Here's Tom with the weather..‪.‬ David

Today, we’re very privileged to have a presentation about the fascinating Life & Times of a true AA Pioneer –Marty Mann…and the presentation will be conducted by Mily.

Margaret Marty Mann (October 15, 1904 – July 22, 1980) is considered by some to be the first woman with long term sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.[1]
There were several remarkable women in the early days of AA including but not limited to: Florence R. of New York, Sylvia K. of Chicago, Ethel M. of Akron, Ohio. AA co-founder Bill Wilson was Marty's sponsor. Marty wrote the chapter "Women Suffer Too" in the second through fourth editions of the Big Book of AA.
Mann organized the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA) in 1944, which later became the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA), and then the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), to address concern with other drugs.[2] She traveled across the U.S. educating medical professionals legislators, businessmen and the public to the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism.[1] In 1976 the NCA organized Operation Understanding where 50 celebrities and professionals gathered to address the social stigma surrounding alcoholism. Actors, politicians, sports legends, physicians, lawyers, clergy and more stood up in the hotel ballroom and said "I am an alcoholic." The NCA hoped to reduce the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encourage individuals and their family to get treatment. Marty hoped to raise social awareness that alcoholism is not a moral weakness but a deadly disease.

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Today we’re talking about the Well Community – a recovery community in the North of England – it’s an urban conurbation populated by people in recovery, that offers a range of high-quality services which are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Support is free to members and is provided by staff and volunteers with 'lived experience' of addiction. The team also specialises in providing support to people with mental health issues, offending behaviour, childhood trauma, learning difficulties, domestic abuse and homelessness.
They’ve become a well-known and highly respected service provider in Cumbria and north Lancashire. Of those who've used our services, 69% have recovered after 6 months.

THEIR MISSION
To build a movement that supports sustainable recovery for people facing severe and complex social exclusion by valuing and harnessing the strengths, skills, partnerships and other assets present in every community.
THEIR VISION
For people facing severe and complex social exclusion to have the opportunity to live healthy and fulfilling lives through involvement in a community that supports their recovery, encourages (stigma-free) social integration, builds their abstinence and wellbeing, and is led and organised by their peers and families.

Representing the Well Community is Ged Pickersgill…who was for 30 years, an active class A substance misuser, Street homeless, ex offender, repeated hospitalizations, got clean with 12 step program  in June 2015 and now run 62 bed supported Housing project in the community. 


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Today we’re discussing the leaflet, ‘A newcomer asks’ - and how it's tone perhaps doesn't reflect the AA of today.
This British Pamphlet was brought to the USA by a member who passed it around.
In 1980, USA/Canada General Service adopted and adapted it, making it available in English, French, Spanish. The spirit of the pamphlet shows a tolerant and liberal approach to AA…an approach that some may argue has given way to a certain amount of authoritativeness and rigidity...
Find it it here : https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-24_anewcomerask.pdf

or read it here:https://www.aa.org/newcomer-asks

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 This leaflet is intended for people approaching Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) for the first time. In it we have tried to answer the questions most frequently in the minds of newcomers — the questions which were in our minds when we first approached the Fellowship.
 
Am I an alcoholic?
 If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, if you get into trouble, or if you have memory lapses when you drink, you may be an alcoholic. Only you can decide. No one in A.A. will tell you whether you are or are not. 

Today we’re talking with David Best - DAVID BEST has worked in the addictions field for 20 years, predominantly in England in a range of university and policy posts, including work at the Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psych eye atry at Birmingham University and with the National Addiction Centre. His main research interests are around treatment effectiveness and the recovery agenda. In the latter capacity, he was the first chair of the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium and of the UK Recovery Academy. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is attempting to develop models to understand recovery peer networks and the growth of recovery capital.
His Book, Pathways to Recovery and Desistance: The Role of the Social Contagion of Hope, has been described by Shadd Maruna, Queen's University Belfast as thus: ''In this remarkable new book, David Best turns his considerable gifts toward developing a full-fledged sociology of "hope" - surely the most important and misunderstood concept in the fields of criminology and addiction studies. My hope is that it starts a revolution of hope studies in recovery work."

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A wonderful episode in discussion with Emiliano L from BIPOC  (Black & Indigenous People of Color) in Sacramento, California...
Describes his journey into AA. How he loves AA but felt he needed a safe space to share his story, outside of Traditional meetings.
He is joined by several others who describe their own sober journeys as Black, Indigenous People of Color in 12 Step recovery.

Here’s Tom with the Weather is now on a Monday - the podcast that examines Recovery from every angle…a safe space for open-minded discussion about those issues or perhaps even taboos that affect recovery.
These are the topics, often whispered about in church basements, or grumbled over - by the bleeding deacons and Big Book Thumpers - that are verboten or scoffed at.
We want to give free voice to those subjects that get Alkie witches and warlocks burned at the stake or at the very least, hounded out of their home group.
And a quick aside…we run this account for free so we welcome any contributions via paypal at Gilwriter@hotmail.co.uk
 
See us every Monday  at zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88215498348
 
Help us Keep Tom going – please donate a few bucks/quid/sheckels here at Paypal: Gilwriter@hotmail.co.uk
 
 
 
Zoom ID 882 1549 348 password Tom
 
Our website is at www.HTWTW.com
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Here it is...controversial, or what?
A select few of Tom contributors (those who showed up!) discuss a new direction for Here's Tom with the Weather...leave comments here or email me at Gilwriter@hotmail.co.uk.
We will be discussing issues as they relate to AA and 12 step fellowships...the last 2 years (2020-22) has seen a revolution via zoom...what's next? Lets hear your thoughts!
See you every Monday on Zoom at 8pm UK, 3pm EST, 12pm PST at zoom number 882 1549 8348 passcode Tom