Questions people ask us

You are a member when you say you are — there is nothing to sign and nobody to approve you. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking, and many of us were not at all wholehearted about that when we first came. Turn up at any meeting on the KZN meeting list, or phone the helpline and a member will help you find one.

No. Plenty of people come to a few meetings while they are still deciding. Nobody in A.A. will pronounce you alcoholic or not alcoholic — we are not doctors and we do not diagnose. That conclusion is yours to reach in your own time. If it helps to think it through, the self-check asks the sort of questions most of us eventually asked ourselves.

None. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership. Groups pass a basket during the meeting to cover rent, tea and literature, and members contribute what they can. A.A. accepts no money from outside the fellowship. As a first-time visitor you are a guest, so please let the basket go by.

A sponsor is an experienced member who works through the programme with you one to one — someone to phone when things get difficult. You are not obliged to have one, but almost everyone who stays sober in A.A. found one early. You choose your own, usually somebody whose sharing makes sense to you. Just ask; being asked is regarded as a compliment.

An hour or so in a room with anywhere from six to sixty people. Somebody chairs, there is a reading, and then members talk about what drinking did to their lives, what they did about it, and how they live now. You need not give your name and you need not speak. There is a fuller description on how a meeting works.

Open meetings are for anyone — family, friends, students, professionals, the curious. Closed meetings are for people who have a desire to stop drinking themselves, so that members can speak freely. Every meeting on our list is marked, and you can filter the list by either.

Yes, to any open meeting. Bringing somebody along on the first night is very common and nobody will think it odd. Family members often also find support of their own useful.

Yes — the KZN list includes about thirty online meetings a week, and you can filter the meeting finder to show only those. They are a genuine option if you are housebound, working offshore, living far from the nearest group, or simply not ready to walk into a room yet. For members who cannot get to meetings at all, A.A. South Africa also runs a Loners correspondence service.

Most KZN meetings are conducted in English. Given the province’s languages, isiZulu and Afrikaans are often spoken informally in groups where members share a home language, but this is arranged locally rather than centrally and we are not always told about it. The surest way to find out is to phone the helpline or the group before you go.

Then please tell us. Groups start, move and close, and the list is only as good as what gets reported to the KZN Intergroup. Send us the details and we will get it added or corrected.

In a province the size of KZN it does happen — and they are there for exactly the same reason you are. Anonymity runs both ways. Members do not disclose who attends, to outsiders or even to each other, and what is said in a meeting stays in the meeting.

No. A.A. keeps no attendance records, membership lists or case histories. There is nothing for anyone to request, subpoena or leak.

The self-check on this site runs entirely in your browser — your answers are never sent anywhere or stored. If you use “near me” on the meeting finder, your location is used in your browser to sort the list and is not transmitted to us.

No. A.A. is not affiliated with any religion, denomination or organisation, and meetings are not religious services. Members hold every kind of belief and none. The programme asks for open-mindedness rather than faith; what you make of the spiritual side of it is your own business entirely.

No. A.A. provides no medical or psychiatric treatment, no detox, no medication and no hospitalisation. We are a fellowship of people helping each other stay sober. Many members use A.A. alongside a doctor, a therapist or a treatment centre, and we work happily with all of them.

A.A.’s singleness of purpose is recovery from alcoholism, so meetings keep to drinking. You are welcome in A.A. if you have a desire to stop drinking, whatever else may be going on. Many members also attend other fellowships that deal specifically with drugs.

Phone the KZN helpline on 031 143 5722, or the national 24-hour line on 0861 435 722. Both are answered by A.A. members who are glad to talk, answer questions, or put you in touch with somebody near you. You can also message us on WhatsApp or email kzn@aasouthafrica.org.za.

You can phone the same numbers, and a member will talk it through with you. There is more on the family and friends page about what usually helps, what usually does not, and where to find support for yourself.

Not always. If you drink heavily every day and have had shaking, sweating, severe anxiety, hallucinations or seizures when you stopped before, please speak to a doctor or clinic before stopping abruptly — alcohol withdrawal can be medically dangerous. A.A. is not a medical service and cannot advise on this, but we would much rather you got sober safely.