A Place to Connect

An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting can be a frightening experience for the first time attendee.

Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are specific in their set up and the guidelines in which they are run. However, the ongoing theme is that meetings are open to anyone as long as the new member has an honest desire to stop drinking. Because of the charitable nature of Alcoholics Anonymous there exist no fee’s or dues for its membership or visitors – even though there is a box for at-will donations to help cover the costs of renting the meeting room. The meetings are usually conducted in hospitals, parks, churches, community centers, libraries, or in recovery centers or alcoholic rehabilitation clinics. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings may be held in various businesses, churches or civic centers, AA is not affiliated with any of these organizations other AA and follows no specific religious doctrine or political movement.

AA Meeting Etiquette

Alcoholics Anonymous meetings will have a wide variety of formats in which the meeting can be carried on. For example: one meeting will be lecture while yet another meeting can be focused on group sharing. Because AA meetings are generally open to the public it is important to remember that there are rules of etiquette when participating in any Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Those rules of etiquette include:

Speaking: For the most part, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings will ask that you to speak while respecting the group as well as considering the time limitations of the meeting. Since most meetings last only an hour and a half, the meeting organizer will usually request that sharing is conducted for five minutes or less so that everyone that wishes to share may do so. Members are discouraged from talking to someone directly during sharing. This is known as crosstalk. Crosstalk is discouraged since members are encouraged to speak to one another before and after meetings. Members are encouraged to avoid specifics regarding their drug use and are encouraged to share their journey of recovery.

Open Meetings & Closed Meetings: Alcoholics Anonymous sponsors two general types of meetings – open and closed. Open meetings are for anyone that is thinking of joining the program whereas closed meetings are specifically for alcoholics that believe they have a disease.

Anonymity: This is a tent-pole standard for Alcoholics Anonymous, as it should be instilled into everyone that attends meetings that it is safe to feel and share your condition with others, feeling free to disclose your condition and open to receiving assistance. Naturally, this comes with anonymity. AA visitors and members are required to give a first name on the chance the newcomer chooses to share. Part of the promise of anonymity is that the members and newcomers keep what they hear in the AA meetings to themselves, revealing nothing of what they have heard nor disclose it to anyone outside the meeting.

Behavior: An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is where members gather together to enable one another through their specific recovery process and thus should try to remain positive. Those that display behavior that is abusive, threatening, disturbing, and harassing should be discouraged. This also includes religious, financial and sexual solicitations by any member to another. Those who feel harassed should speak with their meeting leader to try and resolve the issue of any soliciting or bullying.