A Warm Welcome to our Friends in the Professional Community

You might have patients, clients, employees, students, or members of your congregation who may have a drinking problem. You may be part of an organization or group that comes in contact regularly with those suffering from alcoholism. You may have found yourself curious of whether or not Alcoholic Anolnymous could help someone you know.

Alcoholics Anonymous aims to cooperate with an array of professionals within our community.  That being the case, it’s likely that we share a common goal: help the alcoholic who still suffers.

We’ve Been in Their Shoes & We Want to Help

Many professionals haven’t had the opportunity to find out how the Alcoholic Anonymous program of recovery works. More importantly, how A.A. can help problem drinkers that they are coming into contact with. A.A. provides an avenue of support for the many active alcoholics that may otherwise never find us.

We don’t try to teach professionals about alcoholism. We don’t try to change the way that you do your jobs. We simply want to share our experience, strength and hope with regards to our recovery, so that you are aware of options as you offer help to the men or women that you encounter with an alcohol problem.

An Overview of the A.A. Program

Alcoholics Anonymous is a non-profit, self-supporting, entirely independent fellowship that is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution. Yet A.A. is in a position to serve as a resource to you through its policy of “cooperation but not affiliation” with the professional community. We can serve as a source of personal experience with alcoholism and as an ongoing support system for recovering alcoholics.

How the Program Works

A.A.’s primary purpose, as stated in our Preamble, is: “to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.” The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. Members share their experiences in recovery from alcoholism on a one-to-one basis, and introduce the newcomer to A.A.’s Twelve Steps of recovery and its Twelve Traditions that sustain the Fellowship itself.

At the heart of the program are its meetings, which are conducted anomously by A.A. groups worldwide. Anyone may attend open meetings of A.A. These usually consist of talks by one or more speakers who share impressions of their past illness and their present recovery in A.A. Some open meetings — to which helping professionals, the media and others are invited — are held for the specific purpose of informing the non-alcoholic (and possibly alcoholic) public about A.A. Additionally there are closed meetings which are only for those individuals that identify themselves as an alcoholic. Alcoholics recovering in A.A. generally attend several meetings each week.

Anonymity

Anonymity helps the Fellowship to govern itself by principles rather than personalities; by attraction rather than promotion. We openly share our program of recovery, but not the names of the individuals in it.

What A.A. Does NOT Do

Alcoholics Anonymous does not:
Furnish initial motivation for alcoholics to recover solicit members
Engage in or sponsor research
Keep attendance records or case histories
Join “councils” or social agencies
Follow up or try to control its members
Make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses
Provide drying-out or nursing services, hospitalization, drugs, or any medical or psychiatric treatment
Offer religious services
Engage in education about alcohol
Provide housing, food, clothing, jobs, money or any other welfare or social services Provide domestic or vocational counselling
Accept any money for its services or any contributions from non-A.A. sources
Provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers, etc.

If you would like to connect with a local member of Alcoholics Anonymous, visit our Contact Us page. Submit an inquiry & a member will reply to assist you..

Please feel free to review and download any of the pamphlets listed below at the bottom of this page. The information on this page was excerpted from pamphlets listed below. This information and pamphlets are copyrighted, and used with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc. For additional information, please contact the General Service Office at www.aa.org.

For more information about Alcoholics Anonymous in North Dakota and Area 52 please click on this link.

If You Are a Professional

Directed at professionals of all types who deal with alcoholics; explains how A.A.s and non-A.A.s can work together. 

Problems other
than alcohol

Bill’s thoughts on the status of drug addicts within A.A. are as timely as when they appeared in a 1958 Grapevine.

Why Anonymous

This Public Service announcement (P.S.A.) is copyrighted by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (A.A.W.S). All rights reserved.
A.A.W.S. is not affiliated with and does not sponsor this website, its owner, or its content. For more information, please visit www.aa.org.

A.A. Video for Legal and Corrections Professionals

This Public Service announcement (P.S.A.) is copyrighted by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (A.A.W.S). All rights reserved.
A.A.W.S. is not affiliated with and does not sponsor this website, its owner, or its content. For more information, please visit www.aa.org.