PeerGalaxy
Welcome to PeerGalaxy Calendar featuring over 99,000+ monthly offerings of FREE telephone- and online-accessible peer support, recovery support + wellness activities!
Over 30+ warmlines plus webinars, workshops, job postings, special events, consumer input opportunities and more.
WE ARE PEER FOR YOU!
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If you have an event to add, email us: webmail@peergalaxy.com
How Events are Sorted:
First, at the top of the list: SAMHSA Disaster Helpline and similar links.
Next in the list: Bundled “All Day” Events for organizations with events happening at multiple times throughout the day and/or in many formats or locations; these are bundled into a single listing to prevent endless scrolling. Usually these offer a lookup by zip code or other criteria.
Lastly, Time-Specific Events listed by start time from 12:01am early morning to 11:59pm late night. Warmlines and places east of Oregon’s time zone tend to start earlier (e.g. 4am in Oregon is 7am in New York).
Act immediately if you believe your child is missing.
Download this checklist of actions to be taken by families in the initial stages of a missing child case.
If you have any questions call the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678). If you are not located in the United States, call your country’s hotline.
NCMEC is the nation’s largest and most influential child protection organization.
We lead the fight to protect children, creating vital resources for them and the people who keep them safe.
When you call NCMEC, a Call Center specialist will record information about your child. A NCMEC case management team will next work directly with your family and the law enforcement agency investigating your case. They will offer technical assistance tailored to your case to help ensure all available search and recovery methods are used. As appropriate NCMEC case management teams:
DoD Safe Helpline is the sole secure, confidential, and anonymous crisis support service specially designed for members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault.
Safe Helpline Serves
Active Duty Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force Reserve component (Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and DHS’s Coast Guard Reserve) members and their families.
Telephone HelplineCall 877-995-5247 to be connected with a trained, confidential
Safe Helpline staff member, 24/7.
DSN users can call Safe Helpline by dialing 877-995-5247.
For those unable to call toll-free or DSN, call 202-540-5962.
OCONUS Service members can call the Telephone Helpline for free from
anywhere in the world by using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology from
theSafe Helpline App.
You can chat one-on-one with a Safe Helpline staff member
to access a range of support services including:
What is the Safe Helpline app?
The Safe Helpline app is a free mobile resource created to meet the unique needs of members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault. By downloading the app, you can access 24/7 support through Safe Helpline’s Telephone and Online Helplines, get information and resources to help address the short- and long-term effects of sexual assault, as well as practical exercises, to help you manage your self-care. We also recognize that for many survivors stationed outside of the United States (OCONUS) additional limitations may arise when accessing resources, which is why the Safe Helpline app has been designed to give survivors access to a variety of support services and self-care exercises in a free, and convenient way.
How can the Safe Helpline app help me?
We’ve designed the app to give you a way to access any resource within the app directly from the home screen.
Chat: Access one-on-one support through the Online Helpline, 24/7 and chat directly with a Safe Helpline staff member.
Call: Connect directly to a Safe Helpline staff member for one-on-one support through the Telephone Helpline, 24/7. You can choose to make the call using Voice over IP (VoIP) or by using your cellular data. Using VoIP might be a good option for Service members who are OCONUS and may not have access to cellular service in their current location.
Learn: Within this section of the Safe Helpline app, you can access our self-paced educational programs to learn how to address the effects of sexual assault, how to support a survivor and ways Safe Helpline can support you or someone you know. All of these education programs can be completed anonymously by the user. You’ll also be able to access scenarios to give you tangible ways to step-in and support others.
Self-Care: The app allows you to easily create and use a customized self-care plan with specially designed self-care exercises. Once downloaded, you can come back to view your plan and exercises at any time, even without an Internet connection.
How do the self-care plans work?
The self-care plan is created by answering a series of six questions designed to help you focus and identify how you are feeling at that moment. Questions are answered on a sliding scale of zero (never) to five (always), and the app will recommend different exercises based on your responses. There are no “good” or “bad” answers to these questions, and responses can vary from day to day, depending on how you are feeling.
Once you’ve answered the questions on the plan, the app will suggest self-care exercises. The exercises include:
We recognize the importance of keeping your information safe, so we’ve also set up a security feature that allows you to lock your self-care plans behind a privacy wall using a 6-digit pin of your choosing.
Journaling:
The Safe Helpline app allows you to journal directly in the app with weekly prompts. Taking some time out of your week to journal can give you a moment for reflection and an opportunity for self-care. You can also choose to skip any prompts or just write freely depending on how you are feeling. Some of the questions include:
Like the self-care plans, the journal entries you save are protected by a privacy wall and will allow you to lock your information behind a 6-digit pin of your choosing. You can also access and refer back to your journal without an Internet connection.
Coloring Book:
Sometimes focusing on a mindless activity can help you process difficult emotions and be grounded in the present. To help with this, another self-care activity available on the app is a collection of six designs, ranging from easy to difficult, that allow you to paint or color your own works of art.
How is the Safe Helpline app secure, and is activity on the app traceable by third parties?
As with all Safe Helpline services, your privacy is of utmost importance, and the technology behind the Safe Helpline app was created by RAINN to protect your safety and anonymity by ensuring that no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.
The following precautions have been implemented to protect your privacy when using the app:
While Safe Helpline has taken the steps outlined above to help increase the safety and anonymity of Safe Helpline app users, please remember that if you are using the app on a DoD or other work-related device, your employer may be able to track your usage of this app. In addition, similarly to a paper journal, Safe Helpline app journal entries may be admissible during court proceedings.
REPORT RETALIATION
Parent Stress Line
1-800 – 632 – 8188
Call our Parent Stress Line any time and any day of the week
if you need to vent about the stress from taking care of a child or children. 18006328188
A Kids Book About School Shootings
Crystal Woodman Miller
Many of us are going to need to find the words to talk to the kids in our lives about tragic events like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Here’s a free resource from A Kids Company About to help you do that was written by Crystal Woodman-Miller, one of the survivors of the Columbine school shooting.
I hate that we need tools like this. I can’t wait for us to have to write the book “A Kids Book About Why It’s So Hard To Buy A Gun”
Link: www.akidsco.com
There aren’t enough words to explain all the thoughts, emotions, and heartbreak that comes with yesterday’s tragedy in Uvalde. We hope this book helps everyone start somewhere.
We’re making #AKidsBookAboutSchoolShootings free for kids, grownups, and educators everywhere, so that this conversation can get started when it matters most.
FREE DOWNLOAD
A Kids Book About School Shootings by Crystal Woodman Miller:
Link: akidsco.com
ARCH does not provide respite care, but we may be able to help you find it in your local community through your State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Program or through resources listed below, including State Provider Registries or the Eldercare Locator.
If you cannot find respite through the resources listed above, we also maintain the National Respite Locator Service (NRLS), which helps parents, family caregivers, and professionals find respite services in their state and local area to match their specific needs. The NRLS lists primarily home care agencies, assisted living, or state or community-based agencies that provide respite care. If you find that a listing is out of date or no longer providing respite care, please contact ARCH.
If you have a respite program or service you would like to list on the NRLS, please visit the respite provider portal.
