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The
SOS Story
Jim
Christopher - A Brief Biography
James
Christopher, a sober alcoholic since April 24, 1978, originally
attended Alcoholics Anonymous, but broke from AA
early in his recovery due to his discomfort with the AA approach.
Staying sober with his own “Sobriety Priority” program, he went
on to found SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety / Save our
Selves) in 1985. He arranged for the first SOS self-help support
group to be held in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on a
Monday evening in November, after giving numerous public lecturers
and authoring numerous articles dating back to 1984. the key article
“Sobriety without Superstition” was published in the national
periodical Free Inquiry and received worldwide responses from
recovering alcoholics and addicts, treatment professional and the
media.
James
Christopher has since authored four books : How to Stay Sober
(Prometheus Books, 1988), Unhooked (Prometheus Books, 1989), SOS
Sobriety (Prometheus Books, 1992) and Escape from Nicotine Country
(Prometheus Books, 1999). He was also a contributor to Substance
Abuse : A Comprehensive Textbook (Williams and Williams, 1997).
SOS
has grown from one meeting in Los Angeles to a data base of over
20,000 members worldwide. Each SOS meeting is autonomous and held on
an anonymous basis at no charge to participants and stresses James
Christopher’s “Sobriety Priority” abstinence-based,
self-empowerment.
James Christopher has appeared on over 300 radio and television
shows and the SOS alternative has received extensive coverage in
hundreds of print media feature articles including the Los Angeles
Times, the New York Times, the British Guardian, Newsweek, the
Journal of the American Medical Association, Glamour, Playboy,
Modern Maturity, Professional Counselor and Sober Times.
James
Christopher worked as a Program Director for Priority One, an
outpatient treatment facility in Beverly Hills, California for two
years. He moved the SOS International Clearing House to Buffalo, New
York, in June 1990, accepting sponsorship by CODESH, an
international humanist organization. The SOS movement is separately
incorporated as a non-profit organization and has been publishing a
quarterly newsletter since 1987.
The
US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service,
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration includes
SOS in its official literature; the US Congress Employee Assistance
Program subscribes to the SOS Newsletter, and since 1987, the Los
Angeles Court system, as well as numerous courts across the US, have
offered SOS as a viable recovery choice to persons mandated to
attend a self-help program.
In
February 1995 James Christopher returned to the Clearing House to Los
Angeles and currently divides his time among three activities : SOS
Clearing House duties, holding recovery workshops across the US and
abroad, and doing research on the evolution of the SOS Sobriety
Priority program, described by James Christopher as the “CVS Method”
(Cognitive / Visceral Synchronization).
SOS
A BRIEF HISTORY
"During my first years of sobriety I questioned a number of
alcoholics, searching for the common thread of their successes in
maintaining a lasting sobriety. When I was about three years into my
sobriety I began to challenge the concepts of Alcoholics
Anonymous.... By the time I was sober five years I had compiled an
extensive file of responses and, four years to the present day, I've
collected data from more than two thousand « sobrietists ».
Both from this research and my own experience of recovery, I have put
together a specific secular approach to achieving and maintaining
long-term sobriety. I call it the « Sobriety Priority ». I
wish to offer it here as « a » way (beware of anyone who
offers « the » way) to achieve and maintain sobriety for life”
James Christopher, 1986.
The
SOS movement began with an article in the Summer 1985 issue of FREE
INQUIRY magazine, the leading secular humanist journal in the USA.
James Christopher, the son of an alcoholic, and a sober alcoholic
himself, wrote « Sobriety Without Superstition », an
account of the path he took to sobriety.
This path led Christopher from seventeen years of a fearful and
guilty alcoholism to a fearful and guilty sobriety with Alcoholics
Anonymous. Christopher felt that there must be other alcoholics who
wanted to achieve and maintain sobriety through personal
responsibility and self-reliance. He also felt that turning ones
life over to a « Higher Power » was not compatible with
current research which indicated that addiction is the result of
physiology, not psychology.
As a result of the tremendous response to the article from those who
wanted to maintain sobriety as a separate issue from religion, Jim
Christopher founded the Secular Organizations for Sobriety.
Today there are SOS groups meeting in every state in the USA and
throughout the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia and Israel. SOS has
gained official recognition from health professionals, clinics and US
court system. In 1987 the California courts recognized SOS as an
alternative to AA for recovery programs and the Veterans Administration
has adopted a policy which prohibits mandatory participation in programs
of a religious nature. In 1998, the American Association of Psychiatrists
published a chapter written by James Christopher in its main professional
textbook "Substance Abuse". |
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James Christopher
Marquis Who’s Who in the World,
since 1995
Named International Man of
the Year,
1993, by the International Biographical Center, Cambridge, UK
Dictionary of
International Biography,
since 1995 (International Biographical Center, Cambridge, UK)
Included in Five Thousand
Personalities of the World, 1994/95
(American Biographical Institute, Inc)
Certified Addictions
Specialist (C.A.S.), American Academy of
Health Care Providers in Addictive Disorders, Cambridge M.A.
Certified Diplomat in
Psychotherapy ( D.A.P.A),
American Psychotherapy Association, Washington D.C.
Member, American
Counseling Association
Member, American Council
on Alcoholism
For
further information
4773 Hollywood
Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027, USA
Tel : (323) 666-4295/
Fax: (323) 666-4271
email : mailto:{sos@cfiwest.org}
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SOS
Meetings Around The World