You do not have to hit rock bottom to get sober. Jon Sommervold runs a 30 night, 12 step immersion program in Sioux Falls with roughly a 50 percent success rate, when the national average is closer to 10 percent. In this episode he explains how recovery actually starts.

Jon Sommervold is the Executive Director of Tallgrass Recovery and Sober Living Homes in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He has been sober 28 years and has sponsored 40 to 50 people. Host Melissa Goodwin asks what a higher power actually means when you are not religious, the honest difference between heavy use and addiction, and what to say to someone who does not believe they have a problem.

• Why choose your bottom is safer than waiting for rock bottom
• How a 12 step immersion program reaches a 50 percent success rate
• What higher power really means, including for atheists
• The real difference between heavy drinking and addiction
• Why the opposite of addiction is connection
• How to help someone you love, and why family is hardest to hear
• What Al-Anon is and who it is for
• How to start at Tallgrass today

Jon Sommervold, Executive Director, Tallgrass Recovery and Sober Living Homes, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Phone 605-368-5559. Web tallgrassrecovery.org.

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This episode is educational and informational only. It is not medical advice and not a substitute for evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment by a licensed provider.