Information about Alcoholics Anonymous for the public
If someone you care about has a drinking problem, AA may be the solution for them.
For 80-plus years, AA has helped millions of alcoholics stop drinking. The AA Recovery Program works best when one alcoholic shares their recovery experience with another. Alcoholics Anonymous is a recovery program for alcoholism. By helping the public better understand alcoholism, we can better help the still-suffering alcoholic. When the public better understands the problem we can help remove some of the stigmas around the disease of alcoholism and better help those afflicted.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a recovery program for alcoholism.
Alcoholism is an illness that affects people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, abilities, orientations, nationalities, cultures, ethnicities, and beliefs. Loss of control for the alcoholic is not measured by how long one drinks or how much one drinks. It is up to the individual to determine if they have a drinking problem or if they want help as well as recovery.
AA members share their experience, strength, and hope with anyone seeking help with a drinking problem; they give person-to-person assistance and/or sponsorship to the alcoholic regardless of how they get to AA.Members sharing the AA recovery program with other alcoholics is vital to recovery. Many newcomers best relate to those who have found recovery regardless of how hopeless they may feel as times.
Want more information? Fill out the form below and contact the PI committee chair for District 02.
What is Alcoholics Anonymous?
People from all walks of life come together to solve their drinking problem.
Nonprofessional;
“AA is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem.”
Professionals, those that work with the recovery community, commonly refer to AA as a peer mentoring group, support recovery organization, or a mutual aid society. Ongoing support is an essential part of recovery from alcoholism.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, Inc. is a nonprofit organization.
Starting in the late 1930s, AA is operated and maintained by the voluntary contributions of its members as are the individual AA Groups.
Cooperation without affiliation
AA does not affiliate with other entities or organizations. AA will cooperate with anyone to help the still suffering. Members of AA outreach committees are trained to bring presentations to any group or professional organization in our efforts to better help the still-suffering alcoholic.
AA is in over 180 countries. The book Alcoholics Anonymous, the basic text of AA, has been translated into over 70 languages. There are over 1000 AA meetings a week in western Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Virtual meetings are available around the world. There are AA meetings starting every hour.
There are over 300 other organizations that use the AA Program of Recovery, the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA, for other problems and addictions. Each Twelve Step Group or organization keeps to a singleness of purpose. AA members share their experience with recovery from alcoholism so that newcomers can identify to get the help they need.
Helping the public better understand alcoholism will save lives.
New Beginnings
“There are many different ideas about what alcoholism really is.
The explanation that seems to make sense to most AA members is that alcoholism is an illness, a progressive illness, which can never be cured but which, like some other diseases, can be arrested
Going one step further, many AAs feel that the illness represents the combination of a physical sensitivity to alcohol and a mental obsession with drinking, which, regardless of consequences, cannot be broken by willpower alone.”
– Copyright A.A. World Services, Inc. Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.
AA is not anti-alcohol. Members have no interest in alcohol reform or the use of alcohol by others. Anyone concerned with their drinking or the drinking of a loved one is welcome in an open AA meeting.
Members of AA do not impose their experience with drinking on others; they will share their experience when asked to do so. Recovered alcoholics know their own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics, carrying the message of recovery to the still suffering.
Anonymity in AA
Alcoholics Anonymous is not an anonymous organization.
Members of AA protect their anonymity:
to protect the AA organization, their professional and private lives, the lives of other alcoholics, and most importantly, those seeking help with their drinking problem: the newcomer.
Your anonymity will be protected. AA does not keep information on their members nor track or record who contacts them.