Come Early, Stay Late

The simplest way is Meeting Guide, a free app for iPhone and Android from AA World Services, which publishes AA’s literature. It lists meetings near you and online, and you can search by day, time and kind of meeting. Its listings come from local AA offices, so they’re only as current as the office that keeps them.

If nothing turns up, call your area’s AA office, usually called a central office or intergroup. AA’s Find A.A. page lists them by place.

Sources: aa.org, Meeting Guide app and Find A.A.

The two that matter most are Open and Closed (see below). Others say what kind of meeting it is, such as Speaker, Discussion or Big Book, and whom it’s meant for, such as Women or Young People. Printed schedules often use letters instead, like O for open and C for closed, with a key on the page.

A label shows only if the local office added it, so a meeting with few labels may still be any kind.

Source: Meeting Guide’s help pages, on meeting types.

Yes. AA meets online and by phone as well as in person. Meeting Guide has a tab for online meetings, and the Online Intergroup of A.A. keeps a worldwide directory at aa-intergroup.org. Some meetings are hybrid, with people in the room and others joining on a screen.

Sources: aa.org, on online and phone meetings; the Online Intergroup of A.A.

An open meeting is for anyone interested in AA, whether or not they have a drinking problem. Family, friends and the simply curious are welcome to sit in.

A closed meeting is for AA members and for anyone who has a drinking problem and wants to stop drinking. You don’t have to be sure you’re an alcoholic to go. A desire to stop drinking is the only requirement for membership.

Sources: aa.org, What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting; The A.A. Group; Tradition Three.

Speaker

One or more members tell their story: what their drinking was like, what happened, and what life is like now.

Discussion

The leader picks a topic, often from AA’s literature, and members take turns sharing on it.

Big Book, Step or Tradition study

The group reads part of AA’s basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), or of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and talks it over, often working through them in order.

Newcomer, or beginners

Made for people who are new, often as questions and answers, and usually led by a member who has been sober a while.

Candlelight

AA’s literature doesn’t define it. Usually the lights are turned down and a candle is lit; the format is up to the group.

Many meetings mix these, and each group decides its own format.

Source: The A.A. Group.

In many places, yes. Meeting Guide can find meetings for women, men, young people and LGBTQ members, meetings in Spanish, and secular meetings, where agnostic and atheist members may feel more at home. You can also look for wheelchair access.

Sources: Meeting Guide’s help pages; The “God” Word.

If there’s a newcomer meeting near you, it was made for your questions. Otherwise, try any open meeting, or any closed one if you want to stop drinking.

Groups differ in size, mood and format. If one doesn’t feel right, try another. It’s common to try several before settling in.

Not always. After a long stretch of heavy drinking, stopping suddenly can bring on withdrawal, which can be painful and even life-threatening. A doctor can help you stop safely, and you can go to meetings while you do. AA isn’t medical treatment, and its members aren’t there to give medical advice.

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Treatment for Alcohol Problems.

AA leaves that to you. No one there will tell you that you are, or that you aren’t. AA’s pamphlet Is A.A. for You? has twelve yes-or-no questions some people find useful, and an open meeting is a good place to listen and decide for yourself.

Sources: A Newcomer Asks; Is A.A. for You?

Many members have had other problems too. If you have a drinking problem, you’re welcome whatever else you’re dealing with. AA keeps to one purpose, helping alcoholics recover, and many groups ask that sharing stay on drinking.

If your problem is drugs and not alcohol, fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous are built for that. Open AA meetings are still open to anyone interested in AA.

Sources: Bill W., Problems Other Than Alcohol; Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.

You can still come. AA’s literature says most groups ask anyone who is drinking and disrupting a meeting to leave, and welcome them back any time they won’t disrupt it. If you can sit quietly and listen, come.

Source: Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.

You might. If you do, they’re there for the same reason you are. Members are asked to keep who they see and what they hear at meetings to themselves, and AA keeps no membership lists or attendance records.

Sources: A Newcomer Asks; Understanding Anonymity.

AA isn’t allied with any church or religion, and membership doesn’t require any religious belief. The Steps speak of God “as we understood Him,” which leaves the understanding to each member. Members range from devout believers to atheists.

Many meetings open or close with a prayer, and joining in is up to you. Some areas have secular meetings, and AA’s pamphlet The “God” Word collects stories from agnostic and atheist members.

The history: How It Works, and the argument behind four words

Sources: the Preamble; This Is A.A.; The “God” Word.

Yes, to an open meeting. Husbands, wives, family and friends are welcome there. Closed meetings are for people with a drinking problem.

Families and friends of alcoholics also have a fellowship of their own, Al-Anon, with Alateen for teenagers. It’s separate from AA, though the two cooperate.

