To all SMART Recovery network members, 13 April 2010

Dear Member

You are probably aware of the passionate debate about the direction of SMART Recovery in the UK. The Board of Trustees has been relatively quiet in these discussions which may have allowed suspicions and rumour about our intentions to get a little out of hand.

I would however reassure you that the Board has not been idle. In particular, we would like you to know that we have experienced a number of financial, legal and staffing challenges in recent months. These immediate issues are now resolved and we are now ready to engage with wider questions.

The future of SMART Recovery deserves a healthy debate. Like any debate there is a danger that we all take up and defend fixed positions before we have had chance to hear what others think. This is as true of the Board as it is of all the other stakeholders in the SMART Recovery movement, so I hope you will see our openness to discussion in the next few weeks. It is only fair, however that we are transparent about the direction of our thinking thus far.

It is the unequivocal view of the Board that that the heart and soul of SMART Recovery is the Peer facilitated meeting. The number one objective and measure of success for the organisation should be the growth in availability and quality of these meetings.

We are also interested in what can be learned from partnerships with treatment services. As Tom Horvath, President of SMART Recovery explained recently on the ‘Wired’ blog; SMART Recovery works best when volunteers and professionals work together. Tom highlighted that such partnership has always been a feature of the movement. He was however critical of meetings established by professionals that that did not result in transition to non professionals, so there is much to reflect on in the UK.

In short, the Board is committed to the primacy of the Peer led network of meetings, though is minded to develop an approach to partnership with treatment services that offers benefit to them, as well as growing SMART Recovery.

Over the next few weeks we will run what we hope will be a thorough consultation process, about the future of SMART Recovery. The consultation will include a discussion document, online questionnaires and hopefully several meetings. It will be organised on behalf of the Board by Richard Phillips (richard@drugsandalcohol.net), who will contact you in due course.

Can I personally thank you for your contribution and participation in SMART Recovery and express my wish that our joint discussions on the future of the movement will do credit to all our hopes.

Yours sincerely

Ian Smillie

Chair, for and on behalf of SmartRecovery UK

SMART UK
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COME AND JOIN US

Changing your behaviour is a gradual process and takes time. Recovery requires
effort and persistence. There are four main stages of recovery and SMART has
developed some useful exercises to help guide you through each step.

Thinking of quitting?
1. Write your life story, paying particular attention to how the choices you have
made brought you to where you are now.
2. Make a list of the things that are most important to you.
3. Discuss a typical day in your life.
4. Calculate the amount of money you spend on the behaviour you are thinking of
giving up.

Preparation
1. Make a list of the good and bad aspects of your behaviour.
2. Write down how you think your life will improve by not using.
3. Develop some short and long-term goals.
4. Discuss the effects of using on your health, family, friends etc…

Action
1. Make a list of the changes you could make in your life.
2. Write out acceptable standards of behaviour.
3. Get support from family and friends.
4. Look ahead to some of the problems you might face and plan how you are going
to deal with them.
5. Prepare a plan of things you are going to do and carry out the plan.

Maintenance
1. Keep doing the things that are making your behaviour more healthy.
2. Think through situations when you’ve not stuck to your plan-what happened
and why?
3. Look at situations when your urges were triggered.
4. Continue to surround yourself with people who give you support and
encouragement.