SMART Recovery is an abstinence-oriented, not-for-profit organization for individuals with addictive problems. Our self-empowering, free mutual support meetings focus on ideas and techniques to help you change your life from one that is self-destructive and unhappy to one that is constructive and satisfying.

SMART Recovery does not use labels like “addict” or “alcoholic.” We teach scientifically validated methods designed to empower you to change and to develop a more positive lifestyle.

After you have become familiar with SMART and are free of any addictive behaviour, we encourage you to become a volunteer, so that we can keep expanding the number of meetings we offer.

Addictive behaviours can serve a purpose — to cope with life’s problems and emotional upsets. There can be drawbacks, however: while addictive behaviours may be effective coping methods in the short term, but they may cause harmful problems in the long term.

In SMART, we focus on learning coping skills that work well short- and long-term. We base our ideas on what addiction science has shown to be effective. We have adapted these ideas into SMART tools for change.

Likewise, we are not much concerned with the past, except to learn from it. We focus on present-day events and the causes of self-destructive behaviours. We concentrate on what to do about them to achieve a positive lifestyle change, especially in the areas of our lives that are related to harmful addictive behaviour.