BETTER IS BETTER! stories of alcohol harm reduction
About this ebook
Through these moving personal stories, we learn not only how HAMS works but how addiction works. And we learn that overcoming addiction doesn’t have to adhere to a rigid program or philosophy. HAMS succeeds because it connects with people who drink, on their own terms, respects their goals and wishes, recognizes their strengths and supports them where they need and want support. These little memoirs are as varied in style and substance as the individuals who wrote them, but they converge on themes that just don’t go away, including the inadequacy of AA for many who drink, despite its value for some. Intimately told, both raw and articulate, these memoirs reveal how people struggling with addiction can help each other through sensitivity and generosity rather than judgment and dogma.
Marc Lewis, PhD.
Author of The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease
If you are looking for an alternative to 12 step groups that will support you in changing your drinking - whether you want to abstain, moderate or just cut down - check out HAMS.
It's evidence-based, supportive, non-judgmental, non-religious and even fun!
Maia Szalavitz
Author of Unbroken Brain
Kenneth Anderson and April Smith have given us a book that will help thousands of people, told from the point of view of people who have already been helped by HAMS. Many of the stories show how ingenuity, freedom of choice, and concern for one’s wellbeing can lead to meaningful changes in problem drinking habits. Many of the stories would shock the hell out of most treatment programs and staff. Many of the stories had me biting my nails hoping that it would turn out okay. What a relief to be reminded that, given respect, kindness, and support, even the most outlandish harm reduction plans save and improve peoples’ lives.
Patt Denning, PhD
Director of The Center for Harm Reduction Therapy
Co-author of Over the Influence
The three-page introduction to Better Is Better ought to be required reading for anyone in this country with a connection to addiction and recovery (which is most of us, but especially health and mental health professionals). The scientific findings succinctly described there would re-shape US addiction treatment and recovery, if they were known and used. Unfortunately, these findings continue to be overshadowed by substantially outdated ideas and methods. This little page book then contains 14 stories of change (eight women, six men), none longer than three pages. These stories will be informative and inspiring to a wide range of individuals who are considering or acting upon a desire to reduce (or eliminate) drinking problems, and they could be the basis for discussion in a mutual help or treatment group. I can't think of a better bang for your 99 cents!
A. Tom Horvath, PhD
President, Practical Recovery Psychology Group, San Diego
Past President, SMART Recovery
HAMS is an amazing and much-needed organization, expanding how we think about addiction in brave and thought-provoking ways. Everyone should read this book.
Johann Hari
Author of Chasing the Scream
HAMS is a group for people who want support to changes their drinking. Support: not chastisement, not admonitions, not guilt tripping. Just sharing: feelings, experiences, histories, successes and failures. And that nonjudgmental approach - which is so different from AA - makes people feel better about themselves and allows them to pursue their goals better, longer, and in more areas of their lives (drinking included, but not exclusively). And what are their goals around drinking? Well, you’ll have to read this book of human stories to see!
Stanton Peele
Author of Recover!
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Kenneth Anderson is the founder and CEO of The HAMS Harm Reduction Network. HAMS is the first world-wide, harm reduction-based support group specifically for people who drink alcohol. HAMS is lay led and free of charge. The acronym HAMS stands for Harm reduction, Abstinence, and Moderation Support. Mr. Anderson is the author of How to Change Your Drinking: A Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol, BETTER IS BETTER!: stories of alcohol harm reduction, Strychnine & Gold: Volume One of the Untold History of Addiction Treatment in the United States, and From Inebriate Asylums to Narcotic Farms: Volume Two of the Untold History of Addiction Treatment in the United States.
He has worked in the field of harm reduction since 2002--his experience ranges from work in needle exchange to work in moderate drinking programs and everything in-between. He has served as Director of Online Services at Moderation Management and has worked "in the trenches" of harm reduction by doing needle exchange in Minneapolis. He also served as director of development for The Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center.
He is a regular presenter at the National Harm Reduction Conference and has been a guest speaker at the Harlem Hospital Harm Reduction Program, the New School for Social Research, NYU, the Drug Policy Conference, and many other venues. He holds a master's degree in mental health and substance abuse counseling from the New School for Social Research in New York City and a master's degree in linguistics from the University of Minnesota.
I hold a Masters in Public Health from Thomas Jefferson University, one of the oldest and most prestigious medical universities in the United States. There I focused on Harm Reduction approaches to people who use substances. Harm Reduction runs counter to the dominant paradigm of abstinence-only, punitive and often faith-based "treatment," and rather focuses on keeping people who use drugs safe, improving their health, and providing options for self-driven, empowering personal growth. No shame and blame.
I presented my Master's thesis work, "Don't tell our stories for us, and please, don't tell them to us," a qualitative research project in which I interviewed nine people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender on their experiences in traditional 12-Step drug rehab facilities, at the Harm Reduction Coalition national conference in 2016.
I am the co-author of Better Is Better: Stories of Alcohol Harm Reduction. For this book, I interviewed members of HAMS: Harm Reduction, Abstinence and Moderation Support, on their experiences using the HAMS program and online social support to change their drinking for the better.