Sources: Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.; Relationship Between A.A. and Al-Anon.

Usually someone near the door or the coffee will say hello. Sit anywhere. The chair, the member leading the meeting that day, usually opens with AA’s Preamble and a few remarks, and often a reading or two and a moment of silence or a prayer. Then comes the main part: a speaker, a discussion or a reading.

Many meetings run an hour; the listing gives the times.

The history: The Serenity PrayerThe Preamble

Source: aa.org, What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting.

Many meetings ask whether anyone is at their first meeting, or visiting, so they can welcome them. You don’t have to raise your hand. AA’s own guide to meetings says identifying yourself isn’t required, though it can help at a first meeting: people may offer a phone number, a pamphlet or a word after the meeting.

Source: aa.org, What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting.

No. Many members introduce themselves that way, but no one can decide it for you, and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. You can give just your first name.

Sources: Tradition Three; This Is A.A.

No. You can listen for as long as you like. If the meeting goes around the room, you can give your first name and say you’d like to just listen, or simply pass. Nobody will press you.

Anonymity is one of AA’s Traditions. Members go by first names at meetings, and what people share there is meant to stay there. Whether to tell anyone about your own membership is your choice.

The history: First names only

Source: Understanding Anonymity.

Many groups ask members not to crosstalk: to speak to the whole group, rather than answer, question or give advice to someone who has just shared. A newsletter from AA’s General Service Office noted that these guidelines didn’t come from that office, and that using them is up to each group. Some groups don’t, and Meeting Guide even has a label for meetings where crosstalk is permitted.

If you’re unsure, listen to how others share first.

Sources: Box 4-5-9, Holiday 1994 and Spring 2017; Meeting Guide’s help pages.

No. AA has no dues or fees. Groups pay their own way, for rent, coffee and literature, out of what members put in the basket, and each member gives what they choose, or nothing. AA takes money only from its members, so a visitor at an open meeting can just pass the basket along.

The history: The basket

Sources: Tradition Seven; Self-Support; A Newcomer Asks; aa.org, on contributions.

Many groups hand out chips or coins to mark time sober, such as thirty days, ninety days or a year. Some also offer one to anyone who wants to try a day without a drink. Chips are a local custom, not something AA makes, and taking one is up to you.

The history: The chips

Sources: aa.org, on chips and medallions; Box 4-5-9, June–July 1993.

Many meetings close with a prayer, such as the Lord’s Prayer or the Serenity Prayer, or with an AA text such as the Responsibility Declaration. Some stand in a circle and hold hands. Joining in is up to you, and so is holding hands. Many end with “Keep coming back.”

The history: The closingKeep coming back

Source: The A.A. Group.

Most groups will, but it’s up to each group. AA itself doesn’t take attendance. Where a group does sign, a member notes that you were there, with your consent, on the slip you bring.

How it’s done varies. At some meetings you drop the slip in the basket when it comes around, and the secretary signs it and hands it back after the meeting. At others you ask the chair or secretary before or after. If you’re not sure, ask before the meeting starts. Getting the slip back to the court is up to you.

Sources: aa.org, What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting; A.A. Guidelines: Cooperating with Court, D.W.I. and Similar Programs; A.A. as a Resource for Drug and Alcohol Court Professionals.

No. AA keeps no attendance records or case histories, doesn’t send progress reports to courts, probation officers or anyone else, and doesn’t follow up on its members. A signed slip shows only that you were at a meeting.

Source: A.A. as a Resource for Drug and Alcohol Court Professionals.

It’s advice newcomers hear often. Come a few minutes before the meeting, when people are making coffee and setting out chairs, and stay a while after it ends, when they stack them again. That’s when people talk one to one, trade phone numbers and answer questions. Some carry on over coffee nearby, sometimes called the meeting after the meeting.

The habit is as old as AA. In Akron in 1937, after the closing, the members went to the kitchen for coffee and doughnuts and talked until the small hours.

The history: The closing

Sources: aa.org, What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting; Earl T., “He Sold Himself Short,” Alcoholics Anonymous.

A sponsor is a member with some time sober who helps another member through the program, one to one. You aren’t assigned one; you ask a member with more experience. AA’s pamphlet on sponsorship suggests a sponsor have a year or more sober, and says experience suggests men sponsor men and women sponsor women. Some groups can arrange a temporary sponsor while you look.

Source: Questions & Answers on Sponsorship.

The group a member chooses to belong to and attend regularly. Members vote on their home group’s business and on questions that affect AA as a whole. You belong to a group if you say you do.

Source: The A.A. Group.

AA’s pamphlets are free to read at aa.org. For newcomers, start with A Newcomer Asks, This Is A.A. and Is A.A. for You? The chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book, are there to read too.