Belonging to a fellowship in recovery can bring a number of benefits including:

Those people who are new to recovery often battle with loneliness. They know that it is unwise to have further contact with their drinking or drugging friends so this can devastate their social network. By joining a fellowship it allows the individual to build a new network of friends who share similar goals and aspirations. Belonging to a fellowship where the focus is on addiction recovery keeps the individual motivated to remain sober. Once an individual has been sober for a few months they can forget how bad things were. They become complacent and this is highly dangerous because it could lead to relapse. Regularly hearing about the suffering of addiction can help to keep people on the right path. There can be many challenges in early recovery that are difficult to face alone. A fellowship will not only be able to offer support, but also practical advice. Those how have been in recovery longer will have more experience, and will usually have faced similar problems. The urge to relapse can occur at any time during early recovery. It can overwhelm the individual if they are not prepared for it. If they belong to a fellowship they will be able to turn to this group of people for support. Sometimes just talking to somebody who understands can be enough to prevent a relapse. Now that the individual is free of their addiction they will have a lot of free time on their hands. Boredom can be dangerous for people in recovery because they can start missing the excitement of addiction. Regular fellowship meetings are a good way to spend time. Belonging to a fellowship usually means the opportunity to help other people. Getting involved in service in recovery has been shown to strengthen sobriety.