Welcome to the County Line Area
of Narcotics Anonymous
Serving: Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village in Ventura County, California
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Serving: Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village in Ventura County, California
NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.
There are no strings attached to NA. We are not affiliated with any other organizations. We have no initiation fees or dues, no pledges to sign, no promises to make to anyone. We are not connected with any political, religious, or law enforcement groups, and are under no surveillance at any time. Anyone may join us regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion, or lack of religion.
We are not interested in what or how much you used or who your connections were, what you have done in the past, how much or how little you have, but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help. The newcomer is the most important person at any meeting, because we can only keep what we have by giving it away. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
For more information on Narcotics Anonymous,
please go to the: Narcotics Anonymous World Services Website
June 27, 2026 |
Change and growth |
| Page 185 |
| "When someone points out a shortcoming, our first reaction may be defensive. There will always be room for growth." |
| Basic Text, p. 36 |
| Recovery is a process that brings about change in our lives. We need that change if we are to continue our growth toward freedom. It's important that we remain open-minded when others point out our shortcomings, for they are bringing to light opportunities for us to change and grow. Reacting defensively limits our ability to receive the help they are offering us; letting go of our defenses opens the door to change, growth, and new freedom. Each day in the recovery process will bring an opportunity for further change and growth. The more we learn to greet change with an open mind and heart, the more we will grow and the more comfortable we will become with our recovery. |
| Just for Today: I will greet each opportunity for growth with an open mind. |
By the time we get to Narcotics Anonymous, many of us have a long list of what didn't fix us: family, relationships, doctors, treatment programs, religious institutions. We begged God or Something-Out-There for relief. Because of our involvement in the justice system, some of us have had help imposed on us. All these individuals or entities may indeed have been helpful to our survival, even if only to introduce us to NA. Some may continue supporting us to this day. But we found them to be insufficient to help build the long-lasting changes to our lives that we needed. So what was missing?
One member shared their "aha" moment: "This concept of one addict helping another hit me on the head like a ton of bricks. I thought, Now I get it!" These were helpful, practical bricks, of course. Bricks that we can use to build our life back up. Recovering addicts who've survived what we've survived are unquestionably the best source of practical information about recovery. This idea not only makes sense to us, but it also brings us some relief.
In NA, we create an atmosphere of healing for each other--that's what we mean by "therapeutic." We help each other to heal through empathy and solidarity. The "we" of NA is a powerful and practical resource we use to walk through life's difficulties and hold each other up as we heal. Honest sharing helps identify others who have survived infidelity, infertility, illness, and myriad other hardships. We connect each other with members who've had to navigate similar things and we get to learn from their experience. Our personal tragedies can become a shared source of strength. What could be more practical?
While our disease would have us focus on what makes us different, we know the ties that bind us together are way stronger than those differences. Those ties are strong, real, and practical. They are the bricks that build us up and keep us from falling. NA is a practical program delivered by addicts to other addicts, with other addicts, for other addicts. That's how it works.