70% of AA members were introduced to AA by referrals.
-2014 Membership Survey

For Professionals

Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) has A.A. members and service committees available to provide information about Alcoholics Anonymous to you. Since the beginning A.A. has cooperated but not affiliated with outside organizations makes itself available to provide A.A. meetings or information about A.A. upon request. A.A. communicates with such professionals as: doctors or other health care professionals, members of the clergy, law enforcement or court officials, educators, social workers, alcoholism counselors, therapists, those whose work brings them into contact problem drinkers in their work.

We want to strengthen and expand the communication between us, and your comments and suggestions are welcome. Feedback helps us to work more effectively in achieving our common purpose: to help the alcoholic who still suffers.

A Resource for the Helping Professional

Professionals who work with alcoholics share a common purpose with Alcoholics Anonymous: to help alcoholics stop drinking and lead a healthy, productive life.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a nonprofit, self-supporting, entirely independent fellowship— “not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution.” Yet A.A. can serve as a resource to you through its policy of “cooperation but not affiliation” with the professional community.

We can serve as a source of personal experience with alcoholism as an ongoing support system for recovering alcoholics.

Alcoholics are never alone-Alcoholics Anonymous has meeting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to be found locally through The Meeting Guide App available on the play store for Android or Apple, or by visiting or calling the local intergroups (which also have and sell literature). The Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous at www.AA-intergroup.org is also available.

How the Program Works

A.A. ‘s primary purpose, as stated in our Preamble, is: “. . . to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.”

The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. Members share their experiences in recovery from alcoholism on a one-to-one basis and introduce the newcomer to A.A. ‘s Twelve Steps of personal recovery and its Twelve Traditions that sustain the Fellowship itself.

Meetings. At the heart of the program are its meetings, which are conducted autonomously by A.A. groups in cities and towns throughout the world. Anyone may attend open meetings of A.A. These usually consist of talks by one or more speakers who share impressions of their past illness and their present recovery in A.A. Some open meetings — to which helping professionals, the media and others are invited — are held for the specific purpose of informing the nonalcoholic (and possibly alcoholic) public about A.A. Closed meetings are for alcoholics only.

Alcoholics recovering in A.A. generally attend several meetings each week.

Anonymity. Anonymity helps the Fellowship to govern itself by principles rather than personalities; by attraction rather than promotion. We openly share our program of recovery, but not the names of the individuals in it.

What A.A. Does NOT Do

A.A. does not: Furnish initial motivation for alcoholics to recover; solicit members; engage in or sponsor research; keep attendance records or case histories; join “councils” of social agencies; follow up or try to control its members; make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses; provide drying-out or nursing services, hospitalization, drugs, or any medical or psychiatric treatment; offer religious services; engage in education about alcohol; provide housing, food, clothing, jobs, money or any other welfare or social services; provide domestic or vocational counseling; accept any money for its services or any contributions from non-A.A. sources; provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers, etc.

Referrals From Judicial, Health Care, or other Professionals

Today numerous A.A. members come to us from judicial, health care, or other professionals. Some arrive voluntarily, others do not.

A.A. does not discriminate against any prospective member. Who made the referral to A.A. is not what interests us — it is the problem drinker who elicits our concern.

Proof of attendance at meetings. Sometimes a referral source asks for proof of attendance at A.A. meetings.

  • Groups cooperate in different ways. There is no set procedure. The nature and extent of any group’s involvement in this process is entirely up to the individual group.
  • Some groups with the consent of the prospective member, have an A.A. member acknowledge attendance on a slip that has been furnished by the referral source. The referred person is responsible for returning the proof of attendance.

How to Make Referrals to A.A.

  • Alcoholics Anonymous main organizational website can be found on the internet at aa.org.
  • Our “Meeting Guide App” available on the play store has local meetings and is searchable by zip code. AA.org/meeting-Guide-App
  • Local Intergroups support local groups/needs and have meeting lists and directories and a telephone hotline, many with phone availability 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year where a recovering alcoholic can be reached.
  • For Hispanic AA Referrals call the following number:  (301) 587 6191.
  • And a Maryland Deaf Access Committee at mdacAA.org for Deaf services and resources.
  • The Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous at AA-intergroup.org has worldwide online and telephone meetings and for special interest groups such as “Young People”, “Seniors” and “People of Color” as well as in multiple languages including ASL for the Deaf and meetings for those with low vision and other needs.
  • We have an Accessibilities Committee available to assist with resources for disabilities-MarylandAA.org/accessibilities.
    • AA is highly accessible and available one on one member to member, or by phone or virtually online and with lots of literature and resources. Your hospitalized client can attend a meeting virtually or phone an intergroup or fellow member for support, maybe even a visit. We have large print and audio, even Braille formats for literature. And please note all computers, laptops and most Tablets have accessibility features built in such as screen readers or simplified keystrokes or text to speech that just must be unlocked or opened to use. A hard of hearing client for example could attend an online meeting with closed captioning or attend a “hybrid” meeting in person and join virtually as well to used closed captioning.

Concerned about a professional coworker or have a client with additional anonymity concerns? They could attend an online meeting with the screen turned off and we only use first names, but they could even use their initials. Additionally note that for any professional with a doctorate degree or for any advance practice RN (CRNP or CRNA) or PA there is an organization we cooperate with www.IDAA.org-International Doctors in Alcoholics Anonymous, “A recovery fellowship for healthcare professionals and their loved ones (it has an Al-anon component). And of course, we also cooperate, not affiliate with Al-anon, an organization to “…help families and friends of problem drinkers recover from the impacts of a loved one’s drinking.” www.Al-anon.org.

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