What Does A.A. Do?
AA works through members telling their stories of what we used to be like, what happened and what we are like now. The AA program, known as The Twelve Steps, provides a framework for self-examination and a road to recovery, free of alcohol.
What Does A.A. NOT Do?
- A.A. does not run membership drives to try to argue alcoholics into joining. A.A. is for alcoholics who want to get sober.
- A.A. does not check up on its members to see that they don’t drink. It helps alcoholics to help themselves.
- A.A. is not a religious organization. All members are free to decide on their own personal ideas about the meaning of life.
- A.A. is not a medical organization, does not give out medicines or psychiatric advice.
- A.A. does not run any hospitals, wards, or sanitariums or provide nursing services.
- A.A. is not connected with any other organization. But A.A. does cooperate with organizations that fight alcoholism. Some members work for such organizations — but on their own — not as representatives of A.A.
- A.A. does not accept money from sources outside A.A., either private or government.
- A.A. does not offer any social services, does not provide housing, food, clothing, jobs, or money. It helps alcoholics stay sober, so they can earn these things for themselves.
- Alcoholics Anonymous lives up to the “Anonymous” part of its title. It does not want members’ full names or faces to be revealed on radio, TV, newspapers or on new media technologies such as the Internet. And members do not tell other members’ names to people outside A.A. But members are not ashamed of belonging to A.A. They just want to encourage more alcoholics to come to A.A. for help. And they do not want to make heroes and heroines of themselves simply for taking care of their own health.
- A.A. does not provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers, etc.
Reprinted from A Brief Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
