FYI – SMART Recovery Connecticut

CRAFT course in Oxford 10/13, 10/22 and 11/5

Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is part of SMART Recovery’s Family & Friends program, which melds CRAFT with REBT and other tools. There are several Family & Friends meetings in Connecticut.

Oxford, Connecticut’s Local Prevention Council, OASIS, is sponsoring a 10 hour course on CRAFT for the general public. The workshop is spread over 3 days: Saturday October 13th 9AM to 2PM, Monday October 22nd 6PM to 8:30PM, and Monday November 5th 6PM to 8:30PM. It will be hosted at hosted at Christ Church, 470 Quaker Farms Road, Oxford CT.

For more information OR to register please email vinny@wechoselove.com or call 203-278-1583 and ask for Vinny.

Yoga fundraiser on December 16

Yoga is both a useful tool to help in recovery, and an enjoyable way to spend your time.

Yoga instructor Wendy McLeod will be offering three yoga classes at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, 57 Olive Street, New Haven, CT from 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM on Saturday, December 16. One class is $10, two for $15, or all three for $25. Funds raised will be used to support legal fees and community advocacy for those hiring a lawyer for the first time through a donation to New Haven Legal Assistance Association.

For more information and to book, see the Eventbrite listing.

Prescription and Over-the-Counter drug drop bin at Woodbridge Police Department

I happened to be at the Woodbridge, Connecticut, Police Department and noticed that they have a drop bin for unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Many police departments participate in the annual DEA national prescription drug take-back day, but you don’t have to wait for this. Not only do many pharmacies take unused prescription meds, you may well be able to drop them off at your local police department.

Spot the SMART Recovery mile marker at Walk the Walk for Recovery

TriCircle, Inc., a new treatment program, will be holding its first “Walk the Walk for Recovery” at Community Lake Park, 291 Avenue, Wallingford, CT 06 from 9 AM to 4 PM on Saturday, May 6, 2017. (Rain date is Saturday, May 13.)

SMART Recovery will have a mile marker during the walk.

Walker registration costs $10. If you raise $25 in donations you’ll receive a free t-shirt. More information at https://www.tricircleinc.com/2017WalktheWalkforRecovery.en.html

Choice in Recovery – Overview of Alternative Treatment Options

The video on Choice in Recovery’s web site provides a brief overview of several alternative support groups, including SMART Recovery: http://choiceinrecovery.net/

Many of these programs are also listed in SMART Recovery’s EAP flyer.

Annual DEA National Take-Back Initiative coming up on April 29

The annual DEA National Take-Back Initiative will happen from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, April 29.
You can find more information and a link to search for a local collection site at https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html. Many local police departments participate.

A recent paper (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115111659.htm) found that collections such as this don’t do much to reduce the availability of diverted prescription drugs, probably because of low participation, so encourage your friends and family to clean out their medicine cabinets. Interestingly, these collections do act as an effective way of recycling over-the-counter medication.

If you want to run your own collection in Connecticut, you’ll need a one-day hazardous waste disposal permit (http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2718&q=437868
http://www.ct.gov/dcp/cwp/view.asp?a=1620&q=438170).

SMART Recovery Reading List

I mentioned at today’s meeting that I’d had trouble finding the recommended reading list on the SMART Recovery web site. It’s at http://www.smartrecovery.org/resources/readlist.htm

Some of the authors have been guests at the (more or less) monthly webinars SMART Recovery holds.

Local mindfulness course starts on March 8

One of our attendees took this course when it ran before and recommends it: “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction” with Beth Robins Roth at the Fresh Yoga Erector Square studio in New Haven. The course runs from March 8 to April 26. Full details, including the dates, cost and the instructor’s qualifications are at http://freshyoga.com/workshops_mbsr

More free online courses

Here are several free online courses you may find useful:

“Understanding Drugs & Addiction” has just started on March 7 and runs for 6 weeks.
“Understanding Anxiety, Depression and CBT” starts on May 9
Another run of Monash University’s “Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance” is more than half over. The course is likely to run again.

Mindfulness MOOC starts February 8

The online mindfulness course mentioned in an earlier post is being offered again, starting on February 8, 2016. It’s a good way of trying out mindfulness from the comfort of your home computer.