Life After 12-Step Recovery: An Interview with Julie Maida

For the last 9 years, I’ve openly shared my journey of recovery. Not only among my peers and recovery community, but also as a writer and activist. One of greatest observations over those nine years has been my evolution. That metamorphosis has demonstrated that my evolution also related to my needs in recovery. That is to say, what I needed in the early years is very different to what I need today.

Initially, I needed a community of sober folks that I found in AA and I needed their support not to drink, but a few years in there were a few parts of my life that were not improving and I needed more. I ultimately needed trauma therapy (this article explains I was suffering with cPTSD). I didn’t need to listen to a heteronormative patriarchal perception of recovery. I needed to hear my voice. I needed space. I needed to reclaim who I am and the agency and autonomy over my life. That meant a big change.

Life After 12-Step Recovery Community

After moving to America, I took another big leap of faith and left 12-step recovery. It wasn’t easy. In fact, it went against everything I’d been told in the first five years of my recovery. I’ve written extensively about that process, in these articles:

• How to Successfully Leave 12-Step Meetings

• Recovery is Not Synonymous with AA

• What Do I Do if I Want to Leave AA?

• 5 Myths About Leaving 12-Step Fellowships

• Life After 12 Steps: Why I left Alcoholics Anonymous and what my recovery looks like today

• Is There Life After AA

• I Outgrew AA and Still Stayed Sober — It’s More Common Than You Think

• There’s More Than One Pathway to Recover: A Guide

I realized that writing wasn’t enough, though. I couldn’t possibly be the only person who has left AA and stayed sober. So I set up a Facebook group, Life After 12-Step Recovery.

Life After 12-Step Recovery is community (primarily a Facebook group) of people who are in the process or have left 12-step recovery. We provide tools, and resources for people who leave AA, NA, or any other A because it wasn't the right fit for them. Most of all, we want to provide hope and real-life experience of people thriving once they have left these fellowships. This is the beginning, not the end. This channel shares expert life experiences of those who have left a 12-step recovery and are now thriving. We are now over 800 members and are all learning to navigate the process of reclaiming our agency and autonomy and self-directing a recovery that works for us.

As part of that community, we share our stories. And today, the wonderful Julie Maida shared hers. You can watch the replay on YouTube, below. We also set up a new podcast so that you can listen to this interview. Link below.

Expert Speaker: Julie Maida on Life After 12-Step Recovery

Listen to Julie’s talk

I hope that you find this information helpful. If you’re reading this, you may have doubts about 12-step recovery otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Please listen to that voice that is telling you to look for something else. I’m living proof, and so is Julie and the 800+ people in our group, that there is life after 12-step recovery.