How Does Helping Others Join AA Help Me?

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Who Answers?

The twelfth step of Alcoholics Anonymous asks members to carry the message of the program to other alcoholics and encourage individuals to seek help through AA. While this is understandable through the standpoint of growing the program’s community, many may wonder whether or not helping others join AA can be helpful to them as well. The answer is yes.

Talking About Your Journey

It can be very helpful to talk about your journey, from your early drug use to your decision to join AA. This can always work to remind you that you are on a path of your choice and that you are working your way toward a better life, one day at a time. Though we already understand many of the positives of the group therapy model, which “capitalizes on the social reinforcement offered by peer discussion” as stated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, talking to a peer one-on-one and helping them realize their need for the program can also be extremely beneficial to both parties.

Strengthening Your Support Network

By helping someone join AA, you are strengthening both of your support networks while aiding in your own recovery.

Once you talk to the individual and help them see how AA could truly benefit them, you have another person in your life who is now a part of your own support network. Friends, family members, coworkers, and others are all important to the social network of those who support your recovery, but individuals who are also going through the process themselves are indispensable. This is why AA helps so many people every year.

Now, you will have another person to talk to about your recovery while you provide them with the kind of help and support they need, thus strengthening both of your support networks and the community of Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole.

Program Affiliation and Recovery

According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, one of the critical factors that appears to aid long-term recovery from an alcohol use disorder is “affiliation with a group that provides a sustained source of hope, inspiration, and self-esteem, such as AA or a religion.” Even though it is a part of the program to help other individuals join in once you are stabilized, being a program like AA and feeling confident and comfortable enough to talk to others about it can be truly helpful to your long-term recovery. If you genuinely feel that AA has helped you and given you hope for the future, wanting to share that message only reinforces these positives, helping to silently solidify your recovery as you begin to help others find theirs.

How Do I Continue to Carry the Message of AA to Other Addicts?

The twelfth step of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a spiritual awakening that is the result of the steps the addict has followed and the promise to carry this message to other alcoholics. Sometimes, this can seem like a daunting task, but it is important to the practice––and to your own recovery––that you understand how to help…

Encouragement and Support All Around

Attesting to the program’s ability to help you and encouraging others to join will continue to support your recovery in many ways. It is also how you can manage to give back after the program has helped you, and to find others who need AA just as much. There is a level of involvement in the recoveries of others in the program that doesn’t exist in any other treatment option, and this can work heavily in your favor in many ways. If you have questions about AA or if you want to find a meeting near you, call 800-948-8417 Who Answers? .