What I'm NOT: Disclaimers

I’m a layperson,

even though I’ve never played one on TV.

I freely admit numerous flaws and foibles.

I dreamed that getting a handle on my drinking would propel me organically into losing 40 pounds, doubling my income, becoming a fitness buff, and writing a bestseller or two, but it ain’t happened!

A few things I’m not, and that I don’t do:

• I don’t work in the substance abuse field.
• I don’t pretend to be any sort of expert.
• I am not a therapist, or a professional researcher.
• I don’t tell anybody else what to do or think.
• I am not offering a program, a plan, steps to follow or a treatment approach.

I am here to listen, to gather and share information, to offer a layperson’s feedback, to tell my story, give peer-to-peer support, and develop my voice as a health care consumer advocate.

Importance of professional care

I do encourage folks to get good professional medical care, psychosocial care, and spiritual care. I’m a firm believer in the self-sufficiency that can come from studying primary sources, reading self-help materials, and getting peer support.

The reason that those things have worked well for me, though, is that I have also gotten help from experienced professionals as needed to figure out how to apply the information I’ve gathered to my unique life.

Not an AA-basher or an anti-AA guy

It’s not hard to find folks who would like to see Alcoholics Anonymous fail. I’m not one of them. I’ve known a lot of people who have found exactly what they needed via AA or other 12-step programs, and my respect runs deep for anyone who has gotten on top of a drinking problem or helped others to do so.

The thing I question related to AA is its frequent promotion as the one-and-only solution to drinking problems despite evidence which also supports AA alternatives.

In the world I’m helping to create, I want AA to be robust, healthy, and accessible to folks. Same goes for SOS, SMART, WFS, MM, and every other option that proves itself capable of preventing, tempering, and treating drinking problems.

Most of all, I am promoting a vision for cultural change that encourages folks to be pragmatic, proactive, visible, and vocal about living sensibly with alcohol.

I speak for myself only.

I’m a supporter of, and participant in, Moderation Management. Not a spokesperson, not serving in any capacity other than cheerleader and encourager of that organization.

My perspective is not that MM, or any other single approach, is the solution for everybody that has had a drinking problem. There are many things that work for different folks, including permanent abstinence and 12-step programs. I want folks to get good health care, complete information, and support, all of which includes access to options.

Weird funny bone.

And I’m convinced that humor is critical to our survival and quality of life. I’m a bit of a screwball. Scatterbrained. Klutzy. Quirky, even morbid, humor trips my trigger.

(Case in point: I love the unapologetically irreverent satire by the writers of Modern Drunkard Magazine.)

That doesn’t mean I’m flippant — not an option after losing friends to alcoholism and suicide — I just find humor to be a necessary antidote to a world that otherwise gets too black and serious.

Fine description of the guy I know . . . well-written . . . . gotta go read more.