If your state has a State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Care Program, be sure to contact them first for information about respite providers or ways to pay for respite.
Brown Mamas – Pittsburgh & U.S. – Brown Mamas, Inc. has been around for seven years in the Pittsburgh region. Brown Mamas began in the living room of Muffy Mendoza. What started as 5 moms has grown to over 4000 Our mamas love our Pittsburgh chapter so much that we are expanding. If you are mom who is ready to not just find her tribe, but to inspire other mothers and be the change she wants to see in her community, click here to learn more about starting your own Brown Mamas chapter.
Black Moms Connect – Canada & U.S.
Mommin’ Society – North Carolina & Online
Moms of Black Boys United – Atlanta & Online
Moms Make It Work – NYC
Mocha Moms, Inc. – U.S. (seriously, everywhere)
Whine & Cheese – 27 Chapters in U.S. (including D.C., PA, South Carolina, New York, etc.)
Motherwork by Mater Mea – NYC
Beautiful Brown Girls Brunch Club – New Jersey
District Motherhued’s DMV MomTribe – D.C. Metro Area
Soul Food for Your Baby – Hawthorne, Calif.
Black Moms Blog Events – Atlanta, GA
Birthing Beautiful Communities – Cleveland, OH
Tessera Collective – Online, Self-Care Support
Melanin Mommies – Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle –
Black Stay-At-Home Mom Village
Black Moms in College & Beyond
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
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Dial by your location
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+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83671786251# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,83671786251# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
Use the link below to get more information about local groups and a notification when a local meeting is started. Due to the COVID pandemic, most meetings are currently held in an outdoor setting or online.
| Oregon | Contact |
| Bend, OR | bend@cgaa.info |
| Eugene, OR | eugene@cgaa.info |
| Medford, OR | medford@cgaa.info |
| Portland, OR | portland@cgaa.info |
| Salem, OR | salem@cgaa.info |
Video gaming is a common pastime. To many people, it is surprising that it can become a serious addiction, that is, an activity that is engaged in compulsively, without control or concern for consequences.
Video gaming addiction is a very serious problem that is harmful to everyone it touches. Since everyone involved suffers from it, everyone involved needs some help. Here are some important things to know.
First, no one is responsible for someone else’s compulsive gaming. As the Al-Anon slogan goes, “I didn’t cause it, I can’t control it, and I can’t cure it.”
Some people partly blame themselves for the dysfunctional behavior of their family members, particularly with addicts who are very quick to shift responsibility off themselves and blame others. Perhaps you played games with your loved one, purchased games, or encouraged it, thinking it was a harmless leisure activity. Maybe you’ve been involved in some conflict and wonder if that has driven him or her to hide away in gaming. But no one is responsible for another person’s behavior or mental disorders.
You may have already tried to talk to your friend or family member. Perhaps you have bargained with them, or given ultimatums. You have tried to help them see what damage they are doing to themselves and others. And none of it has worked. This is baffling to you. Why don’t they seem to understand or care? Why can’t they see what is obvious to you? This is actually a symptom of the disease of addiction, one that destines efforts for control to failure.
We all would like to believe that we have the ability to help those we love. We often think that if we can just get the right information, figure out the right thing to say or do, perhaps change something about ourselves, we can fix the problem. People should be able to solve their own problems. Why can’t we do that with this one? There is a simple reason. There is no cure for addiction. It requires treatment. The recovery process is long and difficult. And there is only one person who can start that process, the one who is gaming compulsively. There are things you can do. Here are some suggestions that you may want to consider, that other family members and friends have found helpful.
The literature of recovery fellowships for family and friends of addicts (such as Al-Anon) has much helpful guidance, some of which is available online as well. There are people who have been in situations very similar to yours, who have learned much from them, and who are willing to share the lessons learned, their experience, strength and hope. We hope you avail yourself of such resources.
Putting energy into arguing with someone who is playing compulsively will not help either of you. Your loved one has a serious problem that you are powerless to control or cure, and that they will not get help until they want it. As much as you love someone, you cannot force this process on another person.
Paradoxically, at the same time people are arguing with, bargaining with or shaming a compulsive gamer, they are often (perhaps without realizing it) supporting the addiction in many ways. Anything that shields an addict from the consequences of his or her behavior is enabling, and can include such basic things as providing food, shelter, money, companionship, housekeeping, and covering for employment and legal difficulties. Helping a compulsive gamer keep up an appearance of normalcy is helping him or her continue in the destructive behavior. While you cannot change him or her, you can make changes for yourself. You can shift your energy away from enabling behaviors and toward meeting your own needs.
Whether or not your loved one ever stops gaming, you deserve to have a healthy and happy life. Once you have accepted that you are powerless over their gaming behavior, you can begin to focus on what you can do for yourself, to accomplish your own goals. With the help of others who have been where you are, you can learn to set healthy boundaries and stick to them.
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One of the things we were trying to do with our gaming was meet some basic needs. If we do not meet those needs in normal healthy ways, we will suffer much stronger urges to game again. Some basic needs to cover are social needs, self expression, creativity, a sense of challenge and accomplishment, stress relief, a sense of purpose and meaning, and a sense of safety through control and predictability.
Here are some ideas for activities that will help meet these needs, reduce cravings, help with recovery from addiction, and fill some of the hours freed from compulsive gaming.
Please don’t let the length of this list overwhelm you. The idea is not to start ten new things and try to change everything all at once. We seek small bits of progress, not perfection. A good place to start is to put first things first. What need is currently most important? What’s right in front of me? What opportunity has come my way recently? If we take steps of small improvement with one or two areas each day, we are moving in the right direction.
If you are in your first week or two off of games, it’s likely that few of these ideas will appeal to you. That’s normal. Until our minds and bodies have some time to heal, we have low interest, energy, and motivation. This list will probably not give you something that you can plug in place of video games and immediately throw yourself into with the same zeal. This list is meant to help us explore new ways of spending our time, meeting our needs, and connecting with people. Find a few that hold some appeal and try taking some small steps in their direction. If you can’t seem to think of anything fun to do except game, you can come back to this list, find the most appealing thing, and just take a couple of little steps in its direction.
Consider setting reminders for yourself or keeping a schedule of your time and new activities. It is important to appreciate the small victories of exercising willpower, regaining motivation, and socializing. It helps to discuss our progress and the challenges we experience with a CGAA sponsor, recovery buddy, personal counselor, or therapist.
It is normal to think that nothing but gaming sounds fun. For most of us, our years of compulsive gaming warped and narrowed our idea of fun. As small children, it meant almost anything new or interesting or social or even mildly rewarding. Years of pulling the dopamine lever with video games changed our concept of fun to require instant gratification, frequent rewards, clear and constant progress, excitement, intense visuals, control, and/or predictability.
Part of recovery is letting our concept of fun expand back outward to a wide world of possible new challenges and experiences, many of which are calm and subtle compared to video games. It takes time to overcome withdrawals and heal from the damage, but the change does happen if we abstain from all gaming long term and focus on new pursuits and improving our lives. This list has many activities that do not meet the old, narrow, warped idea of “fun,” but those of us who persist at exploring them do find many to be gratifying and enjoyable.
