Alcoholics Anonymous

What is A.A.?

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It 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 his or her drinking problem.

The primary purpose of A.A. is to carry its message of recovery to the alcoholic seeking help. Almost every alcoholism treatment tries to help the alcoholic maintain sobriety. Regardless of the road we follow, we all head for the same destination, recovery of the alcoholic person. Together, we can do what none of us could accomplish alone. We can serve as a source of personal experience and be an ongoing support system for recovering alcoholics.

How A.A. Works

Members of A.A. use the Twelve Steps to maintain sobriety. A.A. Groups use the Twelve Traditions to stay unified.

A.A.ā€™s Twelve Steps are a set of spiritual principles. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism.

The Twelve Traditions apply to A.A. as a whole. They outline how A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world around it.

The bookĀ Alcoholics AnonymousĀ describes the A.A. program of recovery. It also contains stories written by the co-founders and stories from a wide range of members who have found recovery in A.A.

Who are A.A. Members?

We are people who have discovered and admitted that we cannot control alcohol. We have learned that we must live without it to live normal, happy lives.

We are not anti-alcohol and we have no wish to reform the world. We are not allied with any group, cause, or religious denomination. We welcome new members, but we do not recruit them.

We do not impose our experience with problem drinking on others, but we do share it when we are asked to do so. We know our own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics.

More Information

Click here for additional information about Alcoholics Anonymous.