What Happens at Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings?

If you’re thinking about going to your first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (AA), then you’re likely feeling quite overwhelmed. But this could be an incredible first step toward a lasting recovery journey. AA meetings are designed to help people like you feel supported and cared for and give you the tools you need to succeed. AA meetings are a proven approach to help those with addictions reach sobriety. We embrace this concept at Sanctuary Recovery in our Charleston sober living homes. Our goal for this blog is to help you prepare and feel at home right away at any AA meeting. 

If you or a loved one need an environment to help from alcohol addiction, consider the sober living homes offered at The Sanctuary Recovery Foundation. Contact us to learn more about our proven track record of helping people find a sober and fulfilling life.   

The Welcoming Environment

AA meetings are warm, welcoming environments and not something to be afraid of. They begin with an introduction that states outright that you are an alcoholic. This is to set the tone for the vulnerable, caring space this will become for you. A moment of silence may follow this introduction, followed by the Serenity Prayer. 

If you are not religious, you can read our guide on the 12 steps for the non-religious to understand how this process could still help you. 

The full prayer and its shortened version are below:

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

As it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make things right

If I surrender to His Will;

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with Him

Forever and ever in the next.

Amen.

God grant me the serenity

 

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

After the AA Introduction 

Meetings will continue with readings from AA literature, including the AA Preamble, excerpts from “How It Works” (Chapter 5 of the Big Book), and often the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. This helps to remind participants of the AA principles. 

These readings establish a foundation for the meeting and remind participants of AA’s core principles. 

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

Knowing the twelve steps before you join an AA meeting can help you prepare:

1. Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Meeting Formats 

Not all meeting formats are the same. Understanding the different types can help you decide what kind of meeting you think would work for you:

• Speaker Meetings: A member shares their personal journey from addiction to recovery
• Discussion Meetings: Members explore topics for healing
• Big Book Meetings: Focused on AA’s foundational text “Alcoholics Anonymous”
• Step Meetings: Exploration of one of the Twelve Steps
• Round Robin Sharing: Members take turns sharing without interruption

Celebrating Milestones

A big part of AA meetings is the celebration of sobriety milestones. Members will get a chip or a token for each milestone—from 24 hours to multiple decades. This helps to remind everyone that anything is possible with the proper support. 

Practical Details

AA meetings typically last 60-90 minutes. The “Seventh Tradition” collection basket may be passed, supporting AA’s commitment to self-sufficiency without outside contributions. Meetings may close with a moment of silence or prayer. 

There are also some rules you will need to follow such as confidentiality, understanding that you don’t have to speak unless you want to, and understanding the only requirement of being a part of the meeting is that you want to stop drinking alcohol, not necessarily that you are currently sober. 

Sober Living in Charleston, SC

AA is great at any stage in alcohol recovery as it can give you structure, a community, and support. Our sober living homes follow these principles and give you a place to come home to that is free of substances. Set in the beautiful coastal region of South Carolina, you can find a place to heal and find your new support system. 

Our SCARR-certified sober living homes maintain the highest standards of cleanliness, safety, and support with the belief that AA can help everyone. If this sounds like something that might work for you contact us today.