Ep 189 MARA: A Non-Judgemental Alternative to AA – Bob's Story

MARA is a recovery path and stands for Medication Assisted Recovery Anonymous. It has 12 steps but is NOT affiliated with AA or even that similar to AA but the steps are inspired from AA. I find MARA to be very compassionate, empathetic and a recovery path that I'm so glad now exists.

Bob shares his story with leaving NA, joining MARA and how it's made all the difference in his own recovery and life.

MARA website

MARA book

Timestamps:

00:00 Medicated Assisted Recovery Intro

03:25 Why I Left NA

08:32 Googling Harm Reduction

09:41 What is Medicated Assisted Recovery Anonymous

22:36 Prescribed Opioids at 22 Years Sober

30:31 Withdrawing From Suboxone

35:04 Recovery Treatment Not Working + Relapse

42:29 Living a Safe Lifestyle

44:35 NA vs MARA Recovery

47:33 MARA Meetings

1:03:34 My First MARA Meeting

1:07:47 Working in Treatment + Harm Reduction

1:13:22 We Were At The Same MARA Meeting

1:22:23 Building a Support System

1:29:00 Benefits of MARA Recovery

1:33:40 Why MARA is a Better Solution

👉 Deprogram Lounge (community, Zooms, book club, Escape Kit + more)

📚 Deprogram Book List (my fave deprogram, cult recovery and critical thinking books)

Let’s get f*cking free