Emotional Sobriety and the Holidays

A white dog with a black nose and dark eyes sitting on a wooden deck with a green landscape in the background.

A Three-Hour Online Workshop

With Dr. Allen Berger

What if this holiday season didn’t pull you back into old patterns but opened the door to deeper recovery and emotional freedom?

For the first time in five years of monthly sessions with Dr. Allen Berger, this workshop includes a registration fee.

To honour Allen’s continued generosity to our community, the revenue from this workshop will be shared 50/50 — half as an honorarium for Allen, and half as a fundraiser for Recovery Reimagined Initiatives (RRI), our nonprofit organization that supports and produces Friendly Circle Berlin’s workshops and community programs.

📌 Replay note:
The recording will not be published on YouTube.
It will be available only to registered participants for 90 days.

Presenter

An older man with glasses and a beard, dressed in a dark blazer and black shirt, smiling for the camera indoors.

Allen is a psychotherapist, author, and internationally recognized expert on emotional sobriety and the science of recovery. A popular speaker and workshop leader, he is the author of 12 Essential Insights for Emotional Sobriety, 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, 12 More Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs Are Gone, and 12 Hidden Rewards of Making Amends. His practical wisdom and humor have helped countless people deepen their recovery and move beyond abstinence toward emotional growth, authenticity, and peace.

Allen Berger, Ph.D.

Monday, December 1, 2025

🇪🇺 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Berlin
🇬🇧 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. UK & Ireland
🇺🇸 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern US
🇺🇸 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central US
🇺🇸 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Pacific US

🕒 Your local time isn’t listed or you’re not sure? 

💡 Tip: On this website, add your city and hover over CET – 6:00 p.m. to see what time that is where you live.

✨ Can’t join live? 90-day on-demand access is included for all registrants.

Get tickets

Note.

This workshop is educational and recovery‑supportive. It complements, rather than replaces therapy and/or your existing recovery program.

About the Workshop

The holidays can bring warmth, joy, and togetherness but they can also awaken pain, stress, and disappointment. For many of us, this season stirs a mix of emotions: grief for loved ones who are no longer with us, tension around unresolved family issues, or sadness over old patterns that seem to replay year after year.

Family gatherings can quickly become emotional minefields. A casual comment reignites resentment, a political disagreement turns dinner into debate, or long-standing hurts resurface beneath the holiday cheer.

In this three-hour interactive workshop, Dr. Allen Berger will explore how the principles of emotional sobriety can help us face these challenges with greater balance, clarity, and compassion. Drawing from decades of clinical experience and his pioneering work on emotional sobriety, Dr. Berger will guide you through practical tools and insights to help us stay grounded, no matter what dynamics unfold around the table.

You’ll learn how to approach the holidays not as something to endure, but as an opportunity for deeper recovery, healing, and genuine connection with yourself and others.

What You’ll Learn

• How to recognize emotional triggers around family gatherings, loss, and unmet expectations
• Practical ways to respond rather than react to conflict, judgment, or disappointment
• Tools for setting healthy emotional boundaries and maintaining serenity
• Practices for self-compassion, gratitude, and acceptance during emotionally charged moments
• A deeper understanding of emotional sobriety as a pathway to freedom, resilience, and sustainable recovery

Tickets

Choose your ticket

FAQs

  • Yes — all registrants receive 90-day on-demand access to the full workshop recording.

    The recording link will be emailed to all registrants within 72 hours after the workshop ends.

  • We offer a sliding scale and a few scholarship spots to make the workshop accessible.
    If you’d like support, please 

    APPLY HERE

  • You’ll get the Zoom link one day before the workshop, plus friendly reminder emails 3 hours and 1 hour before we start.

  • Not at all — if you can’t join us live, you’ll receive the full recording within 72 hours after the event.

  • Absolutely. The session is designed to be accessible and welcoming whether you’re just starting out or have been on this path for years.

  • Yes — you can request a full refund up to one week before the workshop.
    After that, refunds aren’t possible, but you’ll still receive access to the full recording within 72 hours.

Hosted by Friendly Circle Berlin • Organized by Recovery Reimagined Initiatives CLG (non‑profit).
Questions? info@friendlycircleberlin.org