Take, for example, a hike up a mountain. To a group of hikers excited to venture into the wilderness with friends and see wildlife and panoramic views from on high, all while getting a great workout, it’s a ton of fun. To someone who is uninterested in hiking, out of shape, and focused on every little unpleasant aspect of it, it’s a torturous death march. It is exactly the same hike in either case. The difference is in the attitude and conditioning.
The same is true with every item of these lists. Whether or not an activity sounds fun or torturous depends entirely upon attitude and conditioning. Every one of them has the potential to be gratifying and enjoyable if we adopt a positive attitude, try to have fun, and persist at it, especially when we involve friends and like-minded people.
While CGAA does not endorse and is not officially connected with the following groups, we believe that friends and family may be able to connect with others and find helpful resources. They can provide guidance on dealing with addiction in general, on healing from its effects, and on how to go about building a recovery fellowship. Meetings are available in many places. Al-Anon, Nar-Anon and CoDA each has its own recovery literature.
The Gamer-Anon fellowship is for parents, spouses, and other family to support each other in dealing with compulsive video gaming within the family.
The Al-Anon fellowship has existed since 1951 for the family and friends of alcoholics. As the oldest and most well attended of the fellowships for family and friends, its members have a wide breadth and depth of experience to share on living with addicts and healing from the ill effects and dysfunctional patterns.
The Nar-Anon fellowship has existed since 1968 for the family and friends of those suffering from addiction.
Co-Dependents Anonymous has existed since 1986 and is a fellowship of men and women whose common purpose is to develop healthy relationships.
This group is in e-mail format. Participants send and receive e-mail to take part in discussions. You can receive your posts all together, in one delivery each day, or you can receive them one-by-one, as they are sent.
The choice is yours. It’s fun, easy, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To join, complete the form below and click the submit button.
Subscribe to Caregiver-Online
You can subscribe to Caregiver-online by following this link and completing the form. After completing the Subscription form you will email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. This is a hidden list, which means that the list of members is available only to the list administrator.
To subscribe, Use this Link and complete the subscription form online:
http://lists.caregiver.org/mailman/listinfo/caregiver-online_lists.caregiver.org
Using Caregiver-online
To post a message to all the list members, send email to caregiver-online@lists.caregiver.org. Be sure to subscribe first!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/familyrecoverysupport
Online Child Abuse Survivors Forums and Live Chat Room
isurvive is all about the members. Our collective aim is to offer support to each other from our hearts and through our experiences.
After you have completed our automated registration process to become a member (visit the forum for the registration link), you will be contacted by one of our Admin Team who will guide you through the final steps. We make every effort to ensure that those joining are fully aware of our guidelines and to be on hand to help ease their way into our community.
We have 8 parent forums:
In addition to select sub-forums which are open for reading, you will gain access to the following supplementary ones by becoming a member of isurvive:
Register to Join Our Forums and Chat Room
We also have a chat room, to which you can request access following a minimum of 2 weeks’ active participation on the forums.
Here you can seek support via real time connection through real time interactions.
Once inside the chat room, you will see a list of the members currently online. To chat, users type a message into a text box. The message is almost immediately visible in the larger communal message area, and other users respond.
Please know that, as a team, we are here to help and can be contacted at any time as follows:
The Directors:
The Board of Directors:
Please read through our Forum Guidelines, Terms and Conditions, Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability, Privacy Policy, and Chat Guidelines
Thursdays, 7-8:00AM PST
Please call or emai lthe group for login information:
205-433-9965, 205-587-5682
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
Gratitude For Serenity
Wednesdays, 10:00amPST
Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82700651732?pwd=R3VZbGtQYmZ0emE0Z1hLak5HR294Zz09
Meeting ID: 827 0065 1732
Passcode: 413234
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
Safe Haven
Wednesdays, 10:00amPST
Zoom Meeting ID – 858 90 538 219
Password – peace4U
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
Families Anonymous Virtual Group 1833
Wednesdays, 11-12PM PST
CONTACT
email: sbrown67@shaw.ca
ZOOM MEETING LINK:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4385180332?pwd=QmJmM2IzOWlXR1JJWUx2aHhvRzRudz09
Meeting ID: 438 518 0332
Passcode: faworks
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
“How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics”
(the blue book) Book Study Meeting
Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88643388159?pwd=SDVvZ29uT0RIb3FabjIzV0FTYzVBdz09
Meeting ID: 886 4338 8159
Passcode: 052216
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
“How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics” (the blue book) Book Study Meeting
Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88643388159?pwd=SDVvZ29uT0RIb3FabjIzV0FTYzVBdz09
Meeting ID: 886 4338 8159
Passcode: 052216
—
a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
Wednesdays, 4-5PM PST
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85216808213?pwd=a3lQV1pjRTFlQlFueFFZdHZtMjhrdz09
One tap mobile +13017158592,,8960844390#,,1#,654646# US (Germantown)+13126266799,,8960844390#,,1#,654646# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
Thursdays, 4-5PM PST
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
Wednesdays, 4:15-5:15PM PST
To access meeting click link below from computer, tablet or smartphone:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/879603853
Click Donwnload app or Go to Opener
You can also dial in using your phone: –>
1 (571) 317-3112 879603853#
Contact Peter (609) 422-5830 or sjfa1345@gmail.com
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
NEVER ALONE RECOVERY
Online Support Group Via ZOOM
Wednesdays, 5:00PM to 6:00PM PST
What to Expect: Our meetings are a place for community members and their loved ones, as well as any other individuals, to seek information and support.
Who is Our Support Group For?
Addicts:
Individuals who suffer from addiction benefit from having a community of understanding cohorts and allies in recovery.
Spouses:
Our support groups are a great resource for addicts’ spouses to gain a better understanding and receive emotional support.
Parents:
Many of our support group attendees are parents of individuals who are either actively experiencing addiction or are at varying points in recovery.
Extended Family:
Anyone who has a loved one suffering from addiction will find invaluable support and deep understanding in those attending our meetings.
Friends:
If your friend is showing signs of addiction, our support groups are a great resource to better understand addiction and recovery.
Allies:
Know someone who’s struggling and you want to lend support? Our attendees can often provide poignant feedback and encouragement.
How to Join Our Online Support Group Meetings
To enter the lobby, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/777316787?pwd=LzBDSzdSbXB2bnRmUEl5alRpNE03UT09
Meeting ID: 777 316 787
Password: 5397
Meeting ID and password will remain the same for every meeting
Men Recovering AFG
Wednesdays, 6PM PST
ZOOM LOGIN https://us05web.zoom.us/j/83848878899?pwd=Y2JjQWxPQmJIaFhLNk1DWkphSUZQQT09
Meeting ID: 838 4887 8899
Passcode: grace
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
Growing Towards Wisdom Men’s Meeting
Wednesdays, 6:15pmPST
ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/169481444?pwd=YjVLRUZwWW9KRnIyTGRSbGJUTUhIdz09
Meeting ID: 169 481 444
Alano club of Portland 909 NW 24th Ave Portland OR 97210 NE Room both Zoom and In Person at same time.
