Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meetings

General Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meeting Information

With 100,000’s of AA meetings being held around the world every day, it’s easy for you to find local live meetings and online meetings with people from your local community in attendance. If you are in a treatment center, they will have meetings and may also provide transportation to and from meetings. Many meetings have childcare, to ensure mothers and fathers can attend meetings also.

Meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous and are most often held in public places like churches, community centers, club houses and parks. During the COVID pandemic, many of your local AA meetings are still being held on the same day and time as before, but have transitioned to an online platform like Zoom. While AA groups do not affiliate themselves with any particular religion, they are spiritual in nature, with a goal of being a safe place for people with alcohol problems to meet, share their experience, strength and hope with each other, and take the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to rid yourself of your problematic drinking, clean up any wreckage you may have caused and heal yourself. The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are specifically designed to help suffering alcoholics rebuild their lives. Many other 12 step programs use an adapted version of the 12 steps to help people who suffer from many other ailments.

Types of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meetings

As a general rule, there are two standard types of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings: open meetings and closed meetings. An open AA meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend, including people suffering from alcoholism, friends, family members, students, members of the community, observers, first responders, treatment providers and more. Closed AA meetings are for individuals suffer from alcoholism, identify as alcoholic, and/or have a desire to stop drinking. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are specifically intended to be a safe place for people to share their personal experiences, circumstances they may be in, and hardships related to their alcoholic behavior, which are expected to remain confidential within the group. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings provide mental, emotion and spiritual support from the other individuals attending, who have been through similar situations. The AA members of the A group offer newer AA members support and guidance based on their own personal experience in an effort to give the new AA members hope that they can turn their lives around in a similar fashion. Additionally, newer AA members help the longer term AA members by helping them feel that they are doing good by giving back and helping others in similar situations.

Open and closed Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings often follow various formats including:

• Discussion AA Meetings: Possibly the most common meeting format, the chairperson or leader of the meeting will choose a topic to discuss during the meeting. These meetings may be open or closed.
• Beginner AA Meetings: These meetings are led by a veteran member who has been Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for a long period of time and may follow a variety of formats (discussion, topic, book, literature, step, etc.), while focusing on the first three of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), or it may be more of a question-and-answer type format.
• Speaker AA Meetings: AA members who have been sober for a minimum period of time may be chosen beforehand to share their past experiences and how working through “The Program,” as AA’s 12 Steps and Traditions may be referred to, has helped them get to where they are today. These AA meetings are often open to the public, many are recorded, so you can listen to your favorite Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Speakers any time you want.
• Book, Step, Tradition or Literature AA Meetings: A reading from various AA Literature is read, shared on and worked through during the meeting. These AA meetings are usually held in a rotation as the AA Steps, Traditions, Book or Literature are worked through. Individuals may use workbooks and texts during the AA meeting or for homework assignments.
• Service AA Meetings: These may be information meetings about AA service opportunities within the group or AA as a whole. Often times reports on AA service activities the AA group has performed are often provided.
• Group Inventory AA Meetings: AA members work to determine if the particular AA group is fulfilling its primary purpose and functioning effectively.
• Business AA Meetings: Generally, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) business meetings are for the AA members involved in the business aspects of the AA group. They may also include the AA group electing officers or other AA group business needs.

People can attend as many Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings as the want and are often encouraged to attend a number of meetings until they find a meeting or set of meetings they like and that have people attending who they can relate to. People are encouraged to find an AA home group which they attend regularly. This is usually a meeting you relate to, that has people who are benefiting from the meeting and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. They generally take a commitment at their AA home group and hold themselves and others accountable for attending.

How is an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meeting Conducted?

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) membership is open to anyone who suffers from alcoholism, identifies as an alcoholic, and/or has a desire to stop drinking. People do not have to do anything prior to attending an AA meeting; they can just show up. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting attendance is kept confidential, and individuals are welcome to attend as many different Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings as they desire. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are typically an hour, but there are also many longer meetings and some shorter in duration.

Typical Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meeting Format

Individual Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups may differ slightly in the way they run Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, but in general, a typical format for an AA meeting is as follows:

• Welcome and opening
• Moment of silence and recitation of the Serenity Prayer
• Explanation of 12-Step values, expectation of confidentiality, and reiteration of openness to all and no cost for membership
• Reading from the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Literature
• Introductions around the room (first name only, though no one is required to speak)
• Introduction of the speaker or facilitator of the meeting
• Discussion
• Announcements
• Passing of the collection plate, donations are not required although this is how the AA group sustains itself
• Closing, most likely with an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) reading and a closing prayer

As Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are meant to be a fellowship, there is also often coffee and refreshments at some point either before, during, or after the AA meeting for networking and socializing. AA members may choose to volunteer at AA meetings as coffee makers, greeters, literature distributor, or they can get more involved volunteering as the AA group’s secretary, AA treasurer, AA chairperson, etc.

Those who have been in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for a long period of time may become a “sponsor” for newer AA members. A sponsor is a more veteran member of the AA group, who has gone through the same difficulty you may be facing, has taken the 12-steps of the AA program, knows the Big Book and will guide you through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to help with your success. AA sponsors also offer encouragement around the clock, helping to provide in-the-moment support and guidance when needed, and introduce you to other Recovery Resources. AA sponsors are often available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, usually by phone, to help sponsees get through potentially difficult situations, temptations, or triggering events. AA sponsors may meet or check-in with their sponsees regularly, and lifelong relationships may be formed.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups are safe environments free from alcohol (and other mind altering substances) where individuals are surrounded by others with the same goal of sustained sobriety and recovery. These Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings can provide individuals with a network of sober peers who can understand and empathize with each other in ways that others who are not in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) may not be able to as easily.

The Recovery HQ Team is here to help you!

It’s important to know that you and your loved one are not alone in your fight for sobriety. Whether you choose to go to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, take up meditation or yoga or use other resources, taking the first step toward regaining your life has begun. Contact our dedicated team and we will help find the solution which best fits your needs.