VolunteerCONNECTION - March 1, 2023

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Subject: VolunteerCONNECTION - March 1, 2023

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Announcements & Reminders

New and Improved Meeting Verification System

Obtaining attendance verifications is a necessary part of recovery for many of our participants. We also recognize the time and effort so many of you put in to manually providing them after each of your meetings. Because of this we are excited to announce that we are launching a new feature in SMARTfinder on March 2, 2023 that can make this easier for both you and your participants.

SMARTfinder will now display whether meetings provide attendance verifications or not, and it is your decision whether to provide them for your meeting. If your online meeting uses a Zoom license provided by SMART Recovery, then your meeting will be able to offer the Pathcheck™ Instant Verifications. If you use some other Zoom license (or run an in-person meeting), your meeting can indicate that it offers Facilitator-provided verifications. All 4-point/Standard SMART Recovery meetings will default to “verifications provided” when this feature launches on March 2, 2023.

For additional information and instructions on how to adjust your verification setting click here.

Learn More

Successful Life Skills in Specialty Courts

Florida’s Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA) has partnered with SMART to run an exciting pilot program for the courts using SMART’s Successful Life Skills (SLS) curriculum. Florida-based SMART facilitators Kristal Field and Glenn McGee are running classes for two Drug Courts and two Veterans Courts from circuits ranging from the Panhandle all the way to Miami. Both facilitators report that their classes to-date have been amazing, with participants engaged and excited about the SMART content and format. They have highlighted the Hierarchy of Values, Thinking Errors and the Cost Benefit Analysis as particular areas of interest for their participants. SMART and OSCA will review results of the initiative with consideration by OSCA of other possible points of collaboration with the courts system. Along with the Locus of Control Survey that is a standard part of SLS, our partners at the Fletcher Group have worked with us on an end-of-course survey to help gauge the efficacy of the course in Specialty Court settings. We hope that this can prove an area of growth for SLS and SMART as a whole!

If you are interested in learning more about how to get involved in SMART’s Successful Life Skills initiatives, please reach out to Brad Glaser (bglaser@smartrecovery.org) or Alena Kuplinski (akuplinski@smartrecovery.org)

Motivational Interviewing Refresher Coming Soon

Our Motivational Interviewing Refresher course will be held April 1, 2023. Registration begins Friday, March 17th. Watch your email for details!

Volunteer Opportunities

Facilitator Mentoring Program

If you have been a SMART Recovery facilitator for a year or more and are looking for a way to share what you have learned with others, check out our Facilitator Mentoring Program. Facilitator Mentors offer support and guidance for both starting and maintaining SMART Recovery meetings.

Become A Mentor

National Meetings Co-facilitators Needed

In the last quarter of 2022, SMART began a pilot listing of some Family & Friends and 4-Point meetings on SMARTfinder. Unlike SMART Recovery OnLine (SROL) meetings, no registration is required to participate in the meetings. This new way of listing removes what has been reported as a barrier to participation (the registration process itself) and aligns our work more closely with our organizational values.

We hoped to see increased meeting participation by taking this action and it has worked! Consider these examples:

Saturday 8:30 PM ET meeting saw a 147% increase in attendance.
Sunday 12:30 PM ET meeting saw a 142% increase in attendance.
Tuesday, 6:00 PM ET meeting saw a 173% increase in attendance.

Because of the increase in participation and the number of new participants in these National 4-Point meetings, we would like to have a lead facilitator and two co-facilitators at each meeting. We believe that having one co-facilitator greeting participants and answering questions while the other focuses on facilitator support and meeting management is the ideal mix of support for the lead facilitator.

So, here is our ask. If you have successfully completed any of our Facilitator trainings (GSF 201, 202, 203, or 301), have experience facilitating SMART Recovery online meetings, and are interested in becoming a co-facilitator, please let us know by filling out this form.

The reality of this growth in meeting participants means more individuals are getting help to live a Life Beyond Addiction, and it’s only because of our volunteers that this can happen.

Become A Co-Facilitator

Meetings of Interest for Volunteers