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
H.U.G.S. 2 AFG
Wednesdays, 7:00pmPST
Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/78829388644?pwd=aWIkQaQD5JmHKnyV2waLRfjX8ribHI.1
Meeting ID: 788 2938 8644
Password: 053151
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
JUST FOR TODAY
Newcomers Welcome
Wednesdays, 7:00pmPST
Join us on Zoom by contacting justfor.today.me@gmail.com
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a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
Act immediately if you believe your child is missing.
Download this checklist of actions to be taken by families in the initial stages of a missing child case.
If you have any questions call the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678). If you are not located in the United States, call your country’s hotline.
NCMEC is the nation’s largest and most influential child protection organization.
We lead the fight to protect children, creating vital resources for them and the people who keep them safe.
When you call NCMEC, a Call Center specialist will record information about your child. A NCMEC case management team will next work directly with your family and the law enforcement agency investigating your case. They will offer technical assistance tailored to your case to help ensure all available search and recovery methods are used. As appropriate NCMEC case management teams:
DoD Safe Helpline is the sole secure, confidential, and anonymous crisis support service specially designed for members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault.
Safe Helpline Serves
Active Duty Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force Reserve component (Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and DHS’s Coast Guard Reserve) members and their families.
Telephone HelplineCall 877-995-5247 to be connected with a trained, confidential
Safe Helpline staff member, 24/7.
DSN users can call Safe Helpline by dialing 877-995-5247.
For those unable to call toll-free or DSN, call 202-540-5962.
OCONUS Service members can call the Telephone Helpline for free from
anywhere in the world by using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology from
theSafe Helpline App.
You can chat one-on-one with a Safe Helpline staff member
to access a range of support services including:
What is the Safe Helpline app?
The Safe Helpline app is a free mobile resource created to meet the unique needs of members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault. By downloading the app, you can access 24/7 support through Safe Helpline’s Telephone and Online Helplines, get information and resources to help address the short- and long-term effects of sexual assault, as well as practical exercises, to help you manage your self-care. We also recognize that for many survivors stationed outside of the United States (OCONUS) additional limitations may arise when accessing resources, which is why the Safe Helpline app has been designed to give survivors access to a variety of support services and self-care exercises in a free, and convenient way.
How can the Safe Helpline app help me?
We’ve designed the app to give you a way to access any resource within the app directly from the home screen.
Chat: Access one-on-one support through the Online Helpline, 24/7 and chat directly with a Safe Helpline staff member.
Call: Connect directly to a Safe Helpline staff member for one-on-one support through the Telephone Helpline, 24/7. You can choose to make the call using Voice over IP (VoIP) or by using your cellular data. Using VoIP might be a good option for Service members who are OCONUS and may not have access to cellular service in their current location.
Learn: Within this section of the Safe Helpline app, you can access our self-paced educational programs to learn how to address the effects of sexual assault, how to support a survivor and ways Safe Helpline can support you or someone you know. All of these education programs can be completed anonymously by the user. You’ll also be able to access scenarios to give you tangible ways to step-in and support others.
Self-Care: The app allows you to easily create and use a customized self-care plan with specially designed self-care exercises. Once downloaded, you can come back to view your plan and exercises at any time, even without an Internet connection.
How do the self-care plans work?
The self-care plan is created by answering a series of six questions designed to help you focus and identify how you are feeling at that moment. Questions are answered on a sliding scale of zero (never) to five (always), and the app will recommend different exercises based on your responses. There are no “good” or “bad” answers to these questions, and responses can vary from day to day, depending on how you are feeling.
Once you’ve answered the questions on the plan, the app will suggest self-care exercises. The exercises include:
We recognize the importance of keeping your information safe, so we’ve also set up a security feature that allows you to lock your self-care plans behind a privacy wall using a 6-digit pin of your choosing.
Journaling:
The Safe Helpline app allows you to journal directly in the app with weekly prompts. Taking some time out of your week to journal can give you a moment for reflection and an opportunity for self-care. You can also choose to skip any prompts or just write freely depending on how you are feeling. Some of the questions include:
Like the self-care plans, the journal entries you save are protected by a privacy wall and will allow you to lock your information behind a 6-digit pin of your choosing. You can also access and refer back to your journal without an Internet connection.
Coloring Book:
Sometimes focusing on a mindless activity can help you process difficult emotions and be grounded in the present. To help with this, another self-care activity available on the app is a collection of six designs, ranging from easy to difficult, that allow you to paint or color your own works of art.
How is the Safe Helpline app secure, and is activity on the app traceable by third parties?
As with all Safe Helpline services, your privacy is of utmost importance, and the technology behind the Safe Helpline app was created by RAINN to protect your safety and anonymity by ensuring that no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.
The following precautions have been implemented to protect your privacy when using the app:
While Safe Helpline has taken the steps outlined above to help increase the safety and anonymity of Safe Helpline app users, please remember that if you are using the app on a DoD or other work-related device, your employer may be able to track your usage of this app. In addition, similarly to a paper journal, Safe Helpline app journal entries may be admissible during court proceedings.
REPORT RETALIATION
Parent Stress Line
1-800 – 632 – 8188
Call our Parent Stress Line any time and any day of the week
if you need to vent about the stress from taking care of a child or children. 18006328188
A Kids Book About School Shootings
Crystal Woodman Miller
Many of us are going to need to find the words to talk to the kids in our lives about tragic events like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Here’s a free resource from A Kids Company About to help you do that was written by Crystal Woodman-Miller, one of the survivors of the Columbine school shooting.
I hate that we need tools like this. I can’t wait for us to have to write the book “A Kids Book About Why It’s So Hard To Buy A Gun”
Link: www.akidsco.com
There aren’t enough words to explain all the thoughts, emotions, and heartbreak that comes with yesterday’s tragedy in Uvalde. We hope this book helps everyone start somewhere.
We’re making #AKidsBookAboutSchoolShootings free for kids, grownups, and educators everywhere, so that this conversation can get started when it matters most.
FREE DOWNLOAD
A Kids Book About School Shootings by Crystal Woodman Miller:
Link: akidsco.com
ARCH does not provide respite care, but we may be able to help you find it in your local community through your State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Program or through resources listed below, including State Provider Registries or the Eldercare Locator.
If you cannot find respite through the resources listed above, we also maintain the National Respite Locator Service (NRLS), which helps parents, family caregivers, and professionals find respite services in their state and local area to match their specific needs. The NRLS lists primarily home care agencies, assisted living, or state or community-based agencies that provide respite care. If you find that a listing is out of date or no longer providing respite care, please contact ARCH.
If you have a respite program or service you would like to list on the NRLS, please visit the respite provider portal.
If your state has a State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Care Program, be sure to contact them first for information about respite providers or ways to pay for respite.
Brown Mamas – Pittsburgh & U.S. – Brown Mamas, Inc. has been around for seven years in the Pittsburgh region. Brown Mamas began in the living room of Muffy Mendoza. What started as 5 moms has grown to over 4000 Our mamas love our Pittsburgh chapter so much that we are expanding. If you are mom who is ready to not just find her tribe, but to inspire other mothers and be the change she wants to see in her community, click here to learn more about starting your own Brown Mamas chapter.
