Community Member
I’ve made some great friends and learn skills to help me live the life I want to live.
About Our Meetings
SMART Recovery San Diego holds over forty meetings per week, both in person and online. Most meetings last an hour, unless otherwise noted. We respect your privacy; whether a meeting is face-to-face or over Zoom, you can identify by first name only or by a pseudonym. While we believe that active participation in meetings is beneficial to you and the group, no one is required to participate. You may always “pass” if you are called on. Verifications are available at all meetings unless a meeting’s description says otherwise.
SMART Recovery San Diego meetings focus on current evidence-based recovery knowledge, but how a meeting is run is up to the individual facilitator of each meeting. This allows us to offer a broad array of meetings, each with its own individual style, feel or mood.
In the meeting listings, you’ll notice different types of meetings. Discussion meetings are the most common type of meeting in San Diego, but there are other kinds of meetings.
Here’s a brief description of the basic format that can generally be expected at each type of meeting:
Discussion Meetings
Discussion meetings start with a brief intro to SMART for any newcomers, followed by a check-in period where participants can share, if they choose, what brought them to SMART and anything they may want help with or more information about. At the end of the check-in period, a topic or two has usually emerged that leads to conversation that often fills the discussion period. Discussion meetings also often have a brief check-out period where one or two participants share something they learned from the meeting.
Family & Friends
Family & Friends meetings are open to anyone but address issues related to supporting loved ones who are struggling with addictive or behavioral issues. These meetings generally follow the discussion meeting format and utilize SMART concepts and CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) -based strategies to help participants navigate relationships with their loved ones.
Tool Meetings
Tool meetings generally have a fairly brief check-in period, followed by instruction from the facilitator on using one of the SMART tools from the handbook and situations where the tool could be useful. Questions and conversation are encouraged. The discussion that follows allows participants to share experiences using the tool and ask questions about its use.
Topic Meetings
Topic meetings generally address a specific aspect of recovery in detail. They usually include a brief check-in, introduction of the topic and then discussion.
Handbook
Handbook meetings work through the SMART Recovery Handbook across a number of meetings, taking a detailed look at the concepts and tools and placing them in the context of an individual’s whole recovery.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness meetings are a particular sort of topic meeting where the recovery topic always relates to mindfulness. They generally include a guided meditation.
Meditation
Meditation meetings generally have a brief check-in and check-out with the rest of the meeting dedicated to one or more guided meditations.
Community Member
I like that meetings can be in-person or online.