Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous (known commonly as "A.A." or "AA") is a world-wide fellowship of alcoholics whose primary purpose is to stay sober and carry the message of recovery from alcoholism through the Twelve Steps. A.A. is the original twelve-step program and has been the source and model for all subsequent and separate ones, such as Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Al-Anon/Alateen.

Structure

The affairs of A.A. are governed broadly by A.A.'s Twelve Traditions and the Twelve Concepts. A.A. has a minimal amount of organized structure. There is no hierarchy of leaders and no formal control structure. People who accept service positions within the Fellowship are known only as "trusted servants." Individual A.A. members and groups cannot be compelled to do anything by "higher" A.A. authorities. Each A.A. group, small or large, is considered a self-supporting and self-governing entity. A.A. does maintain offices and service centres which have the task of co-ordinating activities like printing literature, responding to public enquiries and organizing state or national conferences. These offices are funded by local A.A. members and are directly responsible to the A.A. groups in the region or country they represent. (For more information, see A.A.'s Twelve Traditions as set out in the A.A. "Big Book" Alcoholics Anonymous and discussed in detail in the A.A. book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.)

Related Topics:
Twelve Traditions - Twelve Concepts

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