Hi friends!
SMC was honored to partner with SheRecovers as a Champion of Hope sponsor for this past weekend's WILD in NYC Luncheon. It was such a wonderful weekend full of connecting with other women in recovery, meeting friends from the meeting squares in real life, and promoting a powerful cause.
Our very own Jen C. spoke at the luncheon! Below are a portion of her remarks, where she eloquently describes the magic of connection with other women and mothers in recovery:
Hi, I’m Jen and I’m an alcoholic. I introduced myself this way about five times a week for about 64 weeks back in 2019 but it never truly fit.
Today, I introduce myself a little differently.
Hi, I’m Jen C from Brooklyn and while I am most definitely an addict, which is a better fit for me, I'm also a wife, a mom to two amazing daughters, a boss babe, a proud sober woman for the past 6 and a half years, and a member of the leadership team for the Sober Mom Collective.
And honestly, saying all of that together feels unfathomable to me. I am so excited to be here today, in a room full of such incredible women, badass cheetahs as we fondly call ourselves, representing our small but mighty Sober Mom Collective. (Pun intended — since we meet on the Mighty Network!)
I had the absolute pleasure of sitting with Dawn and Debra at the Liz Gilbert book release event on Tuesday and we got to talking about how fitting a collaboration between She Recovers and SMC is and how big of a role She Recovers has played in my recovery even though I’ve never attended their online meetings.
There are five other women on our leadership team — Leah, our founder, Lainy, Heather, Kathryn, and Mary. Any of them would have done a killer job representing us today. But you got me and I mean let's be honest, I live in NYC so I got first dibs.
When the six of us first sat down to discuss our community goals and guidelines we found ourselves using words like threads, patchwork, weaving. I think we all wanted to express how our stories may be unique but the threads are the same and they tie us together.
My story could be any woman’s story.
A woman searching for community. For connection.
It’s a story made up of many threads and when I sat down to really think about it I realized that She Recovers had played such a large role in weaving those threads together.
I got sober in 2019. I did the first 30 days completely alone, under the guise of a health challenge. I didn’t tell anyone that I was thinking of continuing after. But when those 30 days were up, I was lost. I had no idea how to keep going
All I knew about recovery was that you either went to rehab or AA. So I tried AA. The first meeting I went to wasn’t for me. But I went again, to a different location, because I didn’t know what else to do.
That second meeting changed everything. It was a group called New But West, just a few blocks from where we are now. The first person I met when I walked in the door was a woman named Krissy — and she and AA helped me save my life.
I walked in a shell of myself: broken, messy, crying. She took me under her wing and sat with me at a newcomer meeting even though she was far from a beginner herself. She was gentle with me and didn't force the dogma. She had 18 years of sobriety, and she gave me three rules:
Go to a meeting every day and share.
Don’t pick up a drink.
And call her every single day.
I didn’t even call my mom every day! But I called Krissy. I raised my hand at every meeting even though I couldn't make it through one single share without crying. The feelings I had stuffed down for so long all came pouring out. I had no clue that putting down the drink would be the easiest part of my recovery.
They had lunchtime meetings during the week. That space became my anchor.
But my favorite meetings were the women only meetings. Just one hour a week, but it felt like coming home.There was something so magical about those meetings.
I realized this is what I was looking for in my recovery. Women! Women who understood me. A safe space. Connection.
So, like any millennial woman in 2019, I started googling. Women’s recovery. Women’s retreats. Female addicts. Women seeking friends in addiction… (that last one did not go well, by the way lol).
And one day I stumbled on She Recovers. Coincidentally, they were coming to NYC in October for their Creating Connections Tour. I bought a ticket — by myself — terrified, but excited. At this point, I was 9 months sober.
That day blew me away. This was the first time I heard Dawn and Taryn speak and I was thinking, look at these two, a mother and daughter starting a recovery movement. It was beyond inspiring. Paula Williams was there with her shamebooth and she spoke so openly about shame and our need to release it. The idea that I could release my shame was a totally foreign concept. I thought she was so incredibly brave. I met a really nice woman named Heather from Long Island and we exchanged numbers.
I left feeling empowered and kept wondering, “What else is out there for women in recovery?
I hit one year sober in January 2020. My parents and husband came with me to a church basement for my anniversary meeting. No one in my life really knew what to make of all this. The stigma surrounding AA was very real and my parents weren't exactly happy or proud. They were mostly confused and concerned. But at least they were supportive. I got up and spoke at that meeting about how the first time I heard the saying, “one day at a time” it felt like a death sentence, one day at a time for the rest of my life. Ugh. And then I heard someone say in a meeting “Just for Today” and I remember thinking ok, that I can do. Just for today I can make a choice not to drink. That became my favorite saying and I had it engraved on a bracelet for my one year anniversary which I've been wearing every day since.
But like all of us, I hit another turning point when the world shut down in 2020. AA went virtual and the structure and abrupt meeting endings made me really miss the in person chats we used to have after the meeting. Liquor stores were essential businesses. Everyone seemed to be drinking their way through lockdown, and I felt so alone again.
During that time I joined my first online moms group, Sober Mom Squad. They were looking for meeting hosts, and I signed up. I had no clue what I was getting into but suddenly I wasn’t alone anymore. These were women-only meetings, multiple times a day. And for the first time, I could really speak. I could say the quiet parts out loud.
Here I could lay it all down and be understood. And while I stopped going to AA as regularly as before, I still have nothing but love for it because I was fortunate to have such a positive experience.
