PASSING IT ON –
June 6, 2024 – Oden is a sober coach and the East Coast coordinator for the Remote Sober Support Network, a free online program that provides daily virtual meetings for alcohol and drug addicts in recovery.“I had always said to myself that when I retired, I would work with addicts,. “I didn’t begin drinking until I was almost 40,” said Oden, who is now 78. “I was fired from two jobs because I was an alcoholic. They never said they fired me for that—they let me go for non-performance. But the basic reason I couldn’t perform was I was drunk.”
It took Oden seven years and multiple relapses to get sober. She first tried an outpatient program at Roger Williams Hospital, which proved ineffective for her.
“I drank before I went. I drank after I got out of there,” Oden said. “I promised I wouldn’t drink, but I did. So Alcoholics Anonymous is how I got sober.”
Oden attended multiple AA meetings a week and worked with sponsors in South Providence. Her peers there didn’t “give (her) an inch” — which was exactly what she needed, she said.
“Getting sober for me was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Oden said, adding that she would rather “go through undergraduate school and have a baby at the same time.”
Once sober, Oden’s “life turned around.” Without sobriety, she said, she would not have a home, a successful career, or a husband.
