How Can I Tell If I Might Be an Alcoholic, According to SFV AA?

Updated

SFV AA (sfvaa.org), the San Fernando Valley Alcoholics Anonymous Central Office, does not tell you whether you are an alcoholic. Its site states plainly that "only you can decide whether you want to give Alcoholics Anonymous a try." What it offers instead is a starting point: a "20 Questions" self-assessment, a 24-hour helpline (818-988-3001), and open meetings where you can learn more before deciding anything.

What the site actually says

The "Am I an Alcoholic?" section frames the question as a personal decision rather than a diagnosis. AA is presented as a support option you can try, not a label someone else assigns to you. That framing matters: the site is not screening you, and no one at the Central Office will tell you what you are.

The practical tools it points to are:

  • The 20 Questions self-assessment — a set of questions to read through on your own and see how many you answer yes to.
  • The 24-hour helpline, 818-988-3001 — described as available anytime, day or night.
  • Meetings — searchable through the site's "Find A Meeting" tool, so you can sit in on one and hear how others describe their own experience.
  • "What Is AA?" — background on what the program is and how it works.

How to use the 20 Questions

The assessment is designed to be taken alone and honestly. The site does not publish a scoring threshold or a pass/fail cutoff, so treat it as a mirror rather than a test:

  1. Open the "Am I an Alcoholic?" page from the site's main navigation.
  2. Read each question and note how many you would answer yes to.
  3. Pay attention to which specific questions struck a chord — that detail is usually more useful than the total.
  4. If the answers concern you, call the helpline or attend a meeting to talk it through with people who have been there.

There is no requirement to identify as an alcoholic before calling or attending. The site's own language — "whether you think it can help you" — leaves the door open to trying AA as an experiment.

What to do with the answer

If the questions suggest a problem, the site's suggested next steps are concrete and low-commitment:

  • Call 818-988-3001. The helpline is staffed around the clock, and the site describes it as a place to reach out with any and all questions.
  • Find a meeting. The meeting search covers the San Fernando Valley area and surrounding communities. Attending one costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
  • Email [email protected]. The site says messages are anonymous and confidential and usually answered within a day.
  • Read the literature. The site's literature section covers AA's published material if you prefer to learn quietly first.

A reasonable way to decide

The site's position is that the decision belongs to you, and its tools are built to inform that decision rather than make it. A workable approach: take the 20 Questions privately, then use the helpline or a meeting to hear how other people answered the same question for themselves. If the descriptions sound familiar, AA is there; if not, you have lost nothing but an hour.

For anyone in the San Fernando Valley, the Central Office at 16134 Sherman Way in Van Nuys is the local hub for meetings, literature, and events — and the helpline is the fastest way in.