I started hosting SMS meetings on Monday mornings at 10am. I loved leading that meeting. What started as service became a lifeline for me. I was proud that I could show up every Monday and hold space. I also passed along my favorite saying “Just for Today” and it kind of became my thing.
One day, as I was entering the other hosts numbers into my phone, I realized one of them was already there. Heather! The same Heather I’d met at She Recovers NYC. That thread had come back around.
It was also in SMS that I met Lainy, Kathryn, Leah… and countless other women, too many to name or we would be here all day, and they became my people. But I still really missed that in person connection.
And once again, She Recovers swooped in. Miami, 2022.
That trip changed me. I finally got to hug these women in person. Heather was there and I met Lainy and Kathryn in person for the first time. The first thing I said to Kathryn was wow, you're SO tall! We were used to seeing each other in these tiny squares. I went to my first sober dance party at the silent disco. I wore giant tighty-whities with “NO SHAME” across the back and jumped in the pool. I went to sharing circles and met women who didn’t judge me for my past. I laughed, I cried, I felt free.
And then She Recovers Chicago, 2023, this time Leah was there with the rest of us, and it was more of the same, more knots in the thread, holding my recovery fabric together. I never imagined I could laugh that hard, dance that freely, or spill my guts like a teenager at a sleepover, sober. Liz Gilbert spoke about her addiction and I cried like a baby hearing my own feelings spoken so eloquently on a stage in front of so many women.
Re-entry into the real world was always hard after these events. We kept planning trips even after She Recovers stopped their conferences because we needed that time together. Those trips are some of the best memories of my life and it's wild to me that the friends I made and the women that mean so much to me, would never have been in my life if I hadn't gotten sober.
People have asked me if I could choose to change things, would I want to be a normie instead of an addict and the truth is I wouldn't change a thing. I needed to be sick, so I could recover because in recovery I found out who I really am and the version of me standing here today is the version I was searching for all along.
When I first connected with Leah back in 2022, she was struggling, but I could hear how badly she wanted it. So I reached out and did what Krissy did for me. I told her: Share at meetings. Don’t drink. And call me every day. She balked at that third one the same way I originally did, but… she did it. To her credit, as uncomfortable as she was, she leaned in. She kept showing up. And she kept calling me. And eventually she paid it forward to Mary. Gang's all here!
Ultimately, Leah became one of my closest friends. She became a support system for me just as much as I was to her. In fact, when someone recently asked about the “5 year funk”, and I said I didn't remember going through it, Leah was there to lovingly remind me what a mess I was at year 5.
Which brings me to today. I know I speak for all of us at SMC when I say we are so incredibly honored to be the Champion of Hope Sponsor and a Trusted Resource for She Recovers.
And for me, the SMC space feels like magic. Connection with other moms, strength, accountability, comfort, friends.
If you’re a mom in recovery — or a mom looking for recovery — come check us out, we would love for you to join us.
Lastly, I just want to say thank you again to Dawn and the entire She Recovers team.
Your organization has helped weave together so many of my recovery threads — moments of healing, unforgettable memories, and some of the most important people in my life over these past six and a half years. It’s also the thread that tethered the Sober Mom Collective, binding us together in celebration time and again. For that, we are endlessly grateful.
Just for today, I get to be a sober mom. Just for today, I get to be part of the Sober Mom Collective and She Recovers. And if I can keep showing up “just for today”, I know I’ll have everything I need for tomorrow.
✨Sunday Speaker Series✨
🩵 Join us tonight, September 14, with Lisa Michelle from Illuminated Recovery podcast! Listen to the episode with SMC mamas here
🩵Next week on September 21, our speaker is Sarah M.!
🩵 We'd love to hear your story! DM SMC Team in the network or email us at info@sobermomcollective.com if you have 6 months or more of continuous sobriety and would like to be a speaker!
✨Member Celebrations!✨
🎉 Congratulations to Brynn A. on your 1 year!!🎉
Do you have a sober milestone you'd like to share? Let us know!
✨SMC IRL!✨
Shatterproof Walk to End Addiction Stigma
Join our Team and walk to end addiction stigma! Fundraising donations optional! Families, kids, and dogs welcome at the walk.
September 27, 2025 @ 8:00 AM
Lincoln Park Grove 2 Chicago, IL
✨Weekly Meeting Schedule✨
- Welcome Anna C. to our Meeting Leader team! Meetings Fridays 10 am ET
- Friday Pop Up meeting this week at 8 pm ET
- Saturday Pop Up meeting this week 8pm ET
✨Join the Community✨
The Sober Mom Collective Network Membership Options:
💙 Monthly – $18/month
💙 Annual – $195/year
(That’s about $1 per live support meeting!)
As full network members, you will have access to direct sober support, connections with other members, affinity subgroups, live support meetings, Book Club, recordings of Expert and/or Author Q&As.
Membership costs help sustain the platform, cover essential costs, and ensure a great experience for every mom. All meeting leaders are volunteers, and all funds go right back into the community.
💙Sunday Speaker Series with SMC - FREE!
With this Limited Membership, members gain access to our Sunday evening meetings with a speaker sharing their story of sobriety and recovery, followed by a peer-led support with member shares. Upgrade anytime to full network access.
💙Curious about a free or reduced-cost full network membership? Email us at info@sobermomcollective.com. No questions asked!
💙🩵Feel free to forward on to moms in your community🩵💙
Warmly,
SMC Team
