Online Addiction Support Communities

No matter the stage of your addiction recovery, community is essential. Pain begins in relationships. Healing must also begin in relationships. Having a strong network and community to support you along your recovery journey is not only beneficial but crucial. Online addiction support communities can help you find that network.

Advanced technology makes community building possible for everyone. Digital platforms can help you access online resources and support whenever and wherever you need it.

Let’s answer many of the questions people ask. What are online support communities? What do they offer to your recovery journey? How can you find a good fit? And, most importantly, how do you get started?

Key Facts

• Online addiction support communities are an excellent tool when you are seeking sobriety, since they offer 12 Step meetings, professional and peer support, as well as recovery educational material.
• Multiple platforms offer formal group meetings for members, such as In The Rooms, WEconnect Recovery, Tempest (Monument) and Loosid. 
• Recovery tools are customized and group meetings are provided for a variety of demographics and personal struggles. Some of these platforms also offer professional counseling and medical guidance.
• Online forums and message boards provide advice for daily struggles in sobriety and give the encouragement often needed in recovery, yet they should not replace formal treatment.
• Take care to choose the best community for your needs, engaging with all aspects of the platform, working to form relationships with others and building a strong recovery plan to inspire long term sobriety.

Online Addiction Support Communities

Online support communities are a positive addition or alternative to in person support groups, such as 12 Step meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

Online support communities offer a variety of benefits, including:

• Convenient live virtual meetings
• Phone meetings
• Intuitive apps
• Ongoing support chats
• Positive support and encouragement from peers
• AA/NA Meetings
• Smart Recovery Nights
• LifeRing Meeting
• Recovery Dharma Events

Online groups use platforms like forums, recovery apps, social media groups and video chats. Depending on the platform, formal meetings are typically scheduled, but ongoing support chats can also help any time of the day.

The cornerstone of many people’s recovery journey is 12 step meetings. Virtual meetings increase the opportunity to get the support you need.

Just like in person events, virtual meetings are either therapist or peer led, with the opportunity to seek encouragement, accountability and connection with your peers.

Recovery Apps and Online Communities

This method of support is beneficial when you are in early and long term recovery. Each stage of recovery has its own struggles and victories, and group therapy allows you to learn and grow from others’ experiences.

During recovery meetings, the community can offer tactics to overcome hurdles.

Each person is tangible proof that sobriety is possible, companionship is available and encouragement is possible for healing. Consider the following online communities to support your recovery.

In The Rooms

In The Rooms is a website and app offering free recovery resources for many types of addictions, including but not limited to:

• Alcohol
• Substance Abuse
• Gambling 
• Sex

They provide 12 Step and non 12 step meetings for anyone who registers. Meetings are live, making interactions more organic and interpersonal.

Your conversations can move beyond a single program model and offer opportunities to share in depth personal struggles and triumphs. 

In The Rooms has a variety of tools on their platform including wellness focused groups and addiction recovery resources. Multiple meetings each day ensure there is a day and time that works best for your schedule. 

Confidentiality is respected in all meetings and members can manage their profiles to be as public or private.

For the best experience, curate your feed to follow specific support groups, mute content you find triggering and establish a small circle of trusted and closest support members.

WEconnect Recovery

WEconnect is another app that offers peer support and resources for addiction recovery, offering more specific support, such as:

• Immediate rewards for positive and measurable actions
• Emphasis on personal accountability
• Encouraging a shift in daily habits and routines
• Shifting personal goals to match recovery
• Encouraging daily check ins to track progress

WEconnect uses contingency management as a primary recovery method. WEconnect helps make recovery feel less daunting, while offering tight structure, reminders and scheduling.

Meetings can be specialized, such as options for minorities only or meetings for specific mental health struggles. Additionally, WEconnect allows users to set “high risk moment” plans, so top groups and coping skills are readily available. 

This level of personalization offers an additional layer of comfort, establishing a safe space for recovery. WEconnect is free to join and use, with an optional upgrade to access one on one peer support and more personalized wellness plans.

Monument

Monument acquired Tempest in 2022. The platform is another online community specifically for those with alcoholism. Whether you’re seeking complete sobriety or want to decrease your drinking, Monument has support options for you. 

