Alcoholics Anonymous Area 33 - General Services of Southeast Michigan |
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 How Do I Start a New Meeting ? Updated 04/04/07 |
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Since hospitals and treatment facilities do not permit unauthorized visitors to enter their facilities, the first step is to establish contact with administrators. This is usually done by sending a letter to the facility, explaining our willingness to be of service and scheduling a meeting with the facility administrators. The Area 33 Treatment Facility Committee can be helpful in making the initial contact. We explain the Bridging the Gap program and try to set a day and time for holding our meetings. More information can be found in the pamphlet "Bridging the Gap" and "AA in Treatment Facilities". It usually works best if several people take turns holding the meeting on a rotational basis. This gets more people involved in service work and prevents burnout, which can happen if the same people go in every week. Sometimes several groups can sponsor a facility and rotate from week to week. It's important to remember that we are guests at the treatment facilities and must follow all their rules and regulations. How we act reflects on AA and any misconduct on our part can destroy the relationship we have worked hard to establish. We need to be reliable, responsible and considerate. The format of a Bridging the Gap panel meetings generally goes like this: Three of four volunteers seat themselves in front of a group of patients. The meeting is opened like a regular AA meeting. The volunteers share their experience for about ten or fifteen minutes each, depending on the time allowed. If the meeting is only an hour long, the sharing can be less. Some items of importance to stress at these meetings are: * Getting to meetings as soon as possible, preferably the same day they are released. * Getting phone numbers of members and using them. * Sponsorship. (The pamphlet "Questions and answers on Sponsorship" is helpful.) * Home Groups. (The pamphlet "The AA Group" is helpful) After the volunteers share, there can be a short break, again depending on the time available and the facilities preference. Always leave some time for a question and answer period. Explain that if anyone would like to be contacted by a member of AA to fill out a "Patient Contact Information Card" Also make the Bridging the Gap business card available to anyone who wants one. <-- Back to Bridging The gap homepage |
All correspondence should be made to the current Treatment Facilities Committee Chair listed above
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General Services of Southeast Michigan
All Rights Reserved. Last Revised: 04/04/07