Secular Organizations for Sobriety

Saves Our Selves

Dateline: 06/30/99

Secular Organizations for Sobriety is a recovery process based on peer group support, and the separation of recovery from religion or spirituality.

Sometimes known as Save Our Selves, SOS is an informal support network of people recovering from alcohol and/or drug problems using an approach developed by James Christopher (Jim C.) who launched the SOS philosophy by writing several articles and three books beginning in 1988.

A booklet written and published in 1997 by SOS members, the Sobriety Handbook, summarizes the basic concepts of the program and serves as a brief introduction to the organization.

The Organization

Marty N's Unhooked.com site serves as the organization's "unofficial" web site, and provides background, history and updated news items for SOS members, as well as many other community features. Marty also shares his personal story on the site.

The Council for Secular Humanism funds the salary of international spokesperson, Jim C., as well as produces and distributes the SOS International Newsletter.

Jim C's office in Los Angeles is the International Clearinghouse for SOS from which he distributes his books, brochures and tapes. Most of the expenses of the clearinghouse are funded by The Council, which collects and disburses all donations made to SOS.

SOS Meetings

The main activity of the organization is centered around meetings, which are started by covenors. There are currently about 50 active meetings outside of prison settings in 19 states, and in several other countries.

The state of Texas has adopted SOS as its designated secular alternative to 12-Step programs in its prison system. The largest group of non-prison meetings is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

SOS members also have several online meetings. The web site lists email meetings that are available to participants online and some of the messages from those meetings have been published in an archive on the Unhooked.com site, which also features sections on food and beverages, poetry, and humor.

The Unhooked.com site also provides a list of other SOS web sites and information pages from around the world.

Other Alternatives
There are support groups available that do not use the 12 steps or refer to a higher power.

Medical Treatment
More information about the medical treatment of alcoholism.

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