Organization Update – 11/16/18

Hello Competent Women!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, as usual. Lots of exciting things happening in the organization and lots of great volunteer opportunities, and lots of volunteers stepping up to the plate to help grow this program!

We got a really enthusiastic volunteer to partner with a member of the Face-to-Face Management Team on starting a monthly support circle for our Certified Moderators (CMs) and Certified Co-Moderators (CCMs). They are looking at videoconferencing and audio conferencing options to bring our in-person group leaders from across the US & Canada together to share ideas, support, and encouragement for themselves and their group facilitation. What a great resource this will be for the 4C women who dedicate themselves to bringing the New Life Program to their local communities!

The Conference Planning Workgroup met last Saturday night and I will be honest, it was the most fun I’ve ever had working on a Saturday night! So many wonderful new ideas were being generated and pragmatic solutions to actually make them happen. With big names like Karen Drucker and Annie Grace on the schedule already, this year’s conference promises to be one of the best yet! Have an idea for an informal activity or a full workshop/breakout session for the 2019 conference? Let us know! Use the Call for Presentations form for formal workshop and breakout sessions, or email [email protected] if you have an idea for an informal group activity you would like to lead.

On the outreach front, we’ve been invited to participate in another project with Choice in Recovery. Many will remember that we participated in this video project to help educate the public about the many options that are available to people in recovery from Substance Use Disorders. Choice is creating an online course for treatment professionals to learn more about the many pathways available to their clients and has asked us to participate. Some folks may also remember the webinar I did in July 2017 for the Cigna Drug & Alcohol Awareness Series. I blushed when I heard that it was their most often replayed webinar from 2017! I am preparing another webinar for them, tentatively scheduled for March 2019, where I will focus on the closing gender gap in addiction demographics.

Other new volunteers include a new Peer Leader for the CCL Workgroup, bravely coordinating our Certified Chat Leaders as they bring online meetings to our WFS Online community, and a couple of women who may be taking on some blog editor work… I have lots of ideas on how to expand this blog to make it even more helpful to the women of the New Life Program and others who are interested in the organization, but not nearly enough time to do it all. Hopefully, these 4C gals will be able to help with this exciting expansion of this public resource!

I was also reminded that in one of my previous posts, I promised a picture of the new heaters in the office, so I’m making it my pic of the week this time. Compare it to the pics in the 10/27/18 Organization Update post and you can see how much smaller and unobtrusive they are. And so warm during our first big snowfall of year this week!

Alright, folks, that’s all I have for tonight. Thanks to all of you for reading and especially to our fantastic volunteers who are stepping up and helping make change happen. We have a lot of women in addiction and recovery to help, and we can do so much more together!

Enthusiastically Yours,
Adrienne Miller
President/CEO
Women for Sobriety, Inc.