I hear this advice being given to the newcomer all the time. In most cases, if they be real alcoholics or addicts, they die with this kind of counsel. "Easy does it" is a variation of this theme. If you want to kill newcomers, if that is your intention, then by all means, go on using it, but if you're here to be helpful, STOP USING IT, it's not what our program is about.

Our program is comprised of 12 Steps, ALL OF WHICH ARE MAJOR DECISIONS!

Step 1: Admit I'm powerless and my life is unmanageable? This was a MAJOR point of awareness and realization to me and one of the most important decisions I made in my life.

Step 2: Coming to the realization that only a spiritual power can restore me to sanity seems to me like another MAJOR realization. No middle of the road solution, either I go on to the bitter end or I accept spiritual help.

Step 3: Turn my will and life over to God, as I understand it! Sounds like a MAJOR decision to me.

Step 4 and 5: Made a fearless moral inventory, looked at my part and confessed my defects to another person! That was a MAJOR move in my life!

Step 8 and 9: Made amends, restitution, and set right the wrongs I had made in my life where ever possible - This was a huge decision and undertaking in my life and IT SAVED MY LIFE!

Step 10 and 11: Every day for the rest of my life, continue to take inventory, confess defects, set right wrongs and pray and meditate -- Another MAJOR decision!

Step 12: Practice the principles of the program in all my affairs and to carry the message to the seemingly hopeless. To give unselfishly of myself to alcoholics and addicts and show them the way out - WOW, this was the BIGGEST decision I ever made and it continues to work in my life everyday.

If I follow the advice of "no major decisions in the first year of recovery", then working the 12 Steps of the program are out and for me NOT to work the 12 Steps everyday in my life is to die.

"Meeting Makers Make It", "Keep coming back", "Wait for the Miracle to happen", "No major decisions in the first year", these mottos or slogans, in my experience, are not only, NOT part of our program, they actually harm others, deluding the newcomer into easier softer ways.

What does our Big Book tell us? There's a great article entitled: "That Ain't In the Big Book". It's a great guide to sorting out what our Big Book program of recovery tells us to do versus the rhetoric, and advice-mongering we get in the rooms. Check it out, it just my save your life or the newcomer's life.

If you are looking to become a sponsor please review the following information so you can get a clear understanding of role in the sponsor/sponsee relationship.

A brief history of sponsorship: The idea of sponsorship was born in AA, the original 12 step fellowship. The book "Living Sober" an AA publication, describes how the term "sponsor" came about.

In the earliest days of AA, the term "sponsor" was not in the AA jargon. Then a few hospitals in Akron, Ohio and New York began to accept alcoholics (under that diagnosis) as patients -- If a sober A.A. member would agree to "sponsor" the sick man or woman. The sponsor took the patient to the hospital, visited him or her regularly, was present when the patient was discharged, and took the patient home and then to the AA meeting. At the meeting, the sponsor introduced the newcomer to other happily non drinking alcoholics. All through the early months of recovery, the sponsor stood by, ready to answer questions, or to listen whenever needed.

Though there is no true references to the word sponsorship with in the first 164 page of the AA Big Book "Alcoholics Anonymous" it is mentioned in several of the personal stories that are contained later in the book. The early history of AA tells us that even Bill W. had a sponsor who's name was Edwin T. Thatcher who was born 1896, and died in 1966.

Bill Wilson was constantly amazed at the growth and apparent success that Cleveland was having in sobering up alcoholics. He visited there every time that he went to Ohio. Bill later wrote in A.A. Comes of Age:

Yes, Cleveland's results were of the best. Their results were in fact so good, and A.A.'s membership elsewhere was so small, that many a Clevelander really thought A.A.'s membership had started there in the first place. The Cleveland pioneers had proved three essential things: the value of personal sponsorship; the worth of the A.A.'s Big Book in indoctrinating newcomers, and finally the tremendous fact that A.A., when the word really got around, could now soundly grow to great size.

Clarence was a dynamo. He wanted the best for himself and "his boys" in A.A. He refined the art of A.A. sponsorship to the point that Nell Wing, Bill Wilson's secretary, commented to the author that Clarence was probably the "one man responsible for sponsorship as we know it today."

Sponsorship has since become one of the foundations of the recovery programs for of all the 12 step fellowships and one of the greatest blessings of membership. With it we can help one another to succeed and arrest the disease called addiction one day at a time regardless of the nature.

So just What does a sponsor do?

