AA Meeting Organization

A basic opening, discussion and closing sequence can be as follows:

• Meeting called to order by chairperson
• Chairperson reads "AA Preamble," and leads the group in the Serenity Prayer
• Members chosen prior to the meeting read "How it Works," the "Twelve Traditions" and "The Promises"
• Chairperson asks any newcomers or first time attendees to introduce themselves by their first name. This is voluntary and members may abstain from any introductions.
• Readings of announcements related to AA
• Meeting begins with a basic theme, whether discussion, Big Book Study, Step Study or speaker.
• Conclusion
• "Pass the basket" for optional $1 donation from members
• Statement of Twelfth Tradition
• Lord's Prayer, usually said standing in a circle, heads bowed, holding hands. Some groups close the meeting with the Serenity Prayer

Philosophy

The basic tenet of any AA meeting is voluntary sharing. No pressure is put on newcomers to speak up or to share any of their experiences. The chairperson may ask a newcomer share an experience as a part of the meeting procedure. Anyone not wishing to speak or to share can reply with “No thanks”, or “Thanks – but I will pass tonight.” These refusals are taken at face value and are enough. There is no stigma for not speaking and no pressure applied to make the person open up.

Typically meetings include a routine question from the chairperson as to whether there are any newcomers or people from other meetings who would like to be introduced by their first name only. This is meant as an opportunity for those desiring to introduce themselves. It’s not a requirement, although it is usually a good idea for the newcomer's progress and comfort to just go ahead and introduce themselves. A typical introduction may go something like this: "My name is Bill and I think I am an alcoholic. This is my first AA meeting."

Open Sharing

All AA meetings and sessions operate on the premise of open sharing and discussion. It is good for newcomers to try and get over any personal fears and to start the process of opening up for themselves. No pressures is placed on any newcomers to join ongoing discussions or share a personal experience. It is in he newcomer’s best interest to try and join in and release personal experiences as early as possible.

Typically meetings and sharing are conducted in a round table fashion for smaller meetings where the members may simply sit in a circle. Members then speak in turns, going around the circle. Larger meetings may require classroom-like methods of raising hands in order to speak or to contribute a comment to an ongoing discussion.

Meeting Types

Basic meetings usually fall into one of the following categories:

• Open or closed
• Mixed, men only, women only, youngsters’
• A Speaker, Big Book study, Step Study or Discussion
• Clubhouse or church related

Open or Closed

Open meetings are also accessible to AA member family and friends. There may be students or some other observers present. A closed meeting is restricted to members only. Closed meetings are generally reserved for those who consider themselves to be alcoholics but newcomers are always welcome.

Mixed or Other

Meetings may be a mixed group of men and women, or men or women only. Meeting schedules normally indicate this by codes [MO or WO].

Discussion Meeting

These center on a pre-determined discussion topic. The leader introduces a topic when the meeting opens. Members raise hands in order to indicate that they have something to share, introducing themselves by saying: "My name is so-and-so and I am an alcoholic," or, "I am a grateful recovering alcoholic," or "I am powerless over alcohol," etc. Identifying the alcohol problem is the norm, but not rigorously enforced.

Sharing

Usually begin with a reference to the topic or to previous speaker’s comments. Each member who speaks is free to change the subject or introduce a new topic. Anyone having a particularly hard time, especially if they are thinking seriously about drinking, is expected to bring this up regardless of what the original topic was or subsequent comments.

General Rules

• Meetings allow each member to share their experiences once during each session
• No direct advice or telling another member what to think or how to behave is tolerated
• Identification and empathy with the experiences of others is encouraged through members sharing similar experiences
• Topics include some relation to alcohol or conflicts in living related to the Twelve Steps are encourages
• Normal discussion limits is 3 minutes or less.
• Personal experience, feelings and struggles are encouraged rather than theoretical moralizing

Meeting Speakers

Speakers who agrees to tell their story of drinking and recovery are selected in advance. Speakers usually have a year or more of sobriety. A common format is to devote the entire meeting after the usual opening readings to the speaker's story. When the story is finished the meeting is wrapped up without formal discussion. Sometimes these are combined speaker-discussion meetings where a speaker talks for 15-30 minutes, followed by a group discussion of the themes raised.

Big Book and 12 Step Study Meetings

These are devoted to the study of the "Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous" or the "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions" (Twelve and Twelve) written by Bill Wilson, a co-founder of AA. Participants bring their own copies of the book, but usually there are extras available. The typical meeting will involve reading some portion of the "Big Book" or the "Twelve and Twelve" with comments based upon an individual member's experience and perspective. The discussion leader may read a selected passage and then invite comments, or members may take turns reading a paragraph or two from a chosen section of the work, followed by a general discussion of the topics. Sharing that consists of personal experience and applications are valued over theoretical and impersonal analysis. The usual etiquette is for members to remain silent until the speaker has finished.

