Alcoholics Anonymous

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 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led mutual aid fellowship dedicated to helping individuals recover from alcohol addiction. Founded in 1935, its meetings operate on a free, voluntary basis with the sole requirement for membership being a desire to stop drinking. 

The program operates on a structured framework centered around peer support and personal accountability. Key aspects include: 

• The 12-Step Framework: Members follow a set of spiritual and psychological principles designed to facilitate recovery, beginning with admitting powerlessness over alcohol and working toward personal growth, making amends, and helping others. 
• Mutual Support: Members gather in local groups to share their "experience, strength, and hope". Many participants also utilize a "sponsor"—an experienced, sober member who provides one-on-one guidance. 
• Anonymity: The concept of anonymity serves two purposes. At the personal level, it protects the privacy and dignity of members regarding their recovery. At the public level, it keeps the organization focused on its primary mission rather than individual recognition or politics. 
• Self-Supporting: Groups do not accept outside funding, dues, or fees; they are funded entirely by voluntary contributions from members. 

Because AA is a decentralized fellowship rather than a medical institution, each group can operate slightly differently to best serve its community. 

The following are the twelve steps as published in 2001 by Alcoholics Anonymous:

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

For more information or to find a meeting check out their website https://www.aa.org/