Black Moms Connect – Canada & U.S.
Mommin’ Society – North Carolina & Online
Moms of Black Boys United – Atlanta & Online
Moms Make It Work – NYC
Mocha Moms, Inc. – U.S. (seriously, everywhere)
Whine & Cheese – 27 Chapters in U.S. (including D.C., PA, South Carolina, New York, etc.)
Motherwork by Mater Mea – NYC
Beautiful Brown Girls Brunch Club – New Jersey
District Motherhued’s DMV MomTribe – D.C. Metro Area
Soul Food for Your Baby – Hawthorne, Calif.
Black Moms Blog Events – Atlanta, GA
Birthing Beautiful Communities – Cleveland, OH
Tessera Collective – Online, Self-Care Support
Melanin Mommies – Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle –
Black Stay-At-Home Mom Village
Black Moms in College & Beyond
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83671786251# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,83671786251# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83671786251# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,83671786251# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
Use the link below to get more information about local groups and a notification when a local meeting is started. Due to the COVID pandemic, most meetings are currently held in an outdoor setting or online.
| Oregon | Contact |
| Bend, OR | bend@cgaa.info |
| Eugene, OR | eugene@cgaa.info |
| Medford, OR | medford@cgaa.info |
| Portland, OR | portland@cgaa.info |
| Salem, OR | salem@cgaa.info |
Video gaming is a common pastime. To many people, it is surprising that it can become a serious addiction, that is, an activity that is engaged in compulsively, without control or concern for consequences.
Video gaming addiction is a very serious problem that is harmful to everyone it touches. Since everyone involved suffers from it, everyone involved needs some help. Here are some important things to know.
First, no one is responsible for someone else’s compulsive gaming. As the Al-Anon slogan goes, “I didn’t cause it, I can’t control it, and I can’t cure it.”
Some people partly blame themselves for the dysfunctional behavior of their family members, particularly with addicts who are very quick to shift responsibility off themselves and blame others. Perhaps you played games with your loved one, purchased games, or encouraged it, thinking it was a harmless leisure activity. Maybe you’ve been involved in some conflict and wonder if that has driven him or her to hide away in gaming. But no one is responsible for another person’s behavior or mental disorders.
You may have already tried to talk to your friend or family member. Perhaps you have bargained with them, or given ultimatums. You have tried to help them see what damage they are doing to themselves and others. And none of it has worked. This is baffling to you. Why don’t they seem to understand or care? Why can’t they see what is obvious to you? This is actually a symptom of the disease of addiction, one that destines efforts for control to failure.
We all would like to believe that we have the ability to help those we love. We often think that if we can just get the right information, figure out the right thing to say or do, perhaps change something about ourselves, we can fix the problem. People should be able to solve their own problems. Why can’t we do that with this one? There is a simple reason. There is no cure for addiction. It requires treatment. The recovery process is long and difficult. And there is only one person who can start that process, the one who is gaming compulsively. There are things you can do. Here are some suggestions that you may want to consider, that other family members and friends have found helpful.
The literature of recovery fellowships for family and friends of addicts (such as Al-Anon) has much helpful guidance, some of which is available online as well. There are people who have been in situations very similar to yours, who have learned much from them, and who are willing to share the lessons learned, their experience, strength and hope. We hope you avail yourself of such resources.
Putting energy into arguing with someone who is playing compulsively will not help either of you. Your loved one has a serious problem that you are powerless to control or cure, and that they will not get help until they want it. As much as you love someone, you cannot force this process on another person.
Paradoxically, at the same time people are arguing with, bargaining with or shaming a compulsive gamer, they are often (perhaps without realizing it) supporting the addiction in many ways. Anything that shields an addict from the consequences of his or her behavior is enabling, and can include such basic things as providing food, shelter, money, companionship, housekeeping, and covering for employment and legal difficulties. Helping a compulsive gamer keep up an appearance of normalcy is helping him or her continue in the destructive behavior. While you cannot change him or her, you can make changes for yourself. You can shift your energy away from enabling behaviors and toward meeting your own needs.
Whether or not your loved one ever stops gaming, you deserve to have a healthy and happy life. Once you have accepted that you are powerless over their gaming behavior, you can begin to focus on what you can do for yourself, to accomplish your own goals. With the help of others who have been where you are, you can learn to set healthy boundaries and stick to them.
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One of the things we were trying to do with our gaming was meet some basic needs. If we do not meet those needs in normal healthy ways, we will suffer much stronger urges to game again. Some basic needs to cover are social needs, self expression, creativity, a sense of challenge and accomplishment, stress relief, a sense of purpose and meaning, and a sense of safety through control and predictability.
Here are some ideas for activities that will help meet these needs, reduce cravings, help with recovery from addiction, and fill some of the hours freed from compulsive gaming.
Please don’t let the length of this list overwhelm you. The idea is not to start ten new things and try to change everything all at once. We seek small bits of progress, not perfection. A good place to start is to put first things first. What need is currently most important? What’s right in front of me? What opportunity has come my way recently? If we take steps of small improvement with one or two areas each day, we are moving in the right direction.
If you are in your first week or two off of games, it’s likely that few of these ideas will appeal to you. That’s normal. Until our minds and bodies have some time to heal, we have low interest, energy, and motivation. This list will probably not give you something that you can plug in place of video games and immediately throw yourself into with the same zeal. This list is meant to help us explore new ways of spending our time, meeting our needs, and connecting with people. Find a few that hold some appeal and try taking some small steps in their direction. If you can’t seem to think of anything fun to do except game, you can come back to this list, find the most appealing thing, and just take a couple of little steps in its direction.
Consider setting reminders for yourself or keeping a schedule of your time and new activities. It is important to appreciate the small victories of exercising willpower, regaining motivation, and socializing. It helps to discuss our progress and the challenges we experience with a CGAA sponsor, recovery buddy, personal counselor, or therapist.
It is normal to think that nothing but gaming sounds fun. For most of us, our years of compulsive gaming warped and narrowed our idea of fun. As small children, it meant almost anything new or interesting or social or even mildly rewarding. Years of pulling the dopamine lever with video games changed our concept of fun to require instant gratification, frequent rewards, clear and constant progress, excitement, intense visuals, control, and/or predictability.
Part of recovery is letting our concept of fun expand back outward to a wide world of possible new challenges and experiences, many of which are calm and subtle compared to video games. It takes time to overcome withdrawals and heal from the damage, but the change does happen if we abstain from all gaming long term and focus on new pursuits and improving our lives. This list has many activities that do not meet the old, narrow, warped idea of “fun,” but those of us who persist at exploring them do find many to be gratifying and enjoyable.
Take, for example, a hike up a mountain. To a group of hikers excited to venture into the wilderness with friends and see wildlife and panoramic views from on high, all while getting a great workout, it’s a ton of fun. To someone who is uninterested in hiking, out of shape, and focused on every little unpleasant aspect of it, it’s a torturous death march. It is exactly the same hike in either case. The difference is in the attitude and conditioning.
