Login
English▼
Afrikaans
Shqip
አማርኛ
العربية
Հայերեն
Azərbaycan dili
Euskara
Беларуская мова
বাংলা
Bosanski
Български
Català
Cebuano
Chichewa
简体中文
繁體中文
Corsu
Hrvatski
Čeština
Dansk
Nederlands
English
Esperanto
Eesti
Filipino
Suomi
Français
Frysk
Galego
ქართული
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
ગુજરાતી
Kreyol ayisyen
Harshen Hausa
Ōlelo Hawaiʻi
עִבְרִית
हिन्दी
Hmong
Magyar
Íslenska
Igbo
Bahasa Indonesia
Gaeilge
Italiano
日本語
Basa Jawa
ಕನ್ನಡ
Қазақ тілі
ភាសាខ្មែរ
한국어
كوردی
Кыргызча
ພາສາລາວ
Latin
Latviešu valoda
Lietuvių kalba
Lëtzebuergesch
Македонски јазик
Malagasy
Bahasa Melayu
മലയാളം
Maltese
Te Reo Māori
मराठी
Монгол
ဗမာစာ
नेपाली
Norsk bokmål
پښتو
فارسی
Polski
Português
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Română
Русский
Samoan
Gàidhlig
Српски језик
Sesotho
Shona
سنڌي
සිංහල
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Afsoomaali
Español
Basa Sunda
Kiswahili
Svenska
Тоҷикӣ
தமிழ்
తెలుగు
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
اردو
O‘zbekcha
Tiếng Việt
Cymraeg
isiXhosa
יידיש
Yorùbá
Zulu
X
Dual Recovery Anonymous:
Tradition 8
"Tradition 8: D.R.A. is a volunteer, self-help organization. To carry out our service work, we may employ special workers, form committees and coordinate projects."
You are here:
|
Home
|
Dual Recovery Anonymous
|
12 Traditions of Dual Recovery Anonymous
|
DRA Tradition Eight
Tradition Eight
8:- “D.R.A. is a volunteer, self-help organization. To carry out our service work, we may employ special workers, form committees and coordinate projects.”
A core principle behind the Eighth Tradition guides us to steer clear of the profit motive where our Primary Purpose is concerned. Twelfth Step work is never charged for but we may hire people and pay for needed services to support the work of our Group Service Work Committees, Intergroups, National Service Committees, and World Network Central Office.
IN OUR OWN WORDS:
Members share their thoughts on the Eighth Tradition
I’m happy that DRA happens because of the volunteer efforts of recovering people just like me. I feel that this is MY thing… separate from all the doctors, housing authorities, and treatment team professionals I have to deal with. The whole thing here is empowering… self-empowering.
I guess some people could actually work for DRA. Maybe at the World Network Office or a big Intergroup. People with special skills maybe. I mean, I’m sure DRA has to hire lawyers and bean-counters sometimes and people to do the things that aren’t Twelfth Step oriented but need to be done just the same.
We have a yearly pot-luck picnic to celebrate the anniversary of our Group. Each year we ask for volunteers to organize and publicize it. We call it our picnic committee. Once we get four or five people who are willing, they vote on a chairperson and figure out the best way to structure their committee to get the various jobs done. At our monthly business meetings, their chairperson gives a report on their progress and we discuss issues like funding and take the Group Conscience when needed to make decisions on things like when, where, and how much. We have a pretty big Group and we’ve found that forming smaller committees like this for special projects is very effective and saves a lot of time and chaos.
We make up DRA meeting schedules for the groups in our area. We pay a quick-print shop to print and fold them because ink-jet cartridges are just way too expensive and the ink runs when it gets wet. We think this is the same as employing special workers so we can do our service work.
I think of DRA as a total program of freedom and choice. We volunteer to come to meetings. We volunteer to participate and share. We voluntarily decide to help ourselves and even reach out to help others. We volunteer to help out with service work. We volunteer to be in dual recovery one day at a time.
I remember the first time a person came up to me after a meeting and told me how helpful what I had shared during the meeting was to them. I was surprised because I was just dumping some feelings and frustrations I was having about a fairly personal issue. It was then that I realized that just by sharing honestly I had somehow made another person feel less alone. By helping myself I had touched another person’s life in a positive way. There is a lot more to this self-help business than first meets the eye. DRA meetings are a process that somehow is bigger than all of the individual elements that make up the group. It starts with self-help maybe but that soon grows into mutual support and love.

Dual Diagnosis Community
Become part of a rapidly growing community for people with co-occurring mental health & addiction issues.
The community’s purpose is to help people to develop effective recovery support networks to aid recovery from both mental health & addiction issues.
Not only does the community provide ways of communicating with others who have a dual diagnosis, but is also planning on running peer-led support groups.
Newsletter Sign-up:
Resources & Tools
- Dual Diagnosis Resources
- Dual Diagnosis Hub Local
- Carers Resources
- Resources for Professionals
- Mental Health Resources
- Free Psychology Tools
- Useful Tools for Professionals
- UK Recovery Colleges Directory
- WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)
- Online Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)
- How to Join an Online 12 Step Meeting