Enthusiastic Sobriety Abuse Alliance, Inc.

Survivors of Bob Meehan’s Enthusiastic Sobriety programs have been speaking out since 1980, when Dan Rather on 60 Minutes interviewed Bob Meehan and several of his former Staff - accusing him of cult like practices and a “never ending” program.

Since then and throughout the 80’s, many parents, former staff and group members have continually told the same story - the program isolates its clients from the outside world, including their own families, and encourages dangerously anti-social behaviors all in the name of Enthusiastic Sobriety.

In 2004 the first survivor run website, OnTheEmmis.com launched and provided an open and anonymous platform for survivors and families to speak their truth about The Program. “Emmis” is a Yiddish term for “truth” - something Bob claimed to have picked up in prison as declaration of telling the truth as “On The Emmis.”

Survivors from OnTheEmmis.com banded together and contacted ABC15 investigators and other media outlets to expose Bob Meehan and his abusive Enthusiastic Sobriety programs. These efforts resulted in Bob Meehan “stepping down” from his leadership role in his programs and the dissolving of the ICECAP Board of Directors. But the programs remained open and Bob Meehan continued to work behind the scenes and appointed his son-in-law, Clint Stonebraker, to take his place.

In 2015, another survivor directed and produced The Group Documentary. The Group is a feature-length documentary, with over 2 Million views, that retraces the director's five year journey through multiple Bob Meehan programs. Through interviews with former members, archival photographs and expert witnesses, The Group illustrates the personal experiences of survivors and the lingering trauma that can hang on for years.

The Enthusiastic Sobriety Abuse Movement began in November, 2020 with a private facebook group for survivors of Bob Meehan affiliated programs. Within a month there were 400 members and a collective voice arising to take action against these programs and close them down once and for all. Since then, our survivor community has grown with the help of social media, a string of news articles and survivors speaking up to tell their stories.