The same is true with every item of these lists. Whether or not an activity sounds fun or torturous depends entirely upon attitude and conditioning. Every one of them has the potential to be gratifying and enjoyable if we adopt a positive attitude, try to have fun, and persist at it, especially when we involve friends and like-minded people.
While CGAA does not endorse and is not officially connected with the following groups, we believe that friends and family may be able to connect with others and find helpful resources. They can provide guidance on dealing with addiction in general, on healing from its effects, and on how to go about building a recovery fellowship. Meetings are available in many places. Al-Anon, Nar-Anon and CoDA each has its own recovery literature.
The Gamer-Anon fellowship is for parents, spouses, and other family to support each other in dealing with compulsive video gaming within the family.
The Al-Anon fellowship has existed since 1951 for the family and friends of alcoholics. As the oldest and most well attended of the fellowships for family and friends, its members have a wide breadth and depth of experience to share on living with addicts and healing from the ill effects and dysfunctional patterns.
The Nar-Anon fellowship has existed since 1968 for the family and friends of those suffering from addiction.
Co-Dependents Anonymous has existed since 1986 and is a fellowship of men and women whose common purpose is to develop healthy relationships.
This group is in e-mail format. Participants send and receive e-mail to take part in discussions. You can receive your posts all together, in one delivery each day, or you can receive them one-by-one, as they are sent.
The choice is yours. It’s fun, easy, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To join, complete the form below and click the submit button.
Subscribe to Caregiver-Online
You can subscribe to Caregiver-online by following this link and completing the form. After completing the Subscription form you will email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. This is a hidden list, which means that the list of members is available only to the list administrator.
To subscribe, Use this Link and complete the subscription form online:
http://lists.caregiver.org/mailman/listinfo/caregiver-online_lists.caregiver.org
Using Caregiver-online
To post a message to all the list members, send email to caregiver-online@lists.caregiver.org. Be sure to subscribe first!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/familyrecoverysupport
Online Child Abuse Survivors Forums and Live Chat Room
isurvive is all about the members. Our collective aim is to offer support to each other from our hearts and through our experiences.
After you have completed our automated registration process to become a member (visit the forum for the registration link), you will be contacted by one of our Admin Team who will guide you through the final steps. We make every effort to ensure that those joining are fully aware of our guidelines and to be on hand to help ease their way into our community.
We have 8 parent forums:
In addition to select sub-forums which are open for reading, you will gain access to the following supplementary ones by becoming a member of isurvive:
Register to Join Our Forums and Chat Room
We also have a chat room, to which you can request access following a minimum of 2 weeks’ active participation on the forums.
Here you can seek support via real time connection through real time interactions.
Once inside the chat room, you will see a list of the members currently online. To chat, users type a message into a text box. The message is almost immediately visible in the larger communal message area, and other users respond.
Please know that, as a team, we are here to help and can be contacted at any time as follows:
The Directors:
The Board of Directors:
Please read through our Forum Guidelines, Terms and Conditions, Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability, Privacy Policy, and Chat Guidelines
Thursdays, 4-5:00PM PST
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
Thursdays, 5-6:00PM PST
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
Fridays, 7:30-8:30AM PST
Call 860-920-4548 for meeting and llink information
Families Anonymous celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 2021. We were formed in 1971 by a group of concerned parents in California who were seeking ways of dealing with the problem of substance abuse and addiction in their children. Our members include parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, significant others, other family members and friends of those with a current, suspected or former drug problem. We have been one of the best kept secrets in the recovery community, even though we have groups throughout the world.
Families Anonymous is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems. Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.
Your identity is protected in our meetings. We know each other by our first names only. Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program. Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.
You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger. Read on if you are ready to find the peace and serenity that our members have found through the working of the FA program.
SMART RECOVERY
Urge Talk
Facilitated by TboneDon
Thursdays, 8:30am to 10:00am PST
Cost: Free, no registration required
Program: 4-Point / Standard
SMART Recovery’s 4-Point Program is the organization’s flagship secular program serving those with an addictive behavior, including both substance and activity/process addictions. Trained volunteer facilitators lead effective mutual support group discussions on these topics:
Related tools consistent with evidence-based motivational and cognitive behavioral theories are also offered and discussed.
Specific audiences: All Welcome
Anyone fitting the purpose of the above program is welcome to join the meeting. Please read the program description to make sure it’s the right meeting for you.
Languages spoken: English
a worldwide organization that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Members give and receive comfort and understanding through a mutual exchange of experiences, strength, and hope. Sharing of similar problems binds individuals and groups together in a bond that is protected by a policy of anonymity.
a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither express opinions on outside issues nor endorse outside enterprises. No dues or fees are required. Membership is voluntary, requiring only that one’s own life has been adversely affected by someone else’s drinking problem.
Al-Anon offers hope and recovery to people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend. Help is here for the asking.
We would like to hold space for Autistic adults in Oregon who want to meet and talk with other adults about life on the spectrum. We will be reviewing books, talking about neurodiversity, and openly talking about life on the spectrum in general.
Facilitated by Shawn Sullivan, an Autistic adult and ASO Board member (See bio at LINK)
Click HERE to register for Zoom Link.
RESOURCE DIRECTORY
SMART RECOVERY
4-Point Standard Meeting
Family & Friends Only
Thursdays 7:00 PM TO 8:00 PM PST
Cost: Free, no registration required
Program: Family & Friends
SMART Recovery Family & Friends is a secular mutual support program for family and friends of individuals with addictive behaviors. If you are struggling with addiction, this meeting is NOT for you (please look for 4-Point meetings instead). The program is based on the tools of SMART Recovery and Community Reinforcement Approach & Family Training (CRAFT). Studies have shown that CRAFT results in a significantly higher rate of treatment entry for Loved Ones than Al-Anon or Johnson Intervention. At our meetings, trained volunteer facilitators address specific issues encountered by family and friends of those with addictive behaviors. Tools consistent with evidence-based motivational and cognitive behavioral theories are also offered and discussed.
Specific audiences: Family & Friends Only
This meeting is only for the family and friends of those struggling with addiction.
Languages spoken: English
Join Zoom Meeting Details
https://smartrecovery.zoom.us/j/91703694906
Meeting ID: 917 0369 4906
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Meeting ID: 917 0369 4906
Find your local number: https://smartrecovery.zoom.us/u/aedUj6rDM
Act immediately if you believe your child is missing.
Download this checklist of actions to be taken by families in the initial stages of a missing child case.
If you have any questions call the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678). If you are not located in the United States, call your country’s hotline.
NCMEC is the nation’s largest and most influential child protection organization.
We lead the fight to protect children, creating vital resources for them and the people who keep them safe.
When you call NCMEC, a Call Center specialist will record information about your child. A NCMEC case management team will next work directly with your family and the law enforcement agency investigating your case. They will offer technical assistance tailored to your case to help ensure all available search and recovery methods are used. As appropriate NCMEC case management teams:
DoD Safe Helpline is the sole secure, confidential, and anonymous crisis support service specially designed for members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault.
Safe Helpline Serves
Active Duty Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force Reserve component (Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and DHS’s Coast Guard Reserve) members and their families.
Telephone HelplineCall 877-995-5247 to be connected with a trained, confidential
Safe Helpline staff member, 24/7.
