How Family Members and Professionals Can Use aa.org to Help Someone With a Drinking Problem

Updated

aa.org is built for more than the person who drinks. The site has dedicated entry points for family members, friends, and professionals, and the practical path is the same for all of them: identify your role, read the material written for it, then use the "Find A.A. Near You" tool or the contact option to connect with local A.A. rather than trying to intervene remotely. The site is explicit that A.A.'s recovery program works through one alcoholic sharing with another, so your job is to open the door, not to run the program.

Start by selecting your role

The homepage asks "I Am..." and offers four options. Two of them apply here:

  • Trying to help a family member or friend
  • A professional working with alcoholics

Choosing one of these routes you to the resources written for that situation instead of the newcomer-facing material. If you are unsure whether the person actually has a drinking problem, the site also offers a self-assessment, which the drinker can take themselves.

If you are a family member or friend

The site's framing for you is direct: "Is there an alcoholic in your life? If someone you care about has a drinking problem, A.A. might have a solution for them." It states that A.A. has helped more than two million alcoholics stop drinking, and repeats the mechanism — recovery works through one alcoholic sharing their experience with another.

Resources the site points you toward:

  • "Is there an alcoholic in your life?" — a brief guide written for your situation
  • Frequently asked questions about A.A. — for the questions people usually raise before making contact
  • "Want to talk to someone about A.A.?" — a contact route to A.A. near you
  • Video stories — members describing what getting sober was like, including segments on living sober and newcomer resources

What the site does not offer is a way to enroll or treat someone else. The recommended next step is contact with a local A.A. group, because that is where the person-to-person help actually happens.

If you are a professional

The site addresses professionals who work with alcoholics, including legal and corrections professionals, and provides video material made for that audience ("AA Video for Legal and Corrections Professionals"). There is also a broader section on A.A. service, covering service committees, groups, anonymity, and contributions and self-support, plus the A.A. Service Manual and material on sponsorship.

For a professional, the useful pattern is:

  1. Read the professional-facing material so you can describe A.A. accurately.
  2. Use "Find A.A. Near You" to identify what exists in the person's own area.
  3. Point the person to that local contact rather than acting as the intermediary.

Use "Find A.A. Near You" to locate actual help

The locator takes a state or province and town or ZIP code, plus a distance in miles, and returns nearby A.A. There is also a direct "Contact A.A. Near You" option. This is the step that turns reading into help — the site's own position is that A.A. is available when a person reaches out, and that groups are how that availability is maintained.

What to expect, and what not to expect

  • Expect local, in-person contact. The site repeatedly routes you to A.A. near you, not to a central intake.
  • Expect anonymity to matter. Anonymity in A.A. is listed as a core topic in the service material.
  • Do not expect aa.org to intervene on your behalf. There is no mechanism described for reporting or referring a specific person through the website itself.
  • Do not expect a cost or membership process to be described here. The site presents A.A. as a program based on one alcoholic helping another; anything beyond that is not stated on this page.

If the person is not ready, the family and professional resources still serve a purpose: they tell you what A.A. is, so that when the person does reach out, the description they hear from you is accurate.