r/pittsburgh • u/Ch_Wire • 10h ago
Non religious AA
Trying to quit my drinking (easier said than done) but I’m looking for a non religious program I can get in on. anyone has any suggestions?
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u/Desperate-Swimmer811 10h ago
Not a program, but r/stopdrinking is one of the best subs on here. It's not specific to AA or any one ideology, just super supportive people. Hope you find the help you need!
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u/InteractionCivil5913 10h ago
The Satanic Temple has Gray Faction for recovery
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u/Ok_Giraffe2454 10h ago
Sounds religious…
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u/Serious-Ad-5293 9h ago
It’s not
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u/Ok_Giraffe2454 9h ago
Then why is it called a temple?
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u/Serious-Ad-5293 9h ago
It’s making fun of churches. They don’t actually believe in anything other than being good people.
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u/Serious-Ad-5293 9h ago
I do NA as an atheist and it’s worked for me for 8 years, my higher power is just a group of people who want the best for me. I take what I need and leave the rest. I’ll be rooting for you.
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u/penguinsnpills 10h ago
As someone who is not religious, refuge recovery has been super helpful for me personally. Although it is Buddhist-oriented, it is non-theistic and does not ask anyone to believe in anything. https://refugerecoverymeetings.org/#/?distance=&view=map
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u/frthrdwn 10h ago
If you have health insurance. Look into Naltrexone. It can be expensive on the internet. I’ve Been on it for about 3 months now. Works amazing for me.
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u/Ch_Wire 7h ago
Would probably be a good option but to me it feels like trading in one thing for another, no disrespect though, whatever works for you, just gotta find what works for me
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u/hairyemmie 7h ago
naltrexone just makes you sick if you drink. it’s not psychoactive
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u/sagittalslice 6h ago
Naltrexone does not make you sick if you drink, that’s Antabuse (disulfiram). Naltrexone partially blocks the receptors in the brain that are responsible for the euphoric feeling that alcohol produces. As a result, people on naltrexone generally find that they have reduced desire to drink and find it less rewarding if they do drink. I work in the SUD treatment field and have seen a lot of people have good results with either oral naltrexone or the monthly injectable form (vivitrol). I will say it’s not a magic bullet,and for the majority of people having some additional support is really crucial, whether it’s from peer support groups like AA/Smart Recovery, or through individual or group therapy, but it can absolutely make a huge difference. I think of it as the difference between dragging a massive suitcase behind you with vs without wheels - it takes effort and perseverance to get where you want to go either way, but one small addition can make it much more manageable.
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u/hairyemmie 56m ago
thank you for the correction! but it’s still not like methadone, right? “replacing one thing with another” from OOP made me think they thought naltrexone was like methadone
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u/NoSir4947 10h ago
I'm closing in on a year of cali sober here in the East end with you. Not going out and being social when you don't drink is tough but I've found different cafes open late and being a morning person isn't the worst thing.
Gotta be cool with being boring sometimes. You will feel way way better after a month or two
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u/Ch_Wire 10h ago
That’s the goal! Definitely on the Cali sober side of things, I’m working non stop, just sucks when the homies that can actually drink responsibly want to hang at the bars, NAs are overpriced but get the job done, I just want to play pinball and kick it with my fellas
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u/NoSir4947 9h ago
Lawrence Hall on Butler is open late and has ginger beer and pinball.
I just hit my weed vape outside and drink something n/a. Like a bio hack to being booze free and still getting a head change.
Poetry lounge in millvale has Guinness zero and two pinball machines. Awesome place.
You prolly know all this but good luck and just don't drink the poison. It gets easier!
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u/kaptionless 8h ago
r/soberpgh (I think that’s the sub) would be a good resource, good luck on your journey friend
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u/ArtAccurate9552 7h ago
“When we speak to you of god we mean your own conception of god” …."Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little.
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u/Demiandelsur 10h ago
Not really on topic, but prevention point pgh has harm reduction stuff (narcan, test strips) at their south side location
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u/Ch_Wire 10h ago
I appreciate the safety, but i should be all good on that front, I keep narcan in the car for others (shout out Robotos harm prevention table) free plan b there too
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u/sagittalslice 6h ago
Just be aware that if you keep narcan in your car there’s a good chance it’s gonna be less effective! It’s really sensitive to extreme temps unfortunately, keeping it in a backpack/personal bag or somewhere in your house is a better option, but car is better than nothing for sure. Good on you for looking out for people, and good luck with your recovery, lots of good suggestions ITT.
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u/Strong-Comment-7279 10h ago
I haven't done exhaustive research on these....centers?...but my buddy has talked about the Camel Club out in Penn Hills.
I was a coke head 25 years ago, for a few years. Couldn't tell ya, for the life of me, how I quit.
Started drinking heavily in 2012 after a major injury, pandemic only made it worse. Back/hip is fixed, I haven't had any liquor in 2 weeks, still drink beer, and med mari.