In some ways, a sponsor is like a:

• good friend
• teacher
• tutor
• experienced guide
• older brother/sister

A sponsor is someone who has been where we want to go in our twelve step program and knows how we can best get there. Their primary responsibility is to help us work the 12 steps by applying the principles of the program to our lives. They lead us by example as we see how the program works in their lives through sharing their personal experiences and stories of where they were and where they are now. We start to learn how to become sober by listening and doing the footwork that our sponsor shows us on a daily basis. In time we make these new changes a habit which helps us to remain sober one day at a time.

AA defines a sponsorship in this way: "An alcoholic who has made some progress in the recovery program who shares that experience on a continuous, individual basis with another who is attempting to attain or maintain sobriety through AA"

AA Sponsorship Pamphlet (1944) by Clarence Snyder

This is the first pamphlet ever written concerning sponsorship. It was written by Clarence H. Snyder in early 1944. Its original title was to be "AA Sponsorship...Its Obligations and Its Responsibilities." It was printed by the Cleveland Central Committee under the title:

"AA Sponsorship . . . Its Opportunities and Its Responsibilities."

PREFACE

Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is a potential sponsor of a new member and should clearly recognize the obligations and duties of such responsibility.

The acceptance of an opportunity to take the AA plan to a sufferer of alcoholism entails very real and critically important responsibilities. Each member, undertaking the sponsorship of a fellow alcoholic, must remember that he is offering what is frequently the last chance of rehabilitation, sanity or maybe life itself.

Happiness, Health, Security, Sanity and Life of human beings are the things we hold in balance when we sponsor an alcoholic.

No member among us is wise enough to develop a sponsorship program that can be successfully applied in every case. In the following pages, however, we have outlined a suggested procedure, which supplemented by the member's own experience, has proven successful.

PERSONAL GAINS OF BEING A SPONSOR

No one reaps full benefit from any fellowship he is connected with unless he wholeheartedly engages in its important activities. The expansion of Alcoholics Anonymous to wider fields of greater benefit to more people results directly from the addition of new, worth-while members or associates.

Any AA who has not experienced the joys and satisfaction of helping another alcoholic regain his place in life has not yet fully realized the complete benefits of this fellowship. On the other hand, it must be clearly kept in mind that the only possible reason for bringing an alcoholic into AA is for that person's gain. Sponsorship should never be undertaken to :

• Increase the size of the group
• For personal satisfaction and glory
• Because the sponsor feels it his duty to re-make the world.

Until an individual has assumed the responsibility of setting a shaking, helpless human being back on the path toward becoming a healthy useful, happy member of society, he has not enjoyed the complete thrill of being an AA

SOURCE OF NAMES

Most people have among their own friends and acquaintances someone who would benefit from our teachings. Others have names given to them by their church, by their doctor, by their employer, or by some other member, who cannot make a direct contact.

Because of the wide range of the AA activities, the names often come from unusual and unexpected places. These cases should be contacted as soon as all facts such as: marital status, domestic relations, financial status, drink habits, employment status and others readily obtainable are at hand.

IS THE PROSPECT A CANDIDATE?

Much time and effort can be saved by learning as soon as possible if :

• The man really has a drinking problem?
• Does he know he has a problem?
• Does he want to do something about his drinking?
• Does he want help?

Sometimes the answers to these questions cannot be made until the prospect has had some AA instruction, and an opportunity to think. Often we are given names, which upon investigation, show the prospect is in no sense an alcoholic, or is satisfied with his present plan of living. We should not hesitate to drop these names from our lists. Be sure, however, to let the man know where he can reach us at a later date.

WHO SHOULD BECOME MEMBERS?

AA is a fellowship of men and women bound together by their inability to use alcohol in any form sensibly, or with profit or pleasure. Obviously, any new members introduced should be the same kind of people, suffering from the same disease.

Most people can drink reasonably, but we are only interested in those who cannot. Party drinkers, social drinkers, celebrators, and others who continue to have more pleasure than pain from their drinking, are of no interest to us.

In some instances an individual might believe himself to be a social drinker when he definitely is an alcoholic. In many such cases more time must pass before that person is ready to accept our program. Rushing such a man before he is ready might ruin his chances of ever becoming a successful AA. Do not ever deny future help by pushing too hard in the beginning.

Some people, although definitely alcoholic, have no desire or ambition to better their way of living, and until they do...AA has nothing to offer them.

Experience has shown that age, intelligence, education, background, or the amount of liquor drunk, has little, if any, bearing on whether or not the person is an alcoholic.

