Frequently Asked Questions
Who is SMART Recovery?
What is the SMART Recovery program of recovery?
SMART Recovery teaches how to:
1) Enhance and maintain motivation to abstain
2) Cope with urges
3) Manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
4) Balance momentary and enduring satisfactions
What does SMART Recovery stand for?
What is addictive behavior?
How is SMART Recovery different from Twelve Step programs such as AA or NA?
How do I contact SMART Recovery?
SMART Recovery
7304 Mentor Avenue
Suite F
Mentor, Ohio 44060
Phone: 440-951-5357. FAX:440-951-5358.
Contact Us by email (click here), or contact your local SMART chapter.
How do I find local meetings?
How do I obtain meeting verifications?
You can either ask your Face to Face Facilitator for a verification or…
For online meetings follow these instructions:
At the end of the online meetings, the facilitator will provide a link to our Online Verification Request Form. Once you’ve completed and submitted the form, the information will be used to populate your email Verification Letter that the facilitator will forward to you after confirming your attendance at the meeting. Receipt and timeliness depends on the accuracy of the information you provide. Specific, detailed instructions are available on the Message Boards in the Info and FAQs forum.
How do I order SMART Recovery publications?
Is SMART Recovery as effective as AA?
What are the other non-Twelve Step support groups?
LifeRing: (800-811-4142) lifering.org
Moderation Management (MM): (212)871-0974 www.moderation.org.
What is the scientific foundation on which SMART Recovery is built?
What is the history of the relationship between SMART Recovery and Rational Recovery?
What are the differences between SMART Recovery and Rational Recovery (RR)?
Can SMART Recovery be used successfully with ||bottomed-out|| individuals?
“street smart” in part refers to this. Rational does not have to be complicated. Simple is best. Even children can grasp the basics of rational thinking. If someone is truly beyond any rational thinking, he or she may also be beyond any help (but this seems unlikely).
SMART Recovery can reach out to all levels of society. SMART Recovery meetings currently occur in homeless shelters, inpatient mental health units, prisons, and other places frequented by individuals with substantial addictive behavior (and other) problems. The Facilitators who lead these meetings report significant success in teaching SMART Recovery concepts, and significant gratitude from those who learn them.
Does SMART Recovery have groups for ||codependency||?
Significant others could also attend SMART Recovery meetings aiming to abstain from specific behaviors that they may have developed in (maladaptive) response to the addictive behavior. SMART Recovery is intended for all addictive behavior (substances and activities), and enabling behavior can be considered as a form of addictive behavior.
If your locality has several individuals with these issues, you may wish to get involved with our SMART Recovery Family & Friends online group, and work toward creating your own local group.
Where does SMART Recovery get its money, and how does it spend it?
Primary expenses include general Central Office expenses (mailing, e-mail, phone, copying), and full and part-time staff members: Mark Ruth, Executive Director, Jodi Dayton, Manager, Network Services.
Primary services include communications — quarterly News & Views newsletter, quarterly Facilitator’s & Advisor’s Letter, responses to phone, fax and email inquiries; volunteer support (face-to-face meeting volunteers and the online volunteer community); development and support of new meetings (national and international); an annual training program; and new product development.
What is ADASHN (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Self-Help Network), and what is its relationship SMART Recovery?
Sometimes I see SMART, and sometimes SMART Recovery. What's the difference?
organization, we use the full name, to emphasize that the name is an acronym (Self Management and Recovery Training). The full name often also includes the service mark symbol, which clarifies that only SMART Recovery offers the SMART Recovery Program.
SMART Recovery® is a registered service mark of ADASHN.
For informal use we recommend SMART Recovery (rather than SR or SMART-R) because it helps differentiate us from other groups.
Acronyms Used in the SMART Recovery Program
REBT = Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
USA = Unconditional Self Acceptance
UOA = Unconditional Other Acceptance
ABCs
A = Activating event, something happens
B = Beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes about “A”-These beliefs can be rational (rB), reality-based, logical and self-helping, or irrational (iB), demanding and wishful based thinking, illogical, and self-defeating. C = Consequences-the emotions (mad, sad, scared, glad, etc.) and behaviors that are the result of A
(Activating Event) + B (Beliefs)
D = Disputes-arguments against irrational beliefs
E = Effects of the disputes-new emotions and behaviors that result from replacing irrational beliefs with rational ones
CBA = Cost/Benefit Analysis
DIBS = Disputing Irrational BeliefS
DISARM = Destructive Self-talk Awareness and Refusal Method
LFT = Low Frustration Tolerance
PPP = Practice, Patience, Persistence
REI = Rational Emotive Imagery
VACI = Vital Absorbing Creative Interest
ATW = Absolute Thought Warning !!!!…Look for the Should…Must…Have
to…Cant…Ought…All…Need…Always…Never…Awful…Terrible…Horrible…or CAN’T STAND’s !!!!!
For more information on this topic, see the SMART Recovery Dictionary.