Clubhouse and Church Meetings

AA clubhouses are sites specifically dedicated to AA meetings and usually have a large number of daily meetings, often at all hours. Clubhouse buildings may be owned, or consist of rented space. Clubhouse meetings typically include a wide spectrum of recovering alcoholics from still drinking, relapsees, to decades of continuous sobriety. Often there are special beginners or "First Step" meetings that are attended both by newcomers and those with long, continuous sobriety. Clubhouse meetings tend to be larger than church meetings, though this is not always the case.

Church meetings are at various local churches by special arrangement with the congregation, usually including a nominal rent payment from collections from the AA group at the each meeting‘s end. These meetings are not affiliated with the church, but simply reflect a tradition of churches providing AA with meeting space.

      12 Steps Of Alcoholics Anonymous

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is the base upon which recovery rests. Recovery is a slow process of empowerment and is based upon the tenet that the sufferer wants support and is willing to look outside for help. Taking things one step at a time and separating these into recognizable and solvable issues is required.

Basic Tenets

The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous stress the power of admission and recognition with peer group support as the key elements to successful alcohol recovery. Inter group sharing is encouraged. Extensive spiritual and individual counseling is part of the recovery process.

Spiritual development is encouraged and expected, the person has to be open to accepting help and support from a higher power that lay outside themselves. There is a strong call for the alcoholic to accept that they are powerless by themselves and that they require external help.

Typical meetings are group affairs based upon extensive sharing and group counseling.

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.

The first of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, this states that the alcoholic needs to accept and understand that his/her condition and all of its issues is a direct result of his/her actions, driven by the addiction and not individual choice. The alcoholic has to reach a position of total acceptance of a need for help as a basic requirement for further progress toward recovery.

2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

The next important step begins with an admission that there is a greater power that can guide our lives, rather than basic desires and feelings. This power has the capacity to help, support and enable us to overcome our personal shortcomings, and restore us to clean, pure and happy individuals that we were meant to be.

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

This step starts with an admission and recognition that we can trust ourselves to this greater power that we may call God, and that He is capable of turning our lives around through His infinite generosity.

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

This step again turns to the inward contemplation of the individual and his/her failings. We are required to look at our addiction, its manifestations and effects truthfully, honestly and without any spiritual or moral cover-ups. This step encourages the individual to recognize the damage and issues that their addiction is causing in their lives from all perspectives: self, family, social and psychological

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

As an important aspect to reaching out for support, this step encourages sharing of our observations of our own failings with other individuals. Honesty and an unflinching desire to change are required of an individual seeking redemption from addiction. Until now, the individual has only acknowledged within his/her self that they are fallible and weak. This step encourages us to reach out and to make our problem real by the sharing with others.

6. We’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Having acknowledged our failings to the external world, we are encouraged to affirm our desire for change, for improvement and for support through our participation. This step encourages a review of our commitment and our conviction that we are ready for the changes in our lives, actions, attitudes and character, whatever they may be.

7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

We are again required to affirm our belief in the higher power and to now use this power to enable us to set our persons and lives free from the damaging and destructive elements that were influencing us in the past. A basic attitude of humility and acceptance is essential at this point.

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

We are again encouraged to review the list that we had made of people in our lives that we had wronged through our addictive self and behaviors. The individual is encouraged to recognize a need to repair the damage that they had inadvertently caused to their personal and family lives and in their social interactions.

9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Time to implement what we have acknowledged and recognized in the previous step as our direct impact on self, family and society. We are required to actually go out and make amends as required with all people whom we have identified as having being wronged by our addictive behavior in the past.

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Recognizing that recovery is a long term and continuous process, we are encouraged to take periodical stock of our actions and behaviors. We must recognize that we can fail and that we may make mistakes – we should be willing and open to make any amends that may be required, even if it implies some form of personal disgrace at times.

11. We seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Prayer and meditation serve to remind us that we are basically seeking the support of the divine power that is greater than our individual self. And that this power has the capacity to give us infinite and continual support through any situation that we may find ourselves in.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to other addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Sharing and empowerment are the basic tenets of this final part of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. We reach out to others who are suffering as we once were. Through our interactions and our intervention, we see them grow and become free of their addiction. We see ourselves making new friends and we see us as contributing positively to others’ lives and the world as a whole through our compassion and our understanding that they are suffering as we once were ourselves.