Thank You for Reaching Out

Finding the answer to this question can take time, because the image of a skid-row drunk colours our understanding. Also because alcoholism, as AA sees it, is a progressive illness which means many people who join AA have not reached end-stage chronic round-the-clock drinking.

Rather AA suggests coming to meetings for a period of time, maybe 3 months, listening to diffirent stories to broaden your outlook.

Then AA’s only requirement for membership “a desire to stop drinking” becomes the more important question to answer. Would your life be better if you did not drink?

We have found stopping drinking removes all the problems that come from drinking, and gives us space to then look and work on the underlying issues behind the drinking.

Stopping drinking and attending regular meetings over a period of time, can help you assess whether AA is for you.

Many of our members, especially those whose drinking has not reached a chronic stage are able to do so without extra assistance.

However, this depends upon your state of health, the quantity of alcohol you are drinking and the time frame over which you have drunk heavily. A hangover is a withdrawal symptom. Alcoholics who have been drinking heavily may need medical assistance with more severe withdrawal symptoms such as the “shakes’, hallucinations, and the DT’s (delerium tremors) which can be life threatening.

Medical advice may be required for home detox, or referral for medical detox and/or for rehabiliation services.

Whilst AA does not provide medical and other professional services, AA provides ongoing peer and other support to motivate becoming sober and staying sober. Anyone can stop drinking for a period of time, whether a few hours or few days, especially if forced to (like being in jail).

Staying stopped is the issue. AA is not the only way to help, but it has longest history and the broadest network for doing so.

AA is an informal society of more than 2 million recovering alcoholics throughout the world. In Australia, there are about 18,000 members. They meet in over 2000 local meetings spread around the country. Meetings range in size from a handful in some localities to a hundred or more in larger communities.

All members are themselves recovering from alcoholism so AA is a nonprofessional society, although it does have professional people in its membership.

AA doesn’t have clinics, doctors, counsellors or psychologists. There is no central authority controlling how AA groups operate. It is up to the members of each group to decide what they do.

However, the AA program of recovery has proved to be so successful that almost every group follows it in very similar ways.

For more about What is AA? see here

No, although it can appear like that with first impressions. Quite a few AA meetings are held in church halls but that’s only because they’re convenient and affordable venues. AA groups are in no way affiliated with the churches or other organisations, whose meeting rooms we rent.

The AA program is certainly a spiritual one in that it offers tools for mental and spiritual well-being which are found in many religions. Some members are religious, many are not. but what that means The question of whether to join or continue with a religious organisation, is left up to the individual to decide.

For more about Is AA religious? see here

You are an AA member, if and, when you say you are.

The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking (and many of us were not very wholehearted about that when we first approached AA).

This simple requirement is based upon AA members experiences and AA’s understanding of alcoholism as a progressive health condition that gets worse over time. Problem drinkers come from all walks of life and have many different styles of drinking – regular daily or weekend drinking, around-the-clock, or bender drinking with periods of non-drinking in between.

What is important is not how often, how much, when or where one drinks, but what effect it has on the person and whether they can consistently keep their drinking within safe health guidelines.

No. There’s nothing to sign. If, at some stage you want to join a particular group you just say so. If you don’t want to join any group, that’s okay too. No one should tell you what to do about your drinking. If you want to keep drinking that’s your business. We just suggest that, if you want to stop drinking, you try doing what we did.

No. if anything AA is the opposite. AA is one of the most democratic organisations there are. There are no joining fees, no membership forms, no rules – everything offered are suggestions. No penalties for not attending or leaving, so the rights and choices of the individual are theirs to make.

Yes it is true that there is a lot of repetition (“brain-washing”) because alcohol even at lower doses can cause brain damage. We consider this “brain-washing” better than that we get in the pubs or from social media, TV or other sectors of our society.

Yes new members are shown a lot of compassion, friendship and encourgement to attend because we need care and support in a world that thinks alcoholism is self-inflected. But these are only two similarities with what defines a cult.

In our experience, the people who recover in AA are those who:

• stay away from the first drink one day at a time.
• attend AA meetings regularly
• seek out the people in AA they like who have successfully stayed sober for some time
• put into practice the simple principles of AA’s program of recovery

We in AA know what it is like to be addicted to alcohol, and to be unable to keep promises made to others and ourselves that we will stop drinking. We are not professional therapists. Our only qualification for helping others to recover from alcoholism is that we have stopped drinking ourselves. We have the ability to help problem drinkers because we are living proof that recovery is possible – we’ve done it.

No. AA does not keep membership files, or attendance records. You do not have to reveal anything about yourself. No one will bother you if you don’t want to come back. Click here to learn more about AA meetings.

If you have someone whose drinking is worrying or affecting you, there is a lot you can do – whether that person is a partner, family member, friend, work colleague or employee.

Whether the person admits they had a problem or not, the fact that your life is affected means you have a problem for which you have the right to seek help.

The first step is to become educated about what is healthy drinking, what is problem drinking and being clear about what you can do both directly and indirectly. Being educated means that your conversations, with the person you are concerned about, will be much better informed.

There are sources of help for family and friends such as the Al-Anon Family Groups, alcohol and other drug services, health workers with specific understanding of addiction problems. There are employee assistance programs to help employers in their relationships with workers who appear to have addiction problems.

Whilst AA does not provide direct assistance for non-alcoholics, there is a lot of information on this website. And web searches will provide more information on the issues mentioned above.

In particular, the Al-Anon Family Groups, like AA, provides information, literature and meetings – face-to-face and online. We recommend contacting and attending both Al-Anon and AA meetings for a period of time, to get a greater understanding of what both have to offer.