PRESENTING THE PLAN

In many cases a man's physical condition is such that he should be placed in a hospital, if at all possible. Many AA members believe hospitalization, with ample time for the prospect to think and plan his future, free from domestic and business worries, offers distinct advantage. In many cases the hospitalization period marks the beginning of a new life. Other members are equally confident that any man who desires to learn the AA plan for living can do it in his own home or while engaged in normal occupation. Thousands of cases are treated in each manner and have proved satisfactory.

SUGGESTED STEPS

The following paragraphs outline a suggested procedure for presenting the AA plan to the prospect, at home or in the hospital.

QUALIFY AS AN ALCOHOLIC

1. In calling upon a new prospect, it has been found best to qualify oneself as an ordinary person who has found happiness, contentment, and peace of mind through AA Immediately make it clear to the prospect that you are a person engaged in the routine business of earning a living. Tell him your only reason for believing yourself able to help him is because you yourself are an alcoholic and have had experiences and problems that might be similar to his.

TELL YOUR STORY

2. Many members have found it desirable to launch immediately into their personal drinking story, as a means of getting the confidence and whole-hearted co-operation of the prospect.

It is important in telling the story of your drinking life to tell it in a manner that will describe an alcoholic, rather than a series of humorous drunken parties. This will enable the man to get a clear picture of an alcoholic which should help him to more definitely decide whether he is an alcoholic.

INSPIRE CONFIDENCE IN AA

3. In many instances the prospect will have tried various means of controlling his drinking, including hobbies, church, changes of residence, change of associations, and various control plans. These will, of course, have been unsuccessful. Point out your series of unsuccessful efforts to control drinking...their absolute fruitless results and yet that you were able to stop drinking through application of AA principles. This will encourage the prospect to look forward with confidence to sobriety in AA in spite of the many past failures he might have had with other plans.

TALK ABOUT "PLUS" VALUES

4. Tell the prospect frankly that he can not quickly understand all the benefits that are coming to him through AA. Tell him of the happiness, peace of mind, health, and in many cases, material benefits which are possible through understanding and application of the AA way of life.

SHOW IMPORTANCE OF READING THE BIG BOOK

5. Explain the necessity of reading and re-reading the AA Big Book. Point out that this book gives a detailed description of the AA tools and the suggested methods of application of these tools to build a foundation of rehabilitation for living. This is a good time to emphasize the importance of the twelve steps.

QUALITIES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS IN AA

6. Convey to the prospect that the objectives of AA are to provide the ways and means for an alcoholic to regain his normal place in life. Desire, patience, faith, study and application are most important in determining each individual's plan of action in gaining full benefits of AA

INTRODUCE FAITH

7. Since the belief of a Power greater than oneself is the heart of the AA plan, and since this idea is very often difficult for a new man, the sponsor should attempt to introduce the beginnings of an understanding of this all-important feature.

Frequently this can be done by the sponsor relating his own difficulty in grasping a spiritual understanding and the methods he used to overcome his difficulties.

LISTEN TO HIS STORY

8. While talking to the newcomer, take time to listen and study his reactions in order that you can present your information in a more effective manner. Let him talk too. Remember...Easy Does It.

TAKE TO SEVERAL MEETINGS

9. To give the new member a broad and complete picture of AA, the sponsor should take him to various meetings within convenient distance of his home. Attending several meetings gives a new man a chance to select a group in which he will be most happy and comfortable, and it is extremely important to let the prospect make his own decision as to which group he will join. Impress upon him that he is always welcome at any meeting and can change his home group if he so wishes.

EXPLAIN AA TO PROSPECT'S FAMILY

10. A successful sponsor takes pains and makes any required effort to make certain that those people closest and with the greatest interest in their prospect (mother, father, wife, etc.) are fully informed of A.A., its principles and its objectives. The sponsor sees that these people are invited to meetings, and keeps them in touch with the current situation regarding the prospect at all times.

HELP THE PROSPECT ANTICIPATE THE HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE

11. A prospect will gain more benefit from a hospitalization period if the sponsor describes the experience and helps him anticipate it, paving the way for those members who will call on him.

CONSULT OLDER MEMBERS IN AA

These suggestions for sponsoring a new man in AA teachings are by no means complete. They are intended only for a framework and general guide. Each individual case is different and should be treated as such. Additional information for sponsoring a new man can be obtained from the experience of older men in the work. A co-sponsor, with an experienced and newer member working on a prospect, has proven very satisfactory. Before undertaking the responsibility of sponsoring, a member should make certain that he is able and prepared to give the time, effort, and thought such an obligation entails. It might be that he will want to select a co-sponsor to share the responsibility, or he might feel it necessary to ask another to assume the responsibility for the man he has located.

