The recovery community is vast and diverse, and it can’t be defined by just a single stereotype, group or point of view. Getting to know more of these community members is an important (and quite interesting!) task.
One of the more well-known recovery community members is Holly Whitaker, founder and CEO of Tempest (formally known as Hip Sobriety) and author of the upcoming book Quit Like A Woman.
Whitaker wants to bring an empowered approach to recovery, especially for women. Her book has been called a “a groundbreaking examination of drinking culture and a road map to cutting out alcohol in order to live our best lives without the crutch of intoxication.”
We recently had the chance to get to know Whitaker and learn more about Quit Like A Woman. Read ahead and see what we discovered!
In The Rooms: In your book, you mention that the alcohol industry markets itself specifically towards women – can you tell us more about that?
Holly Whitaker: From the introduction of Jane Walker, a “feminist” whiskey, to the marketing of pink drinks and slogans such as “Rosè All Day,” to the sponsoring of female-focused events such as the Goop podcast, women are targeted by Big Alcohol the same way they were by Big Tobacco.
ITR: What do you want readers to take away from your book?
HW: Empowerment. I want them to draw connections, to get angry, to understand they have choices. I want them to learn the truth about how much Big Alcohol, drinking culture and recovery frameworks stack the deck against their well-being.
ITR: What inspired you to write Quit Like A Woman?
HW: I would have died if anyone else wrote it first. I couldn’t not.
ITR: Do you think alternative recovery methods will continue to play a larger role in the recovery community?
HW: Absolutely. Women For Sobriety, SMART, Rational Recovery – they have been for a long while, and they are beginning to get their day in the sun.
ITR: And finally, a fun one: If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
HW: A Course In Miracles, because who wouldn’t want Jesus to write a book through you? (Actually, probably lots of people wouldn’t.)
Quit Like A Woman will be released on December 31st, 2019. Preorder it here!
Photo by João Silas on Unsplash.