More Than One Way: SMART Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training) part 2 🏳️🌈 A Queer Recovery Podcast 🎙️More Than One Way: SMART Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training) part 2 🏳️🌈 A Queer Recovery Podcast 🎙️
At The CCC
Anthony and Louis talk through SMART Recovery as a secular, science‑based alternative to 12‑step, reflecting on relapse, motivation and queer‑centred support. Their chat highlights that sobriety can be approached in different ways, with compassion and personal choice at the centre.
32:29•25 May 2026
More Than One Way: Queer Takes on SMART Recovery and Sobriety
Episode Overview
- SMART Recovery is secular, science‑based and treats addiction as a learned pattern rather than a fixed identity.
- The focus is on building motivation, coping with urges, and changing thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
- SMART meetings are facilitator‑led, structured, and centred on current problems and practical tools.
- Progress is measured by quality of life and behavioural change more than by sobriety day counts.
- Relapse is framed as evidence that help is needed, and returning for support is seen as a courageous act.
“Relapse is evidence of a need for recovery.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This episode of *At The CCC* keeps things real and a little bit cheeky while unpacking SMART Recovery as another route away from addiction. Anthony and Louis sit behind the mics at the Castro Country Club, joking about allergies, schedules and "these nuts" before getting into a grounded chat about Self-Management and Recovery Training.
Anthony breaks down SMART as a secular, science-based approach that looks a lot like cognitive behavioural therapy: changing thoughts, feelings and actions rather than focusing on spirituality or lifelong labels. As he explains, SMART treats addiction as a learned pattern, not an identity, and aims to swap chaos for “meaning, connection, stability building, and basically a life worth protecting.” They compare SMART with 12‑step programmes, especially around relapse and measurement of “success”.
Instead of counting days, SMART tends to look at overall quality of life and self‑management. Relapse is framed as evidence of a need for recovery, not a moral disaster. Anthony shares how a simple line from a friend – “Girl, I relapse all the time” – made it safe for him to come back after using, and both hosts stress how vital it is to meet people with compassion rather than shame.
You’ll also hear them question who SMART might suit, why some people feel alienated in traditional meetings, and how internalised racism, homophobia and class issues can make certain rooms feel unsafe. Throughout, they return to one key message: there is more than one way to get well, and grown adults get to choose what feels right for them.
If you’ve ever felt like 12‑step isn’t quite your fit, or you’re just curious about other paths, this conversation might give you a new set of questions to ask yourself about what kind of recovery life you actually want.
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