With Monument, treatment is offered by licensed therapists and medical doctors, offering a high caliber of treatment, while protecting your privacy.

Once a member, your support option includes a combination of:

• Education
• Personalized goals
• Peer connection
• Curriculum style treatment
• Recovery coaching
• Reflections
• Guided discussion topics

Each of these options address alcohol related change. The treatment offered by licensed professionals is evidence based, ensuring a higher success rate for members.

Members have the option to track patterns that affect addiction, like sleep, social pressures and stress. This helps you understand yourself better and change the necessary lifestyle elements to achieve your goals.

This treatment style provides clear, direct and manageable tasks

Loosid

The Loosid community is a “must have” when you need immediate and readily available support. Members are offered access to 24/7 forums, offering hope and support during their most difficult moments.

Each member is offered the opportunity to post updates of their recovery progress, which can include:

• Daily check ins
• Sobriety goal and ambitions
• Recovery difficulties
• Treatment accomplishments

Group conversations allow you to receive and give feedback and encouragement. Loosid offers peer hotlines, which can be localized to a preferred demographic and a built in sobriety tracker to track progress and promote long term change. 

Loosid recognizes the power of gratitude. Daily gratitude practices are incorporated into the recovery mindset. Uniquely, Loosid provides an option for sober dating, complete with sober event nights.

This added community benefit allows members to safely date while in recovery, ensuring they are making deeper connections with others also seeking sobriety and who have similar goals.

I Am Sober

Starting and maintaining recovery requires consistent daily work and commitment, which is why the I Am Sober app gives daily reminders for recovery tasks to help strengthen resolve and shift you into a long term recovery mindset.

I Am Sober supports your recovery with:

• Days clean tracker
• Peer support communities
• Daily reminders for sober activities
• Sober life goal setting
• Simulated financial savings with each day clean

Life can feel overwhelming, especially when starting the recovery journey. I Am Sober is one way to feel more confident and accomplished in your journey.

Viewing daily goals and progress can help build motivation for continued sobriety and leaning on peer support remains essential to anyone living a life of sobriety. 

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Online Forums and Message Boards

Adding to your recovery toolbox are multiple online forums and message boards. These forums are not meant to serve as a primary recovery method, but rather serve as a supplemental tool.

Online message boards and forums may allow anonymous posting, helping to preserve your privacy.

You can still read empowering success stories that help you overcome triggers and cravings during times when other support may not be available.

Many forums, such as SoberRecovery and Talking Sober, offer detailed posts about relapse, relationships, anxiety and day to day recovery problem solving, while other sites, like Reddit Recovery Communities, offer immediate peer support, often with shorter responses and less in depth support. 

Reddit can be helpful for immediate day to day problem solving and hosts forums for general addiction struggles, as well as specific problems, such as r/stopdrinking (alcohol), r/leaves (cannabis), r/OpiatesRecovery, or r/Suboxone.

Unlike some online recovery communities, Reddit and other forums do not provide guaranteed professional advice. As such, you should be mindful of the advice.

Verification with a medical professional is always recommended before altering your current treatment plans.

Safely Choosing and Using Online Communities

The first steps in recovery are exciting, but should also be done with thought and consideration. When choosing a community to join, be sure to find one that matches your needs, goals and cultural understandings. 

Be sure the platform you’re considering also encourages newcomers, has meetings that match your schedule and topics that meet your current stage of recovery, whether you are a novice in recovery or maintenance therapy.

Be wary of communities that seem to glorify addiction, risky behavior and unsafe detoxification methods, as those can hurt your progress.

Once you’ve found the community that’s best for you, start by introducing yourself and utilizing the platform.

Join the daily check ins, share your testimony, encourage others and ask questions. Communities are there to serve your recovery needs, but the true benefits only come from your active engagement.

Be courteous during conversations, both in live meetings and online forums.

During live meetings, be sure to listen attentively, don’t talk while others are sharing, limit the time you spend talking to ensure all who want to share can and always respect the privacy and anonymity of others.

Remember, too, that your recovery is your own. Don’t rush your progress and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Certain online communities are meant to serve as a complement to clinical treatment and not a replacement for it. Use these communities in combination with a structured treatment program

FAQs

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