Step Five suggest that we, "...go to the properly appointed authority whose duty it is to receive it...We often find such a person quick to see and understand our problem"(A.A. p.74).

There is a scene in the HBO series, "The Sopranos" where the heroin addict, Christopher Moltisanti , tells another member of the fellowship, JT Dolan, his inventory of murders he has committed. At the end of the scene, Christopher kills JT, presumably because he knows too much.

All too often, "sponsors" want to know and hear all sorts of details from the confessor on Step 5. The sponsor ends up playing the role of lawyer, doctor, therapist, marriage counselor, financial planner, and who knows what else with a newcomer.

The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God (A.A. p. 98).

Is it the role of the sponsor to hear such intimate details?

Our Big Book tells me to prepare a written fearless and thorough moral inventory.

I recognize my moral inventory when looking at the part I played in my resentments, fears and harms to others. I discover the truth about myself. I learn that I have been selfish, self-seeking, fearful, jealous, envious, greedy, lustful, hateful, slothful, slanderous, arrogant, self-loathing, intolerant, inconsiderate, impatient, and dishonest.

These are the character defects or shortcomings I confess to another person. Someone who is a close-mouthed, understanding friend who is quick to see and understand my problem. Such parts of my story I tell to someone who will understand, yet be unaffected. Someone who can keep a confidence (A.A. p. 74). Someone who will not try to change my plan. I pocket my pride and I illuminate every twist of character, with-holding nothing.

The recovered alcoholic who showed me how to work the 12 Steps, said, "You are to give NOR receive names and details. You and others can't wipe names and details. The point being, if someone tells me the names and details of certain events, I find I cannot forget them. Furthermore, I end up becoming a garbage can for other people's wrong-doings.

I often hear in the rooms, "what's goes on here, stays here." I don't believe it! There is no confidentiality in the "rooms". Everyone knows who is relapsing, who's fucking whom and so on. I knew of a fellow who blurted out in one of the 12 Step rooms that he fucked a 13 year old crack whore. Everyone in the group became judgmental and shunned him. He committed suicide within a year. Moreover, there is no legal (i.e. lawyer/client privilege) protection for the newcomer who shares intimate criminal details of people, places and things he/she has done.

If you read the story, "He Sold Himself Short", in the Big Book, you will read the story of Earl T. the man who founded Chicago A.A. Earl met with Dr. Bob one afternoon, and worked his entire program in four hours! When they came to Step Four, this was how it was handled:

"Dr. Bob led me through all of these steps. At the moral inventory (Step 4), he brought up some of my bad personality traits or character defects, such as selfishness, conceit, jealousy, carelessness, intolerance, ill-temper, sarcasm and resentments. We wen over these at great length and the he finally asked me if I wanted these defects of character removed. When I said yes (Step 6), we both knelt at this desk and prayed, each of us asking to have these defects taken away" (Step 7). (p. 287 in 2nd and 3rd editions and p. 258 in 4th edition.)

When I work with newcomers on Step Four and Five, I used the Big Book as my instruction manual. What I hear is a written, moral inventory. I do not engage in an archaeological dig on the newcomer. I hear their column four, their part in their resentments, fears and harms to others. I hear the moral side, not all the specifics. Therefore, following the Big Book's instruction on taking the Step Five to the properly appointed authority, I instruct the newcomer to do the following:

1) Criminal details need to be discussed with a lawyer. Whatever is discussed with your lawyer remains privileged and cannot be disclosed to a third party. That's for the newcomer's protection. I will hear the moral inventory, such as dishonesty, selfishness, self-seeking, inconsideration, etc., but no names or details -- I encourage the newcomer to work that out with the lawyer when working on Step Eight and Nine.

2) Psychological/emotional details need to be discussed with a professional therapist. Traumatic situations that have created emotional/psychological damage should be handled by someone, that is a therapist or psychologist who is trained to safely unravel such situations. For example, if a 45 year old man was molested as an eight year old boy, I will ask them to look at their part in it. NOT as an eight year old innocent who has been assaulted, that traumatic incident should be dealt professionally with a therapist. But, I will hear their moral inventory, that is their part as a 45 year old man who continues to play the victim and blame everyone and everything on a 37 year old event. I will hear their moral inventory of selfishness, self-pity, victimization, blame, suspicion, intolerance, etc.

