approach.

Possible drinking and driving prevention measures include suspending or revoking driver licenses, increasing penalties such as fines or jail for drunk driving, impounding or immobilizing vehicles, mandating alcohol education, impounding or confiscating vehicle plates, enforcing open container bans, and establishing DWI courts.

In helping women to gain a sense of self-empowerment, Women For Sobriety presents the opportunity for independence which many women have never had before.

As most alcoholics and addicts find it very easy to trade one dependency for another, look to other people to provide such a degree of input and support in their everyday lives that they are never in the position of learning how to stand on their own, and often become quite adept at using their pasts as an excuse for the present day, Women For Sobriety aims to help women deter from such negative patterns and achieve true independence.

Don't drink and drive and don't ride with anyone who has too much to drink. Remember, it is usually the drivers themselves and their passengers who are harmed by drunk drivers. The risk of collision for high drivers with a high blood alcohol concentration is dramatically higher than for a non-drinking driver.

For many women, hearing that she is in charge of herself and in charge of her own life is a brand-new concept!

To hear that one no longer needs to rehash and rehash the past, nor to lean on other people to get through each point in everyday life, can be a very freeing and exhilarating experience!

In Women For Sobriety, a person will learn that she can tackle and beat her addictions and other related problems-- and that it is within her own ability to do so.

In Women For Sobriety, a person will learn that when she has done so, the question she should then ask herself is "This is your life: what do you want to do with it?"

In Canada, an estimated 4% of the population over the age of 15 is dependent on alcohol and there are twice as many male alcoholics as female alcoholics. The highest rate of alcoholism in Canadians occurs between the ages of 20 and 24. In Canadian surveys, about 20% of the current and former drinkers stated that their alcoholic drinking negatively affected them, usually affecting their finances or their jobs.