SOS Takes Off In Britain
Secular Organizations for
Sobriety (SOS), the CODESH-sponsored self-help group, is
proving to be a great success in Great Britain. SOS-UK, which held its
first meeting in Spring 1995, now has five local groups and has just launched a national
newsletter.
SOS aims to help people with alcohol and other drug dependency
problems who can't accept the quasi-religious elements of AA and similar
"12-step" organizations. The SOS alternative was introduced to
Britain by its American founder, Jim Christopher, on a visit to London in early 1995. Its
growth has been aided by active support from the British humanist movement and widespread
positive publicity in the British media. SOS-UK now looks set to emulate
the phenomenal growth and success of its US parent.
SOS was started in 1985, with an article in the CODESH
magazine Free Inquiry. Nearly 2,000 grass-roots SOS
groups have since been formed in North America and the SOS recovery
program has helped tens of thousands of people achieve and maintain sobriety. In 1995 SOS
opened its new international Clearinghouse at the Center for Inquiry - West in
Los Angeles. In addition to the new SOS branches in Britian, self-help
groups throughout Europe have incorporated the SOS approach into their
own programs.
SOS founder Jim Christopher, who coordinates the international
organization, commented, "It's great to see that the SOS approach is
proving so successful in Britain. Over the last decade, we've seen thousands of folks who
couldn't recover in traditional programs, reclaim their lives with the SOS
program. In recent years this track-record has given our secular approach a very good
reputation amongst addicts and recovery professionals who previously relied entirely on
the 12-step approach. SOS aims to build on this foundation both
by starting more groups in the US and abroad and by developing new and more in-depth
counseling clinics at our Los Angeles headquarters."
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