Keepers: Voices of Secular Recovery

[PaulJ]

Introduction

Getting sober can be a lonesome journey for the person who is underwhelmed by the Twelve-Step approach of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Despite significant erosion, "Step" programs still have a quasi-monopoly position in the public consciousness, and most treatment programs countenance little else. Until recently, the person who did not resonate with the Twelve Step approach was more or less condemned to isolation -- rarely the best environment for long term sobriety.

The Internet has helped to change all that. For the price of a computer and an access account, people can now quickly locate one another based on their special interests, and can link up into cyber-communtities. One of these new "virtual villages" is Tom Shelly's "SOSmail" email list. This book is an anthology of selected messages posted to Tom's list during a period of nearly three years beginning in late 1996. Thanks to Tom's list and similar places on the Internet, no one with net access who wants an alternative recovery approach needs to feel isolated any longer.

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