Born in a small, rural Pennsylvania town, Dr. Jean Kirkpatrick was the only child of a prominent local family. Despite multiple academic successes, including obtaining her doctorate degree in Sociology, Dr. Kirkpatrick struggled with feelings of inadequacy, depression, and severe Alcohol Use Disorder. She found sobriety for three years through another program but returned to drinking for an additional thirteen years thereafter, unable to cope with the pressures of her success.
After trying to return to the other program and no longer finding it helpful, Dr. Kirkpatrick began to explore other sources of inspiration. She began to write key phrases on small scraps of paper for herself and read them often as she persevered on her recovery journey. Once sobriety had been re-established, she compiled these phrases into the first version of what is now known as the WFS Acceptance Statements.
Dr. Kirkpatrick used the Statements, as well as knowledge gained from current research in the biological underpinnings of addictions, to start the New Life Program in 1975. She established the non-profit corporation Women for Sobriety, Inc., and began reaching out to other women in recovery, establishing weekly peer-support groups across the nation. Her first book, Turnabout: New Help for the Woman Alcoholic, published in 1977, told her story and laid the foundation for women to use the New Life Program in their own recoveries.
Dr. Kirkpatrick passed away in 2000 but her legacy lives on in the countless women who have successfully used the New Life Program to overcome their problems with alcohol and other drugs and found happy, healthy, joyful New Lives.