Research suggests that the longer a recovering person remains in treatment, the better their chances of remaining substance free.
Are you a woman in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse? Are you considering getting additional support or therapy in a more confidential setting? Are you interested in exploring or resolving some deeper issues, and want to be sure that your psychotherapist understands recovery backwards and forwards? Are you interested in a psychotherapy group with other recovering women who are serious about their sobriety? Are you committed to your recovery support group (AA, NA, SMART, or others), but also feel the need for something additional, yet compatible with it? Are you out of treatment and looking for a women’s group?
Group Therapy in Recovery: Facts
Group therapy, in contrast to individual treatment, has long been established as a preferred modality for treating addiction, having been the core of substance-abuse treatment for over 30 years. In a group, the recovering person is often more inclined to accept what a peer-group member has to say (pointing out blind spots) than what a counselor, “Normy,” or non-recovering person might say. In addition, the group gives members the opportunity not only to acquire multiple levels of learning but also to reap the benefits of a unique form of therapeutic support, one that provides its members an experience of safety, and at the same time, the freedom to self-disclose without concern about losing friendships.
Women’s-Centered Recovery: Benefits and Who Can Join a Group
Research suggests that women learn better in women-only environments, especially when what is being learned requires risk and self-exposure. This research, coupled with women’s reports of their experiences in all-women recovery treatment and groups, and consensus among addiction professionals that women do better in environments addressing women’s concerns, has led to an increase in the number of women’s treatment programs, as well as programs with an all-women’s component.
Professionals and most recovering people themselves suggest that women in recovery form relationships with other clean and sober women; similarly, men with other men. Participants in women-or men-only recovery groups tend to have more in common with others of the same gender, have an easier time staying focused on sobriety, and avoid an emotional roller coaster at a time when sobriety skills may not yet be fully developed.
The overwhelming majority of recovering women who have participated in these groups have told me that it was a transformative life experience. They say that it not only solidified their recovery but also helped them achieve the kind of emotional and psychological growth they had previously only dreamed of having.
Participating in these groups after rehabilitation, whether in combination with support programs (AA, NA, SMART, and others) or on their own, provides women with a confidential, or “safe,” therapeutic environment in which to both explore personal issues and learn healthy coping skills. In addition, this setting allows them an opportunity to receive gentle, yet reality-based, feedback.
While the “sponsor” in 12-Step programs plays an invaluable role of being a trustworthy confidant who also provides “reality checks,” many recovering women in these psychotherapy groups describe feeling especially enriched, enjoying a combination of the benefits listed above, a sense of community, and the advantages acquired from being exposed to multiple perspectives. Women often comment that the group felt like a family, or seemed like what a healthy family (albeit all female) would be.
There are also clean and sober women who participate in recovery programs other than the 12-Step model, yet these women often seek out a group for some of the same reasons that AA or NA members do. And there are women for whom the spiritual emphasis, or “God aspect,” of the 12-Step programs is a barrier to getting sufficient support. These women need a group that is welcoming and open to their choices—a group whose members are not interested in imposing their beliefs on others.
In the same way that women’s issues are more effectively addressed in an all-women’s environment, in general, women are better served by being with other women who have issues common to their stage of recovery. This does not mean that women at one stage never have an issue from another stage. Some issues can exist throughout recovery. The stages refer to not only concerns common in a certain time frame but also the strength and diversity of sober coping skills in a certain time frame. As sobriety progresses, skills tend to become stronger and increase in number; as time goes on, there are more ways to enjoy life sober.
| Early Recovery Group | Middle Recovery Group | Stabilization Recovery Group |
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Contact me, I am happy to talk with you about what is involved in group or individual therapy with me: (917) 338-6294. Best regards, Kate Burns