DSN users can call Safe Helpline by dialing 877-995-5247.
For those unable to call toll-free or DSN, call 202-540-5962.
OCONUS Service members can call the Telephone Helpline for free from
anywhere in the world by using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology from
theSafe Helpline App.
You can chat one-on-one with a Safe Helpline staff member
to access a range of support services including:
What is the Safe Helpline app?
The Safe Helpline app is a free mobile resource created to meet the unique needs of members of the Department of Defense community affected by sexual assault. By downloading the app, you can access 24/7 support through Safe Helpline’s Telephone and Online Helplines, get information and resources to help address the short- and long-term effects of sexual assault, as well as practical exercises, to help you manage your self-care. We also recognize that for many survivors stationed outside of the United States (OCONUS) additional limitations may arise when accessing resources, which is why the Safe Helpline app has been designed to give survivors access to a variety of support services and self-care exercises in a free, and convenient way.
How can the Safe Helpline app help me?
We’ve designed the app to give you a way to access any resource within the app directly from the home screen.
Chat: Access one-on-one support through the Online Helpline, 24/7 and chat directly with a Safe Helpline staff member.
Call: Connect directly to a Safe Helpline staff member for one-on-one support through the Telephone Helpline, 24/7. You can choose to make the call using Voice over IP (VoIP) or by using your cellular data. Using VoIP might be a good option for Service members who are OCONUS and may not have access to cellular service in their current location.
Learn: Within this section of the Safe Helpline app, you can access our self-paced educational programs to learn how to address the effects of sexual assault, how to support a survivor and ways Safe Helpline can support you or someone you know. All of these education programs can be completed anonymously by the user. You’ll also be able to access scenarios to give you tangible ways to step-in and support others.
Self-Care: The app allows you to easily create and use a customized self-care plan with specially designed self-care exercises. Once downloaded, you can come back to view your plan and exercises at any time, even without an Internet connection.
How do the self-care plans work?
The self-care plan is created by answering a series of six questions designed to help you focus and identify how you are feeling at that moment. Questions are answered on a sliding scale of zero (never) to five (always), and the app will recommend different exercises based on your responses. There are no “good” or “bad” answers to these questions, and responses can vary from day to day, depending on how you are feeling.
Once you’ve answered the questions on the plan, the app will suggest self-care exercises. The exercises include:
We recognize the importance of keeping your information safe, so we’ve also set up a security feature that allows you to lock your self-care plans behind a privacy wall using a 6-digit pin of your choosing.
Journaling:
The Safe Helpline app allows you to journal directly in the app with weekly prompts. Taking some time out of your week to journal can give you a moment for reflection and an opportunity for self-care. You can also choose to skip any prompts or just write freely depending on how you are feeling. Some of the questions include:
Like the self-care plans, the journal entries you save are protected by a privacy wall and will allow you to lock your information behind a 6-digit pin of your choosing. You can also access and refer back to your journal without an Internet connection.
Coloring Book:
Sometimes focusing on a mindless activity can help you process difficult emotions and be grounded in the present. To help with this, another self-care activity available on the app is a collection of six designs, ranging from easy to difficult, that allow you to paint or color your own works of art.
How is the Safe Helpline app secure, and is activity on the app traceable by third parties?
As with all Safe Helpline services, your privacy is of utmost importance, and the technology behind the Safe Helpline app was created by RAINN to protect your safety and anonymity by ensuring that no personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.
The following precautions have been implemented to protect your privacy when using the app:
While Safe Helpline has taken the steps outlined above to help increase the safety and anonymity of Safe Helpline app users, please remember that if you are using the app on a DoD or other work-related device, your employer may be able to track your usage of this app. In addition, similarly to a paper journal, Safe Helpline app journal entries may be admissible during court proceedings.
REPORT RETALIATION
Parent Stress Line
1-800 – 632 – 8188
Call our Parent Stress Line any time and any day of the week
if you need to vent about the stress from taking care of a child or children. 18006328188
A Kids Book About School Shootings
Crystal Woodman Miller
Many of us are going to need to find the words to talk to the kids in our lives about tragic events like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Here’s a free resource from A Kids Company About to help you do that was written by Crystal Woodman-Miller, one of the survivors of the Columbine school shooting.
I hate that we need tools like this. I can’t wait for us to have to write the book “A Kids Book About Why It’s So Hard To Buy A Gun”
Link: www.akidsco.com
There aren’t enough words to explain all the thoughts, emotions, and heartbreak that comes with yesterday’s tragedy in Uvalde. We hope this book helps everyone start somewhere.
We’re making #AKidsBookAboutSchoolShootings free for kids, grownups, and educators everywhere, so that this conversation can get started when it matters most.
FREE DOWNLOAD
A Kids Book About School Shootings by Crystal Woodman Miller:
Link: akidsco.com
ARCH does not provide respite care, but we may be able to help you find it in your local community through your State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Program or through resources listed below, including State Provider Registries or the Eldercare Locator.
If you cannot find respite through the resources listed above, we also maintain the National Respite Locator Service (NRLS), which helps parents, family caregivers, and professionals find respite services in their state and local area to match their specific needs. The NRLS lists primarily home care agencies, assisted living, or state or community-based agencies that provide respite care. If you find that a listing is out of date or no longer providing respite care, please contact ARCH.
If you have a respite program or service you would like to list on the NRLS, please visit the respite provider portal.
If your state has a State Respite Coalition or Lifespan Respite Care Program, be sure to contact them first for information about respite providers or ways to pay for respite.
Brown Mamas – Pittsburgh & U.S. – Brown Mamas, Inc. has been around for seven years in the Pittsburgh region. Brown Mamas began in the living room of Muffy Mendoza. What started as 5 moms has grown to over 4000 Our mamas love our Pittsburgh chapter so much that we are expanding. If you are mom who is ready to not just find her tribe, but to inspire other mothers and be the change she wants to see in her community, click here to learn more about starting your own Brown Mamas chapter.
Black Moms Connect – Canada & U.S.
Mommin’ Society – North Carolina & Online
Moms of Black Boys United – Atlanta & Online
Moms Make It Work – NYC
Mocha Moms, Inc. – U.S. (seriously, everywhere)
Whine & Cheese – 27 Chapters in U.S. (including D.C., PA, South Carolina, New York, etc.)
Motherwork by Mater Mea – NYC
Beautiful Brown Girls Brunch Club – New Jersey
District Motherhued’s DMV MomTribe – D.C. Metro Area
Soul Food for Your Baby – Hawthorne, Calif.
Black Moms Blog Events – Atlanta, GA
Birthing Beautiful Communities – Cleveland, OH
Tessera Collective – Online, Self-Care Support
Melanin Mommies – Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Black Breastfeeding Circle –
Black Stay-At-Home Mom Village
Black Moms in College & Beyond
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83671786251# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,83671786251# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
All family and friends of compulsive gamers welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671786251
Meeting ID: 836 7178 6251
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83671786251# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,83671786251# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 826 013 5782
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k0jt3FGFs
Use the link below to get more information about local groups and a notification when a local meeting is started. Due to the COVID pandemic, most meetings are currently held in an outdoor setting or online.
| Oregon | Contact |
| Bend, OR | bend@cgaa.info |
| Eugene, OR | eugene@cgaa.info |
| Medford, OR | medford@cgaa.info |
| Portland, OR | portland@cgaa.info |
| Salem, OR | salem@cgaa.info |
Video gaming is a common pastime. To many people, it is surprising that it can become a serious addiction, that is, an activity that is engaged in compulsively, without control or concern for consequences.
