Getting Started with AA
What is A.A
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
A.A.’s primary purpose is to help alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
How A.A Works
A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a set of spiritual principles. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism.
The Twelve Traditions apply to A.A. as a whole. They outline how A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world around it.
The book Alcoholics Anonymous describes the A.A. program of recovery. It also contains stories written by the co-founders and stories from a wide range of members who have found recovery in A.A.
Singleness of Purpose and Problems Other Than Alcohol
Some professionals refer to alcoholism and drug addiction as “substance abuse” or “chemical dependency.” Nonalcoholics are, therefore, sometimes introduced to A.A. and encouraged to attend A.A. meetings. Nonalcoholics may attend open A.A. meetings as observers, but only those with a drinking problem may attend closed A.A. meetings.
If you think you have a problem with alcohol or may be an alcoholic according to the American Medical Association “…treatment primarily involves not taking a drink…” In order to stop drinking and stay stopped, We recommend you attend our meetings.
There are meetings for you and for every alcoholic, who wants help. Use our Meeting Finder to find a meeting near you. There are probably plenty of meetings close to your home so find a group that you can relate to and join us anytime. Try and take in as many meetings as you can and don’t drink in between.
What to Expect From Your First AA Meeting
They will probably ask if there is anyone new to A.A. Feel free to introduce yourself by first name only. We do not report attendance to any outside agencies who you see and what you hear at meetings stays at meetings. Only you can decide whether you want to give Alcoholics Anonymous a try—whether you think it can help you. We who are in A.A. came because we finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hated to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from other A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of alcoholism. We decided to try to face up to what alcohol had done to us.
Having a Home Group
Although you will want to attend other meetings, you will want to have a “Home Group”. At our home group we find the individual support and encouragement we need to meet life’s daily challenges. Other meetings provide the variety of people and ideas we need in our recovery. Just as we are a member of A.A. by saying so, we join a home group by declaring ourselves a member. It is at the home group that we do our early service to A.A. and start giving back what we have been so freely given.
Getting a Sponsor
A sponsor is a member who has made progress in the recovery program and sober living. One-on-one sharing of our experience, strength and hope with our sponsor and others is a cornerstone of A.A. recovery. Though other people can’t solve your problems for you , they can help you deal with them by using the principles of the A.A. program.
Living One Day at a Time
We may stay sober one day at a time, or if necessary one hour at a time. We do our jobs, solve our problems and clean up our past, just one item at a time.