3) Medical matters need to be discussed with a medical doctor. Too many sponsors try to play doctor with their sponsees. If you're on meds, such as antidepressants and you want to get off them. Tell your doctor and work out a plan, but follow your doctor's instructions. If you don't like what your doctor is telling you, get a second opinion from another doctor. But, sponsors have no authority advising newcomers on what meds they should or should not be taking.

4) The properly appointed authority for a newcomer's moral inventory, is a priest, or minister, or a spiritually fit 12 Step sponsor.

I have used this approach for more than seven years now, with more than 600 experiences of working with newcomers of all ages, addictions, and circumstances. It works! Furthermore, it protects the newcomer and sponsor from potentially disastrous situations.

What's been your experience hearing Step Fives?

Can't stay sober? Wondering why meetings aren't working? Try working the program!

Here are some clarifying questions to get you started on your way back to recovery:

• Has it been a while since you've taken another alcoholic through the Steps? How long?
• Has it been a while since you have gone through the steps? How long?
• Have you ever taken all of AA's Twelve Steps?
• Have you done more than one 4th Step inventory? Have you omitted anything?
• Have you completed all your 9th Step amends wherever possible? What remains to be done?
• Is there something wrong in your life that you will not face and make right? What is it?
• Is there a habit or indulgence you will not give up? What is it?
• Is there a person you will not forgive? Who is it?
• Is there a wrong relationship in your life you will not give up? What or Who is it?
• Is there a restitution you will not make?
• Is there something God has already told you to do that you will not obey? What is it?
• Are you working with the disciplines and practices of steps Ten and Eleven (self-examination, meditation and prayer)... consistently... EVERY DAY?

On pages 14 and 15 of the Big Book of A.A., Bill W. writes, "For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that."

I remember asking someone in the fellowship a few years ago, "Are you working your program?" He replied, "Yes I went to a meeting today." I responded, "No, that's not what I'm talking about. Are you working with someone?" He said, "Yes, I have a sponsor." I replied, "No, that's not what I'm talking about. Are you working with a newcomer?" He said, "I'm just a few months sober. I'm only a newcomer. This is selfish program, I need to work on myself first." I never saw him again.

Who Am I?

I am a Big Book Sponsor. I practice the 12 Step Program as outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, the original recipe for recovery as practiced by the original 100 who recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

By working the Twelve Step program as described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have had a spiritual awakening. The obsession to drink and use has been removed. My progressive alcoholic/addiction illness has been arrested. My disease has been placed into remission. I have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. As a result, I am able to remain, almost effortlessly, abstinent from alcohol and all mind-altering substances. I have ceased fighting anything or anyone, even alcohol and drugs. My sanity has been returned. I am not fighting temptation, nor am I avoiding people, places and things on a trigger list. I feel as though I had been placed in a position of neutrality safe and protected. I have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for me. I am neither cocky nor am I afraid. This is how I react so long as I keep in fit spiritual condition. Furthermore, by living in the disciplines of Steps 10, 11 and 12 everyday, I have a daily program of action that really works in rough going. I have way of living without alcohol or drugs.

You can recognize me at 12 Step meetings because I am the one who brings my own Big Book. To show other alcoholics/addicts precisely how I recovered is the main purpose of this book. I carry a common solution--a way out on which we can absolutely agree and upon which we can join together as brothers and sisters in harmonious action. My deportment shouts that I am a person with a real answer. I carry no attitude of Holier Than Thou. I do not talk down to the alcoholic/addict from any moral or spiritual hilltop. I ask for no payment. I have no axes to grind nor people to please. You can expect to endure no lectures from me. My only desire is to be helpful. I offer friendship and fellowship.

What I do

You will find me at 12 Step meetings armed with the facts about myself. As an ex-problem drinker/user, you will see me making an approach to the newcomer--looking for someone who needs and wants hear about our common solution--someone with an honest desire to stop drinking or using--someone who wants what I have and is willing to follow the instructions as outlined in the Big Book--someone who wants to be joyous and free of active alcoholism and or addiction.

