About AA
"ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women 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. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety."
Copyright © The AA Grapevine, Inc.
We in A.A. are people who have discovered, and admitted, that we cannot control alcohol. We have learned that we must live without it if we are to avoid disaster for ourselves and those close to us. With local groups in thousands of communities, we are part of an informal international fellowship with members from more than 100 countries.
We have but one primary purpose: to stay sober ourselves and to help others who may turn to us for help in achieving sobriety. We are not reformers and we are not allied with any group, cause, religious denomination, or ethnic background. We have no wish to dry up the world. We do not recruit members. We avoid imposing our viewpoint on problem drinking on others, even if asked.
People of varying age groups and many different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds may be found in our fellowship. Some of us drank for many years before coming to the realisation we could not handle alcohol. Others were fortunate enough to appreciate, early in life or in our drinking careers, that alcohol had become unmanageable.
The consequences of our alcoholic drinking have also varied. Some of our members had become derelicts before turning to A.A. for help. They had lost family, possessions, and self-respect. they had been in the gutter. They had been hospitalised and jailed. They had committed many grave offences – against society, their families, their employers, and themselves.
Others among us have never been jailed or hospitalised. Nor have they lost jobs through drinking. But even those men and women finally came to the point where they realised that alcohol was interfering with normal living. When they discovered that they could not seem to live without alcohol, they too sought help through A.A. rather than prolonging their suffering.
All the great faiths are represented in our fellowship and many religious leaders have encouraged our growth. There are even atheists and agnostics among us. Belief in, or adherence to, a formal creed is not a condition of membership. We are united by a common problem and a common solution.
Through meetings, talking with other alcoholics, and working the A.A. way of life outlined in the twelve steps we are able to stay sober and live purposeful lives. We lose the compulsion to drink which was once the dominant force in our lives.
If you think you have a problem with drinking and want to find out more please call: