SMART Recovery will now be offered in Cortland County weekly on Thursdays from 5:30pm to 6:30pm starting April 20, 2023 at the Cortland Free Library, 32 N Church St., Cortland.

For those who are unfamiliar, SMART Recovery is a fresh approach to addiction recovery. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. This is more than an acronym: it is a transformative method of moving from addictive substances and negative behaviors to a life of positive self-regard and willingness to change. Far too many people feel powerless over their lives and carry a sense of futility, a dread of staying trapped within an addiction pattern and locked into their circumstances. SMART helps them learn the skills they need to overcome their addictions and transform their lives. SMART was created for people seeking a self-empowering way to overcome addictive problems. What has emerged is an accessible method of recovery, one grounded in science and proven by more than a quarter-century of experience teaching practical tools that encourage lasting change. SMART is a powerful recovery community that includes passionate volunteers who recovered with SMART who are driven to help others. Peers and professionals working together fuse science and experience to help people build healthy and balanced lives.

In these FREE mutual support meetings, now offered in-person in Cortland County, participants can design and implement their own recovery plan to create a more balanced, purposeful, fulfilling, and meaningful life.  If one wants to address any addiction or harmful habit, SMART Recovery can help. Major changes can be overwhelming. SMART’s practical tools and social supports are proven effective to support and sustain successful long-term life change. Harmful habits include substance addictions (to alcohol and other drugs), as well as activity addictions (to behaviors like sex, relationships, spending, gambling, eating, exercise, and self-injury). No matter the harmful habit, SMART can help change it. SMART is not just any mutual-support program. The science-based approach emphasizes self-empowerment and self-reliance. Individuals can choose how to personalize their own plan for successful change. SMART Recovery recognizes the only one who can become truly an expert on their own recovery is themselves. SMART can be used both as a stand-alone program or in combination with other recovery paths.

These meetings are being supported by Prevention Network of CNY with involvement of people with lived experience.

For more information, contact Kaelyn Dowd, Family Support Navigator with Prevention Network of CNY, at kdowd@preventionnetworkcny.org or (315)471-1359.