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SL Prefixes FAQ

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Jabberwocky

Frumious Bandersnatch
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What the Prefix!

Greetings my fellow SLers! We are starting this year off right, not just with our new Directory but also new thread prefixes. As SL grows, our new prefix system is designed to further enable your peers to give you responsive, supportive feedback. Exciting, I know!

Hence forth, whenever you create a new threads in SL, please select one of the following prefix options (they are located just above the Title section when you create the opening post of a new thread):



Harm Reduction and Recovery: Notes on Using

At Sober Living, we like to work with an inclusive model of recovery, recovery with a big R. Just because you might still be engaged with whatever substance, treatment or medication does not necessarily exclude you from the world of recovery. When it comes to recovery, there aren’t any stake holders more important than those who actually use drugs. We'll never exclude anyone from discussions on recovery simply because they continue to use drugs.

At Bluelight, we are all about identifying and reducing the harms caused by substance use and other behavior. As such we believe recovery can begin at any stage of your process. Yes, you heard right: You can actually still be actively using and be actively working on your recovery, at the same time! Drug use doesn’t somehow preclude the possibility of recovery, or else why the fuck would you begin?

We are not encouraging you to get wasted, but if you find you aren't ready to let go of using whatever substance to help regulate your moods, of course we understand. We've been there; in many cases we are there. And we are here to encourage you to make continued efforts to minimize and reduce the harmful consequences of substance use whenever, however possible. Is this not what recovery is ultimately all about - learning to lead a healthier life? Whether this means total abstinence, maintenance, moderation or whatever, we will support any and all efforts to improve your health and quality of life.

We believe in the principles of harm reduction. We understand that substance use has affects us in different ways and that its effects on us have a lot to do with how we engage in and relate to using. We also understand that there is no one treatment model that can work equally well for everyone. We all have different needs, unique backgrounds and goals and skills particular to who we are as individuals.

Life is what we make of it, after all. It isn’t self evident. Bluelight and Sober Living are here to help provide you with the tools to make the best out of it, both in your drug use and life. Using these prefixes will help to illuminate your queries to the community and increase the value of feedback it's able to provide.



Prefix Descriptions

1. <Recovery Journal>
Choose this prefix if you want to document your journey from the “recovery” perspective. This brush carries a very broad swath. After all, we all have something to recover from, and anything that is meaningful or important to you is significant when it comes to your recovery. We encourage the use of the Recovery Journal prefix in particular for those who wish to keep a journal or diary documenting the progress, successes and/or setbacks they experience moving forward with recovery - regardless of the stage they find themselves at.​

2. <Addiction Journal>
Still engaging in that harmful behavior? No problem! To some degree, we all are - even Buddha screwed his creditors over towards the end of his life. If you want to document your story from the point of view of the harms substance use and related behaviors have caused us, please apply this prefix to your new thread. If you don’t feel it is appropriate to give your thread the "recovery" label, give it the "addiction" label! Remember, we love the darker side of substance use just as much as we love what life offer's as we emerge from the darkness.​

3. <Tapering Journal>
Are you dependent on an opioid (oxycodone, Suboxone, etc) or gabaergic type substance (alcohol, Xanax, etc) and want to discuss how you can help maintain stability in your life while transitioning off it? Use this prefix! This may seem similar to the <Detox Journal> prefix, however the specific focus is on how to best manage an incremental, gradual, longer term detoxification process rather than just the process of jumping off to zero. We will help guide your through the process of getting off what you have been using in the smoothest way possible.​

4. <Detox Journal>
Oh the agony of withdrawal! The fear and trepidation of the DREADED KICK! Go with this prefix if you want to discuss anything withdrawal related. Topics include symptoms of acute and post-acute withdrawal and ways to manage them. When it comes to detoxing, acute and even post-acute withdrawal is a fairly predictable process. The uncertainty for the individual experiencing it is what makes it the most difficult. Use this prefix to wrap your head around the process or to document your experience in order to help others understand their own. And remember, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.​

5. <(Re)Lapse>
Another loaded term! Forget the cliches, use this prefix if you want to discuss anything from a minor bump in the road to a major life changing fuck-up. Perhaps you’ve been sober for years and ended up with a habit and want some support getting yourself back together. Or perhaps you have been struggling to get sober and keep returning to old patterns of behavior after short stints of abstinence. We will help support you get back on track to accomplishing your goals with this prefix! Failure tends to present us with the most fruitful of opportunities.​

6. <Treatment>
Use this prefix to learn about all things treatment. Outpatient, inpatient. Residential detoxification, partial hospitalization. Methadone maintenance therapy, buprenorphine replacement therapy. Naltrexone, not naloxone (though we love naloxone too). Use this prefix for discussing anything clinically or treatment oriented in SL.​

7. <Recovery Housing>
So you’ve been through the whole addiction treatment rigamarole and you’re looking to step down to something a little more structured than just going back to the shooting gallery, your parent’s basement or the sidewalk downtown? Use this prefix to discuss topics related to sobriety and communal living situations (commonly referred to as “Sober Livings,” Oxford Houses, Halfway Houses, Transitional Living, etc.).​

8. <no prefix>
Undecided or unhappy with your choices of prefixes? Use this prefix! ;)

9. <recruitment>
If you don’t already know, don’t use it.​
 
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