First and foremost: THANK YOU for supporting this community!

When we say community, we mean it. The Real Edition is your space. It’s yours to tell stories, read stories, chat, make small talk, ask questions, and, most importantly, CONNECT with one another.

From day one, our mission has been to connect people who traditionally feel disconnected. If nothing else, addiction fosters isolation and solitude, for both the addict as well as the non-addict who loves someone struggling with addiction. We feel alone, like we’re the only ones who’ve ever felt what we’re feeling, who’s ever thought what we’ve thought, who’s ever done what we’ve done. The guilt and shame involved causes addicts and their loved ones to withdraw from the rest of society out of a fear that other people simply won’t understand what it’s like. Our only response has been to detach from humanity.

It’s an understandable response, sure. But what if there’s a better way? A way that actually works?

At The Real Edition, we aim to show one another that we’re in fact NOT alone. We do that by sharing our own experience in a story, by starting a discussion, by commenting on other stories where people have shared their experiences. When a story touches us, we might send a direct message and let that person know what kind of effect their words had on us. It’s a place to show support, gain understanding, and maybe even share our own story.

Look, 1 in 10 adults over the age of 12 are addicted to drugs or alcohol, and all of those people have friends and family who also need community. Maybe it’s time we take a different approach. Maybe we do the opposite of what we’ve been doing – guilting, shaming, isolating, incarcerating drug addicts. Since that approach hasn’t gone too well, maybe we go the other way and instead of guilt, we show understanding. Instead of shame, we demonstrate empathy. Instead of isolation, we connect to one another. THAT’S our mission here at The Real Edition.

The Recovery Community, the families & friends of addicts — we are a community custom built for dialogue, discussion, debate, education. For some reason there’s a void online that nobody’s been able to fill.

Until now.

On the outside — in the “real world” — there are 12-step meetings at nearly every hour of every day in every city. Across the globe, there are support groups, church groups, book clubs, coffee groups, in-patient, out-patient, therapists, psychiatrists, doctors. On the outside, there is support everywhere you look.

But online, there isn’t much.

Until now.

Sure, there are blogs here and there, but nothing has centralized or cultivated us or mobilized us. As the web moves toward centralization, the browser giving way to the app, The Real Edition is here to tell you: You’ve found a home.

So what do you say – wanna join our community? 

Follow us on Twitter! Follow us on Facebook!

On Behalf of everyone at The Real Edition, we want to say THANK YOU for your support!

Now let’s join together and make CHANGE!