12-Step Programs Join LIUNA Conference Plans

At the suggestion of Laborers in recovery, the LHSFNA will work with LIUNA conference planners to ensure that 12-step meetings are available to interested attendees at all major LIUNA conferences.

We know that we have a fair number of recovering alcoholics and others with dependency problems at our conferences,” says LHSFNA Behavioral Health Care Coordinator Jamie F. Becker. “Staying sober at these events can be a daily challenge. Away from home and a normal support system, these members may be tempted to join their friends at the open bar after a long day of workshops and discussions. It isn’t that they can’t resist but that they appreciate the mutual support of gathering with others resisting the same temptation.”

It is recommended that arrangements to hold a support meeting be made for each day of a conference. This would include reserving a room, providing light refreshments and announcing the meetings either on the conference agenda or in registration materials. The meetings will be referred to as “Friends of Bill W.” Bill Wilson was a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). In addition, conference materials prepared for circulation in advance or upon arrival at the event will include telephone numbers and some meeting times and locations for local AA and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) chapter meetings.

Twelve-step meetings are the method devised by people with alcohol and drug problem histories to help keep them from relapsing at moments of possible weakness. For more information about alcohol, drugs and 12-step programs, call the LHSFNA Health Promotion Division.

[Steve Clark]