About AA

Millions of men and women have heard or read about the unique Fellowship called Alcoholics Anonymous since its founding in 1935. Of these, more than 2,000,000 now call themselves members. People who once drank to excess, they finally acknowledged that they could not handle alcohol, and now live a new way of life without it.
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 recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA 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.

The famous "Twelve Steps" are the core of the AA experience. The power of the AA Twelve Steps has snowballed since their codification in the early forties. Today the past success of the Twelve Steps serves as a powerful motivational factor for all alcoholics starting, and already on, the road to sobriety. AA does not require or force any aspect of the Twelve steps on any of the membership to allow each individual to create his or her own AA experience. Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so. They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety, and to read AA literature describing and interpreting the AA program.

The Twelve Steps:

1.   We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had
      become unmanageable.
2.   Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could
      restore us to sanity.
3.   Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of
      God as we understood Him.
4.   Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.   Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the
      exact nature of our wrongs.
6.   Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of
      character.
7.   Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.   Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to
      make amends to them all.
9.   Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except
       when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong
       promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
       contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for
       knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we
       tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these
       principles in all our affairs.

The majority of AA members believe that we have found the solution to our drinking problem not through individual willpower, but through a power greater than ourselves. However, everyone defines this power as he or she wishes. Many people call it God, others think it is the AA group, still others don’t believe in it at all. There is room in AA for people of all shades of belief and non-belief. The official beliefs of AA as expressed in AA literature and on the official Alcoholics Anonymous web sites are non-religious in nature and open to free interpretation of the terms "God" and "Higher Power".

Part of the strength of AA is the importance of the autonomy, privacy, of the individual and the individual groups laid out in step four of the "Twelve Traditions".
No society of men and women have ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. The "Twelve Traditions" of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we believe, the best answers that our experience has yet given to those urgent questions, "How can AA best function?" and, "How can AA best stay whole and survive?"

The Twelve Traditions:

1.   Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery
      depends on AA unity.
2.   For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority, a loving
      God as He may express himself in our group conscience. Our
      leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3.   The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop
      drinking.
4.   Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting
      other groups or AA as a whole.
5.   Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry out its
      message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6.   An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name
      to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest any problems of
      money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary
      purpose.
7.   Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining
      outside contributions.
8.   Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional,
      but our service centers may employ special workers.
9.   AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create
      service boards or committees directly responsible to those they
      serve.
10. AA has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought
       never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than
       promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the
       level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever
       reminding us to place e principles before personalities.

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