Building a RAFT: From Addicted Doctor to Freedom

SUNDAY August 3, 2025 at 10AM PST

Join us Online with Cathryn Jacob

More About the Teaching

In this talk, Dr Cathryn Jacob shares her personal journey from the depths of alcohol addiction to a life of greater freedom and understanding. Despite having, on the surface, what many might consider a successful life — a respected medical career, a loving husband, and a home in the countryside — she struggled for years with a dependence on alcohol, unable to cope with the inevitable pain, challenges and disappointments that life brings.

Cathryn will reflect on her time in a 12-step programme, where she eventually became a sponsor, and how growing discomfort with the concept of a ‘higher power’ led her to explore other paths. This search brought her to the dharma — and more specifically to secular dharma — where she discovered a new way to ‘live life on life’s terms’.

She will also introduce RAFT to Freedom, a dharma-based approach to recovery that she is developing with Buddhist recovery teacher Vince Cullen. RAFT to Freedom integrates the wisdom of early Buddhism with insights from contemporary neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, offering a grounded and holistic path to healing and transformation.

More About Cathryn

Dr Cathryn Jacob is a retired medical doctor who has been in recovery for several years. She initially worked a 12-step programme and became a sponsor, but grew uneasy with the concept of a ‘higher power’. This led her to explore alternative approaches and eventually transition to a dharma-based path of recovery.

A trained meditation instructor, Cathryn completed the year-long Secular Dharma course in 2023, led by Martine and Stephen Batchelor with Bernat Font Clos through Bodhi College.

She currently serves on the boards of The Sick Doctors Trust, a charity that supports doctors and dentists with addiction, the Buddhist Recovery Network and Tuwhiri — a publisher dedicated to early Buddhism from a secular perspective.

Before retiring from medical practice, Cathryn obtained a Royal College of General Practitioners Diploma in Drug and Alcohol Addiction and Treatment. Together with Vince Cullen, she is developing RAFT Recovery, which has grown out of ELSA Recovery and the Fifth Precept Meditation Group.

RAFT Recovery draws on deep Buddhist wisdom, integrating these enduring teachings with contemporary insights from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy.

Find out more about RAFT to Freedom here:

https://raft2freedom.org/

More About the Academy

The Academy has invited some of the leading teachers in the field of Buddhist recovery. On the first Sunday of every month for an hour each teacher will explore the sharp edges of suffering through the lens of the Buddhist Teachings.

The Academy brings together teachers from different Buddhist lineages and approaches. Themes like addiction, alcoholism, depression, stinking thinking and compulsive behaviors will be explored.

During this event we will meditate, listen to the teaching, then have time for a Q & A at the end.

Dana

This event is offered freely, but signing up with any donation helps support the Buddhist Recovery Network mission to promote the use of Buddhist teachings and practices to help people recover from the suffering caused by addictive behaviors . Your support will also allow us to connect with you and send you a reminder, 24 hours and 1 hour before the event.

ZOOM LINK

Click to Join via this Zoom Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88942155730?pwd=Q3dBMkRCUTZKZ0NOUjY4ODk1Mnozdz09

Meeting ID: 889 4215 5730 and passcode: 110088

Building a RAFT: From Addicted Doctor to Freedom

By Buddhist Recovery Network

Building a RAFT: From Addicted Doctor to Freedom

BRN Academy with Dr. Cathryn Jacob - August 3, 2025