Video gaming addiction is a very serious problem that is harmful to everyone it touches. Since everyone involved suffers from it, everyone involved needs some help. Here are some important things to know.
First, no one is responsible for someone else’s compulsive gaming. As the Al-Anon slogan goes, “I didn’t cause it, I can’t control it, and I can’t cure it.”
Some people partly blame themselves for the dysfunctional behavior of their family members, particularly with addicts who are very quick to shift responsibility off themselves and blame others. Perhaps you played games with your loved one, purchased games, or encouraged it, thinking it was a harmless leisure activity. Maybe you’ve been involved in some conflict and wonder if that has driven him or her to hide away in gaming. But no one is responsible for another person’s behavior or mental disorders.
You may have already tried to talk to your friend or family member. Perhaps you have bargained with them, or given ultimatums. You have tried to help them see what damage they are doing to themselves and others. And none of it has worked. This is baffling to you. Why don’t they seem to understand or care? Why can’t they see what is obvious to you? This is actually a symptom of the disease of addiction, one that destines efforts for control to failure.
We all would like to believe that we have the ability to help those we love. We often think that if we can just get the right information, figure out the right thing to say or do, perhaps change something about ourselves, we can fix the problem. People should be able to solve their own problems. Why can’t we do that with this one? There is a simple reason. There is no cure for addiction. It requires treatment. The recovery process is long and difficult. And there is only one person who can start that process, the one who is gaming compulsively. There are things you can do. Here are some suggestions that you may want to consider, that other family members and friends have found helpful.
The literature of recovery fellowships for family and friends of addicts (such as Al-Anon) has much helpful guidance, some of which is available online as well. There are people who have been in situations very similar to yours, who have learned much from them, and who are willing to share the lessons learned, their experience, strength and hope. We hope you avail yourself of such resources.
Putting energy into arguing with someone who is playing compulsively will not help either of you. Your loved one has a serious problem that you are powerless to control or cure, and that they will not get help until they want it. As much as you love someone, you cannot force this process on another person.
Paradoxically, at the same time people are arguing with, bargaining with or shaming a compulsive gamer, they are often (perhaps without realizing it) supporting the addiction in many ways. Anything that shields an addict from the consequences of his or her behavior is enabling, and can include such basic things as providing food, shelter, money, companionship, housekeeping, and covering for employment and legal difficulties. Helping a compulsive gamer keep up an appearance of normalcy is helping him or her continue in the destructive behavior. While you cannot change him or her, you can make changes for yourself. You can shift your energy away from enabling behaviors and toward meeting your own needs.
Whether or not your loved one ever stops gaming, you deserve to have a healthy and happy life. Once you have accepted that you are powerless over their gaming behavior, you can begin to focus on what you can do for yourself, to accomplish your own goals. With the help of others who have been where you are, you can learn to set healthy boundaries and stick to them.
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One of the things we were trying to do with our gaming was meet some basic needs. If we do not meet those needs in normal healthy ways, we will suffer much stronger urges to game again. Some basic needs to cover are social needs, self expression, creativity, a sense of challenge and accomplishment, stress relief, a sense of purpose and meaning, and a sense of safety through control and predictability.
Here are some ideas for activities that will help meet these needs, reduce cravings, help with recovery from addiction, and fill some of the hours freed from compulsive gaming.
Please don’t let the length of this list overwhelm you. The idea is not to start ten new things and try to change everything all at once. We seek small bits of progress, not perfection. A good place to start is to put first things first. What need is currently most important? What’s right in front of me? What opportunity has come my way recently? If we take steps of small improvement with one or two areas each day, we are moving in the right direction.
If you are in your first week or two off of games, it’s likely that few of these ideas will appeal to you. That’s normal. Until our minds and bodies have some time to heal, we have low interest, energy, and motivation. This list will probably not give you something that you can plug in place of video games and immediately throw yourself into with the same zeal. This list is meant to help us explore new ways of spending our time, meeting our needs, and connecting with people. Find a few that hold some appeal and try taking some small steps in their direction. If you can’t seem to think of anything fun to do except game, you can come back to this list, find the most appealing thing, and just take a couple of little steps in its direction.
Consider setting reminders for yourself or keeping a schedule of your time and new activities. It is important to appreciate the small victories of exercising willpower, regaining motivation, and socializing. It helps to discuss our progress and the challenges we experience with a CGAA sponsor, recovery buddy, personal counselor, or therapist.
It is normal to think that nothing but gaming sounds fun. For most of us, our years of compulsive gaming warped and narrowed our idea of fun. As small children, it meant almost anything new or interesting or social or even mildly rewarding. Years of pulling the dopamine lever with video games changed our concept of fun to require instant gratification, frequent rewards, clear and constant progress, excitement, intense visuals, control, and/or predictability.
Part of recovery is letting our concept of fun expand back outward to a wide world of possible new challenges and experiences, many of which are calm and subtle compared to video games. It takes time to overcome withdrawals and heal from the damage, but the change does happen if we abstain from all gaming long term and focus on new pursuits and improving our lives. This list has many activities that do not meet the old, narrow, warped idea of “fun,” but those of us who persist at exploring them do find many to be gratifying and enjoyable.
Take, for example, a hike up a mountain. To a group of hikers excited to venture into the wilderness with friends and see wildlife and panoramic views from on high, all while getting a great workout, it’s a ton of fun. To someone who is uninterested in hiking, out of shape, and focused on every little unpleasant aspect of it, it’s a torturous death march. It is exactly the same hike in either case. The difference is in the attitude and conditioning.
The same is true with every item of these lists. Whether or not an activity sounds fun or torturous depends entirely upon attitude and conditioning. Every one of them has the potential to be gratifying and enjoyable if we adopt a positive attitude, try to have fun, and persist at it, especially when we involve friends and like-minded people.
While CGAA does not endorse and is not officially connected with the following groups, we believe that friends and family may be able to connect with others and find helpful resources. They can provide guidance on dealing with addiction in general, on healing from its effects, and on how to go about building a recovery fellowship. Meetings are available in many places. Al-Anon, Nar-Anon and CoDA each has its own recovery literature.
The Gamer-Anon fellowship is for parents, spouses, and other family to support each other in dealing with compulsive video gaming within the family.
The Al-Anon fellowship has existed since 1951 for the family and friends of alcoholics. As the oldest and most well attended of the fellowships for family and friends, its members have a wide breadth and depth of experience to share on living with addicts and healing from the ill effects and dysfunctional patterns.
The Nar-Anon fellowship has existed since 1968 for the family and friends of those suffering from addiction.
Co-Dependents Anonymous has existed since 1986 and is a fellowship of men and women whose common purpose is to develop healthy relationships.
