Author: John Carter
Estimates of A A. Groups and Members Alcoholics Anonymous
Following his hospital discharge, Wilson joined the Oxford Group and tried to recruit other alcoholics to the group. These early efforts to help others kept him sober, but were ineffective in getting anyone else to join the group and get sober. Dr. Silkworth suggested that Wilson place less stress on religion (as required by The Oxford Group) and more on the science of treating alcoholism. Learn more about how the survey was conducted and download survey infographics and images to customize presentations to A.A. Members and for other audiences, including professionals and the media.
Fellowship get started in the U.S.? Who were some of the people important to the growth of A.A.? If you are looking for a short write-up of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, start here.
Laura Silverman, at eight years of sobriety, created The Sobriety Collective. Laura came to AA in her early 20s when she got sober and didn’t really know there was an internet recovery community alternative. At first, she had to go to AA but after a year, she stopped going. Oh, she would come back for her anniversary once a year to celebrate sobriety. Around three years she was recommended to attend a young people’s meeting and that got her active again for another year or so. Then she started looking for something that fit her needs more that face-to-face (f2f) 12-Step meetings.
Every day, people seek a solution to their drinking problem at A.A. But they may not be ready, for various reasons, to admit they are “powerless over alcohol” and accept the help found in A.A. Membership is the desire to stop drinking — whether it has been a day, a month, or a year since a member had their last drink. If you are looking for an “age” issue, maybe there is cause for concern in our teenage members. In 2007 our triennial survey showed under 20s at 2.3% of our population.
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Teen members were 2% in 2011 and dropped sharply to 1% in 2014. Let’s say for simple math that AA’s population was 2 million people in all three time periods. That means we had 46,000 AA teenagers in 2007, 40,000 in 2011 and 20,000 in 2014. There has been stability in the latest decade. Teens in North America (age 15 – 19) have been pretty steady from 2005 (3.6% of Americans) to 2015 (3.2% of Americans).
- In 2007, 87% of AA members were white, in 2011 it was 87% and now 89% of AA is Caucasian.
- Members had the option to take the survey in English, French, or Spanish.
- Except in extreme cases, systemic discrimination is unintentional.
Resource will most likely be a local office within your country. Online meetings are digital meetings held on platforms such as Zoom. Offline meetings, also called “face to face”, “brick and mortar”, or “in-person” meetings, are held in a shared physical real-world location. Some meetings are hybrid meetings, where people can meet in a specified physical location, but people can also join the meeting virtually. Like individual groups, the GSO is self-supporting.
Resources on A.A. History
I collected all this triennial survey information from years gone by from my visit to GSO, earlier this year. What do I see as I enter AA archives office? Pictures of people that matter to AA adorn the walls – white people.
And how it works to help alcoholics. Here we have collected historical information thanks to the General Service Office Archives. You can explore online exhibits and also find resources for more learning here. Groups and meetings welcome anyone with a desire to stop drinking.
Estimated Worldwide A.A. Individual and Group Membership
Literature and other resources — including the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous — available in braille, ASL, closed captions, audio, video, and more. Ethnic diversity in AA is bucking the trend in the USA. Multi-culturalism grows outside AA meeting doors but inside, we are trending in a more exclusive direction. In 2007, 87% of AA members were white, in 2011 it was 87% and now 89% of AA is Caucasian. According to Pew Research Group (Next America), America has transformed from 85% white in 1960 to 64% in 2010 and a projected 60% for 2020.
How many of the youth have already reclined into happy, joyous and free on-line recovery, thus not being around for roll-call by home-group secretaries? These millennials will be the early adapters to online AA life. Later, I’ll offer some examples of 12-Step members who are spending more time engaging the recovery community online than in church basements.
Visit the online A.A. timeline and learn about our long history
In post WW II USA, increases in middle class spare time and money had people getting out of the home in different ways. Members had the option to take the survey in English, French, or Spanish. For the first time, selected groups had the option to take the survey online instead of the traditional pen-and-paper method. More information about the 2022 survey methodology, downloadable graphics to create presentations, and other resources are available here. Many countries have their own general service office that can guide you to meeting lists and literature relevant to your location and language. If you live outside the U.S. or Canada, your best A.A.
Participating countries select delegates to attend this meeting. AA meetings are gatherings where recovery from alcoholism is discussed. One perspective sees them as “quasi-ritualized therapeutic sessions run by and for, alcoholics”.[59] There are a variety of meeting types some of which are listed below. At some point during the meeting a basket is passed around for voluntary donations. AA’s 7th tradition requires that groups be self-supporting, “declining outside contributions”.[14] Weekly meetings are listed in local AA directories in print, online and in apps.
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