Maintaining Your Recovery Community During COVID

Your recovery should not take a back seat during the pandemic. If anything, considering the additional stressors from Covid-19 that might prompt a relapse, it is wise to keep your recovery a top priority.

As much sense as it makes to prioritize addiction recovery, in reality there are simply more obstacles to navigate. In-person recovery meetings are hit or miss depending on your location, which has been a real disruptor since coronavirus appeared. Maintaining those connections to others was largely accomplished online during the spring—an adequate replacement during an unusual time. Imagine if the coronavirus had erupted 15 years ago before video conferencing platforms were a thing! In recent months, however, most meetings have resumed in person using CDC Covid-19 guidelines. This, however, could change on a dime in the rapidly evolving coronavirus landscape.

During this time in history those in recovery may have to expand their usual practices to be able to keep a tight connection with their support system. While the situation is far from ideal, with a little ingenuity and effort it is possible to remain connected with others who will be a positive light in your life.

Who Is Your Recovery Community?

When you enter recovery you learn quickly how much your support connections help you to maintain sustained sobriety. While most people immediately think of 12-step groups, in actuality recovery care and support can be found through a variety of resources. People are free to define his or her recovery support system in their own way. There is no right or wrong formula for tackling the recovery journey.

In practice, this means people must assemble their own unique support posse—whatever works for him or her. A recovery community might include some or all of the following:

• Fellowship support groups, like A.A., N.A., SMART Recovery
• Online AA Meetings
• Sponsor
• Rehab alumni
• Social media groups
• Sober Meetup groups
• People you work out with, like a sober gym or sober running club
• Group therapy peers
• Family or friends

However you design your social support connections, maintaining that community is imperative during the Covid era.

Why Maintaining Connection During the Pandemic is Important

There is no debating the necessity of connection in recovery. Positive social support is key to reinforcing a new lifestyle and establishing healthy new relationships with others in recovery. Consider the role of science in supporting the idea that connection can have a positive influence on recovery. According to an article at the Gottman Institute, “Can Love and Connection Heal Addiction?” It is our neurobiology that influences love and connection.

Oxytocin, a hormone that is released when someone experiences a deep emotional connection with another, has a powerful effect on the bonding process. Think of it as the glue that helps us form meaningful connections. In recovery, this translates to the support of family or friends, and recovery communities that offer peer support. These connections become protective factors that support long-term recovery.

People naturally seek an authentic connection to other people, through whom they might find purpose and meaning in their life. In recovery, cultivating a sense of purpose often coincides with forming human connections through our support sources. Serving others, such as offering support to others in recovery or volunteering at sober events or meetings, can actually solidify recovery through these connections. Journalist Johann Hari makes this point in her popular TED Talk –that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is connection.

How Recovery Support Adapts During Covid

While hopeful that meetings and support groups can continue to gather in person, one thing we have all learned is that there are no absolutes during a pandemic. This means that the digital recovery support sources created in the springtime may have to be revisited in Covid-19 hot spot communities. Isolation, loneliness, boredom, and chronic stress are unfortunate realities during long-term lockdowns and physical distancing. For someone in addiction recovery, these can prove disastrous. The recovery community has no other option but to adapt as needed until we emerge from the pandemic.

Support groups are available on Google Hangouts, Zoom, and other teleconferencing platforms. While not ideal, these online meetings fill the gap when needed. Finding a group you like and regularly attending those meetings will eventually allow new meaningful connections to be made online.

Friends in recovery, including your home group, should assemble contact lists of emails and phone numbers so easy connections can be made via text, phone call, or messaging. In addition, group therapy sessions with peers in recovery can also provide support benefits, and psychotherapists have been setting these up as well.

Recognizing the Signs of Relapse

The risk of relapse is an unfortunate reality in recovery. Being aware of the signs of a potential relapse should spur you to take proactive steps to re engage with your support community. Signs or a relapse might include:

Symptoms of depression, including low mood, apathy, fatigue, changes in eating habits, sleep disturbance, loss of interest, and even suicidal thoughts.

Romanticizing past substance use by reminiscing about being high or longing for the effects of the substance.

Isolating behaviors, such as shutting off communication with sponsor, sponsee, discontinuing meetings, not socializing, and not participating in social media sober groups.

Neglecting healthy routines, such as not exercising, eating unhealthy foods, not getting enough quality sleep, and neglecting personal hygiene.

Handy Links for Accessing Real-Time Meetings Information

With so much uncertainty around social distancing policies it is difficult to keep up on the most current information regarding recovery meetings. Here is a handy resource to access when you are wondering if live meetings have gone digital in your area:

• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Cocaine Anonymous
• Crystal Meth Anonymous
• Heroin Anonymous
• LifeRing Secular Recovery
• Narcotics Anonymous
• SMART Recovery
• Women for Sobriety

To have so many excellent sources of support available, even when or if we are stuck at home, is an amazing example of the importance of community. While we may have to adjust a bit during these crazy times, finding fellowship amidst the chaos is a gift. Participating in a recovery community offers much more than just social interaction. These communities are an invaluable source of recovery care, accountability, and inspiration.

About the Author

Ken Seeley is an internationally acclaimed interventionist, having years of experience in this field. Certified as a Board Registered Interventionist-Level 2, Seeley has worked full-time in the business of recovery and intervention since 1989. He is a regular contributor to CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and ABC on the topics of addiction and intervention. He was one of three featured interventionists on the Emmy Award winning television series, Intervention, on A&E. He is also the author of “Face It and Fix It,” about overcoming the denial that leads to common addictions while bringing guidance to those struggling with addiction. Ken Seeley is the founder and C.E.O. of Ken Seeley Communities, a full spectrum addiction recovery program located in Palm Springs, California.