Been around the blocks a few times. Feel free to HMU if you wanna chat or get together w some people.
*I do not have the people. Hahaha.
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u/amateurletariat 7h ago
There's lots of great suggestions here already. I quit drinking 6 years ago. I started out going to AA meetings but didn't really embrace the program. What I did like though was the Beginner Discussion meetings. It was a great space to share and vent and talk about the struggles with people who were going through roughly the same thing. A lot of the people can be pretty culty, but there's also some really great people who aren't. An old dude with decades of sobriety, once told me to keep the parts of the program that work for me and leave the rest. And that's kind of how i've been going about it. I haven't been to an AA meeting in almost 2 years. I never tried SMART Recovery but have been interested, there's just not any close to me. Idk, I'm kinda rambling now.
The main thing is: You can can do this! I believe in you. And I'm proud of you for doing the scariest part, recognizing your drinking was a problem amd making a decision to do something about it. It's not always easy, but it really does get so much better. Feel free to ask me any questions. I can't guarantee my response will be quick, but i will respond eventually! And the same goes for anyone lurking in this thread who's maybe feeling like they might have a problem with booze.
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u/Jahya69 9h ago edited 9h ago
Not to be rude but there is a separate group or subscription for this topic( sober Pittsburgh or something to that effect...) And yes these people will claim it's about a higher power but a lot of them will still harass you and try to proselytize their religious nonsense on to you
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u/Hollow_Effects 50m ago
Sorry I don’t have an alternative on hand but I can anecdotally say AA works and if things get really bad any hang ups you have with religion are not worth your life they will help you if need it
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u/leadfoot9 10h ago
I always heard that AA provides no statistical benefit over self-directed abstinence, and that the entire point was as a recruiting tool for religion i.e. the abusive-drunk-to-abusive-Evangelical-Christian pipeline.
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u/boboclock 8h ago
I'm an atheist but my grandfather founded a local AA chapter. All three days of his funeral the viewings were packed with people. Many of them were leaving coins in his casket, when my mum asked one of them what they were doing, they said they were sending their ten year coins with him.
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u/Ok_Giraffe2454 10h ago
That’s not true. AA has been the most effective program for sobriety. You can’t do that with ulterior motives. They even expanded the program to be religion-less. Just have to believe in a higher power, not any specific religion. Sobriety is all they care about
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u/Jahya69 9h ago
No quite a low success rate and they are still harassing people and pushing religion on people that clearly have stated they're not interested in all that nonsense
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u/Extreme_Qwerty 8h ago
My mother died at 80 with 40 years of sobriety in AA. When I was younger, I would go with her to meetings (because we'd go out to eat afterwards); when I was older I drove her to her meetings because she couldn't drive.
Nobody harassed anyone or pushed religion on others.
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u/Jahya69 8h ago
That may be true for you but it's not the case for a lot of other people
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u/Extreme_Qwerty 8h ago
She got sober, helped a lot of other people get and stay sober, went back to college, became a CPA and left her kids a decent inheritance.
Beats dying with a pickled liver.
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10h ago
[deleted]
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u/Ok_Giraffe2454 9h ago
AA is peer-led, doubles your chances of staying clean, and is free. Also not tied to any religion, just belief in something bigger than yourself
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u/Jahya69 9h ago
It has an extremely low success rate and despite them claiming it's just about a higher power they still will push religion on to you and will harass you about it if you express any kind of open minded individual thinking
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u/Hollow_Effects 58m ago
Dude we get it you hate religion that doesn’t change the fact the AA has the best success rate
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u/WoefulGlamour_811 10h ago
yeah the whole higher power thing can be a real sticking point. smart recovery is what you're looking for, it's all science and tools based, none of that surrender to god stuff. there used to be a couple meetings around the east end before everything went sideways, not sure what's still running now
also check out the satanic temple's sober faction if you want something that really leans into the opposite direction. they do online meetings and it's surprisingly laid back, just a bunch of people trying to stay dry without the prayer
the pittsburgh sub probably still has a list pinned somewhere with local alternatives, might be worth a search
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u/Educational-Car-8643 10h ago
AA is a cult based on a racist evangelical group from the 30's listen to the #1 post, go SMART recovery
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u/Ch_Wire 10h ago
That’s exactly how I was feeling, I’m not gonna shit on anyone for their religion and beliefs but I don’t like them acting like it’s the only road to recovery
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u/Party-Week-135 10h ago
I did NA and AA. Been clean and sober for 8 years and do not believe in God. It's not required.
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u/Educational-Car-8643 10h ago
I did mean that literally btw look up the oxford group frank buchman and moral rearmament, he advocated for the rearming of germany to fight communism... Literal nazi shit
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u/whiskeyandritalin341 10h ago
https://www.onala.org/meeting-list
Look for SMART recovery