3 Online Communities Where You Can Find Sober Friends
Making sober friends is only a click away, with these all-inclusive online resources.
Friendships change when you stop drinking. It's blunt but it's true. Steph is always down for a good gab session over wine and Bryan always comes in clutch with seeing the positive in your recent break up after downing a beer. Now that you've removed the liquor, those moments of connection can feel different.
Here are some online communities you can use to to build those same connections with people who aren’t used to handing you a glass or suggesting a problem is solved with a shot:
Tempest: Tempest is an online community dedicated to alcohol recovery, founded by Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like a Woman. Whitaker founded Tempest knowing that sobriety requires a holistic approach to healing—and that includes your community.
A membership with Tempest costs $59/month and includes access to 35+ support calls every week, daily affirmations, expert-led courses, a 24/7 online community and more. After signing up, you can take a quick intake survey to set your own goals, start learning the foundations of sobriety through Tempest’s Foundations Course, and join support group calls.
In her book, Quit Like a Woman, Whitaker writes about her changing understanding of community throughout her sobriety journey:
“I realized I no longer had to put up with people who made me feel less than, or react to people who provoked me. I didn’t have to be the mean one or the intolerant one or the nice one or the one who settles or the one no one respects. I didn’t have to hang around with people I couldn’t be myself with, or people who didn’t like me, or people I didn’t like, or people who cratered parts of me. I didn’t have to compete for love, or earn love, or manipulate for love.”
Photo Courtesy of A Sober Girls Guide
Sober Girls Guide: A Sober Girls Guide is “a one-stop shop for women who want to change their relationship with alcohol.” This website has everything from podcasts to blogs to toolkits to guide you through sober care.
If you’re looking for a place to find community, you can join Sober Girls Social Club, which includes support circles hosted by certified coaches, journaling opportunities, expert monthly speakers and more for only $14/month. A Sober Girls Guide also has a four-week group coaching program or one-on-one sessions with certified coaches if that’s more your style.
We can guarantee that Jessica Jeboult, founder of A Sober Girls Guide, is concerned with helping you to find quality friendships. Here is what she had to say about her own journey with community in an episode with CLEARHEADED:
“Someone can not be on the same page as you, like we can have different views about something or different opinions or whatever, but someone to not support you in something you’re doing for yourself is a non-negotiable for me. That definitely helped me weed out some of my relationships… It allowed me space to allow other people in and like people who could not even imagine treating me this way, or like acting or being what a real friend is.”
Sober Vibes: Sober Vibes is a podcast and online community, founded by Courtney Andersen in 2016, who also founded #NationalSoberDay. Sober Vibes offers one-on-one calls with Courtney and Voice Room Meetings through the Circles App for a more group-oriented environment. You can also check out the Sober Vibes blog and podcast if you want to learn more about the community.
After being sober for 10 years, *woohoo* Courtney has some perspective on communities that worked for her. After also talking to other women, Courtney wanted to create a non-judgemental community for women in all paths of life. This is what she had to say in the season two episode seven of CLEARHEADED about the inspiration for Sober Vibes:
“I created Sober Vibes for sober and sober-curious women to meet you where you’re at in your recovery. Relapse happens every day. Your recovery doesn’t look like someone else's. It’s very non-judgemental. If you want to vibe with 12-steps or you don’t, you did this, you saw an addiction specialist—no problem, I don’t care, because recovery is not a one-size program. It’s really for support and empowerment.”
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