A real path, mostly online
Buddhist-tradition recovery is a real path with its own fellowships. 406 meetings reach the UK, almost all online. Here is what to expect.
Buddhist recovery is a complete tradition in its own right, not a flavour of twelve-step. It uses meditation, the four truths and the eightfold path, and a programme worked step by step with other people doing the same thing. You do not need to be a Buddhist to join. You do not need to have meditated before.
The reality in the UK is that it is almost entirely online. Between Recovery Dharma and Refuge Recovery there are 406 meetings reachable from here. Nine of those are in-person, scattered across seven English counties. If you want a face-to-face Buddhist meeting and you are not near Bristol, London, Oxfordshire, Somerset or Sussex, you will probably be joining online.
Last updated: 31 October 2026.
Every fellowship that meets online, spread across the day, so the smaller fellowships are visible rather than buried under the biggest.
It is a free, peer-led recovery community built on Buddhist practice. Meetings typically open with a guided meditation, move into a reading, then into sharing. The structure sits on the four truths and the eightfold path, applied to craving and recovery rather than life in general.
It is not the Buddhism of a monastery or a Dharma centre. No ordination is involved. No required beliefs. You are not expected to accept rebirth, karma, or any particular cosmology. The practical teachings on craving and attachment are what the programme is built on, and those are the parts most people find directly useful.
Both grew from the same lineage of American Buddhist recovery, and the split between them in 2019 was organisational rather than doctrinal. The practice is near-identical. Recovery Dharma is the larger of the two and runs the great majority of UK-reachable meetings; Refuge Recovery still runs regular online meetings and has an in-person group in East Sussex. Either is a reasonable first door.
If you are new to both, start with whichever meeting fits your schedule. The two communities are friendly across the split, and plenty of people attend meetings from both.
Online: 397 meetings between the two fellowships, running every day of the week across the full range of UK-friendly times. The meeting-finder below will show the next few that are starting.
In person: a small set of groups. Recovery Dharma meets in Bristol, Hackney and other parts of Greater London, Oxfordshire, Somerset and West Sussex. Refuge Recovery meets in East Sussex. If you are in reach of any of those, the finder below gives the details.
If none of that is near you, the honest answer is that online Buddhist recovery is what you have, and it is good. The community has been online-first for years and the meetings are not a lesser version of being in a room.
Meetings open with a guided meditation and the person leading talks you through it. Nobody is checking whether you are doing it right. If you cannot settle in the first ones, which is normal, you have not failed; you have been to a meeting.
The programme itself is worked in writing, step by step, usually with the support of a mentor from within the community. You do not need to start with that. Attending for a few weeks before deciding whether you want to work the steps is the standard way in.
A fair middle ground is to sit in a few meetings from both Recovery Dharma and SMART Recovery or LifeRing before deciding. All three are free, all three are secular in the practical sense that no belief is required, and the shape of each is different enough that one often fits where another did not.
The non-religious recovery meetings page has the full list of secular options, so you can compare without committing.
The Buddhist Recovery Network and your own tradition's sangha are two different conversations, and both are worth having. The recovery meetings give you people doing the same specific work on craving; your sangha gives you the wider practice and community. They complement each other.
Several of the UK's established Buddhist centres, including those in the Triratna network, have members who are themselves in recovery and run or support meetings on request.
No. Recovery Dharma and Refuge Recovery are open to anyone. People from every faith and none attend. The programme uses Buddhist practice as its ground, but no particular belief is required.
406 reachable from the UK: 340 Recovery Dharma and 66 Refuge Recovery. Almost all online: 397 online and 9 in-person. The in-person meetings are in Bristol, Greater London (including Hackney), Oxfordshire, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex.
They grew from the same American Buddhist recovery lineage and split in 2019 over organisational differences rather than practice. The teachings and the shape of a meeting are near-identical. Recovery Dharma is larger and runs most of the UK-reachable meetings; Refuge Recovery runs regular online meetings and has an in-person group in East Sussex.
Yes. Both fellowships are free, with no fees, no membership and no referral needed. Some meetings pass a basket toward costs and putting nothing in is normal.
No. Meetings open with a guided meditation and the person leading talks you through it. Beginners are the common case rather than the exception. You cannot do it wrong on the first try, and nobody is grading you.
Yes, and many people do. The two traditions are not rivals and the practical work overlaps. If a Buddhist meeting fits your week and an AA meeting fits your Thursday evening, use both.
Yes. The programme does not require you to adopt Buddhism or set anything else aside. Many people from other faiths find the practical teachings on craving directly useful without changing anything about their own belief.
Pick one from the list on this page or use the meeting-finder below to find one starting soon. The joining details are on the meeting's own page. There is no booking, no registration and no account needed to attend.