How I found SOS

Hi all, my name is Norman Frankum. I am writing this to not only to tell you a little bit about myself, but also to celebrate my one year mark in my new life. I started on a path of recovery in January 1989 in Hamilton, Ontario in the fellowship of aa because I was drinking and smoking pot in excess and knew that there was more to life. At my first aa meeting I told another member that I also smoked pot and he told me that it was ok as long as I didn't drink, at that point I knew that aa wasn't for me. So I looked around and came across na and attended that fellowship for about 18 months and stayed clean for that time. I became involved in the na service structure and became aware that while the world office was telling the groups to follow the traditions it was violating them themselves. So at that point I left them too.

I spent the next couple years in a place where I could limit and control my consumption of substances. In 1996, after my third divorce, I started injecting Cocaine and Heroin. I continued to do this until the local police were ready to raid the place. At this point I had lost all my self respect and contact with my son. I was also in a very depressive state where I wanted to kill myself and tried many times to overdose. I even told people that used with me that if I did OD not to try to revive me. I was at a point where I was too scared to live and too scared to die.

I decided to give recovery one more try. I went to a detox centre in Barrie, Ontario, and from there to a treatment centre where within a week they told me that I had to leave because I was too hard core for them to help me. I then went to a treatment centre in British Columbia that specialized in hard core IV drug users. This was in May 2000 and I was reintroduced to the 12 steps of na. I tried to work the steps and force myself to believe in god, but I could not grasp that concept, and after getting kicked out of 3 treatment centers in BC, I moved back to Ontario. Not knowing anything but the 12 steps for recovery, I continued to use and go to meetings, but I was always relapsing.

In May of 2002 I got $21,000 from a workers comp case and for 3 months didn't use, but in July of that year I relapsed again this time spending $13,000 in the short course of 14 days. After I ran out of money and woke up with a clear head on the 8th of August I did a Google search for something other than 12 step recovery thinking that there had to be another way to find recovery. I really don't know how many hits came up, but I read about 450 web sites and came across a site for SOS and then read all I could about it. I was really impressed with the concept of recovery without religion. There were no meetings of SOS in Canada, but I decided that this was the way that I could recover. So I contacted Jim Christopher and asked for a starter kit as I was going to start the first SOS meeting in Canada. I joined the SOS international e-mail list and started taking part in the online meetings while I tried to get my first meeting going. That SOS meeting has now been going since October 19, 2002. I have learned to implement the Sobriety Priority. I have also changed so much and am at peace with myself and have learned to forgive myself and rely and trust myself.

In the course of my using I contracted Hepatitis C and after the last relapse it became active, and I am now going to start treatment for it. The treatment is for a period of six months and I really hope that I will be able to get rid of the virus. I am grateful that SOS was started by Jim Christopher in 1986 and that Jim showed me that recovery was possible without religion. Had I not found a support group like this, I would likely be dead by now. While I know that I am the one staying clean and give credit to myself for that, I needed the support that I got in the beginning and am now able to offer other people in the same situation the support that I got. Thanks for letting me share.
Norman Frankum