When I find someone who really wants to stop drinking or using, we go to a coffee shop and, together we read and study the first 164 pages of the Big Book. When we come to a Step instruction, we take the Step together as instructed in the Big Book. I practice co-sponsorship--two addicts, working one-on-one, seeking a Higher Power. Because lack of power is our dilemma, we meet three to four times a week, working quickly, all 12 Steps in 30 days or less. My purpose for sponsorship is to teach others how to teach others how to work the 12 Step program as outlined in the Big Book of A.A. Therefore, once the new person has learned and worked all 12 Steps and is living in the disciplines of Steps 10 and 11 on a daily basis, I help my sponsee find a qualified addict who wants to stop and get them working together on their 12 Step journey. Thus, I conclude my formal sponsorship with my sponsee, knowing that they have a dependence, not on me, but upon their Higher Power. Moreover, I rest easy, knowing that the fellowship has one more teacher amongst its members, freeing me to commence looking for another willing, honest and open-minded addict to instruct and repeat the process.

Working with other alcoholics/addicts

I have carried the message of the Big Book to many alcoholics and addicts and rarely have I seen a person fail who thoroughly follows our path.

Untreated alcoholic/addicts are unlovely people. My struggles with them are strenuous, comic and tragic. Those who could not or would not see our way of life are often consumed by their temptations which leads them to the gates of insanity or death. Helping other addicts is the foundation stone of my recovery. A kindly act once in a while isn't enough for me. I have shared time, energy and money. My business and personal life has been interrupted by the telephone ringing at any time of the day or night. My spouse sometimes feels neglected. I have made innumerable trips to police courts, detox centers, hospitals, jails and asylums. I have counseled frantic spouses and relatives. Occasionally I have to meet such conditions.

I have worked hard with many alcoholics/addicts on the idea that only an addict can help another addict. I have had many failures. I once asked another Big Book Sponsor about their success rates and she replied, "I am 100% successful". Astounded, I asked how is that possible? She replied, "I'm still sober". That to me is one of the best kept secrets in our fellowship today. I often hear that this is a "selfish program", but whenever I put my sobriety first I could never stay sober. When I started showing the newcomer how to stay sober, I have found no trouble staying sober. As Doctor Bob once remarked, "strenuous work one alcoholic with another was vital to permanent recovery".

Love and tolerance of others is my code

In the 12 Step rooms I have been accused of being a Step Nazi, Big Book Thumper, a Holy Roller, a Zealot, and most recently I was called a "Steptard". I have been thrown out of groups and asked not to come back. I have been asked not to bring my Big Book into some A.A. meetings. I have been physically and verbally threatened by members of the fellowship for teaching that our 12 Step Program can be learned in an afternoon. I have been blamed for killing people with the Big Book.

When confronted with such animosity, my program tells me I have to look at my part. Have I been crusading, righteous, or critical? Have I been engaging in frothy debates or windy arguments? Have I been demonstrating an attitude of intolerance? Yes, there have been times when I have been all these things, but I claim spiritual progress not perfection and I am no saint.

I confess that I am a Big Book fundamentalist. I work my Big Book like a recipe for recovery. When I follow the 12 Step instructions as outlined in the book, it awakens my mind and I make conscious contact with my Higher Power. I must remember that when I focus my mind on what is wrong with the fellowship and the meetings today, the more I become restless, irritable and discontented. I must remember that the meetings are filled with many suffering and untreated addicts. Therefore, I practice acceptance and focus on what is good about the meetings and the fellowship. I try to see what I can positively add to the meeting--my only desire is to be helpful. Sometimes I have charged the "meeting makers" of killing people with their, "Don't drink and go to meetings" mantra. In return, they, the "Meeting Makers Make It" sect, have accused me of killing people with my Big Book thumping attitude. What I have learned is this: it is not the "Meeting Makers" that are killing people nor is it the "Big Book thumpers", it's the 20 to 30 years of abusive drinking and using that kills the alcoholic/addict. I must remember that I have no monopoly on recovery, but I do know that the Big Book solution works.

Why do I continue to work with other alcoholic/addicts?

Having had a spiritual experience, I try to practice the 12 Step principles in all my affairs. First, I take care of family, for sobriety is not enough and I am a long way from making good to my spouse, parents and children whom for years I have so shockingly treated. Second, I take care of my business, for there can be no family if I am not self-supporting. And third, in my spare time, I carry this message to other alcoholic addicts. For me, this approach, in this order, is a balanced program.

Over the years I have witnessed a fellowship grow up about me. I have watched the spirit grow in the eyes of a suffering individual and seen them recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. I have seen them make a 180 degree turn in life, only to help some other suffering addict do the same. This is the experience I would not miss. I know you will not want to miss it either. Frequent contact with newcomers and other Big Book sponsors is a bright spot in my day.

My life has taken on a new meaning and I seem to be of benefit to others. I have found a new freedom and happiness. I know serenity and peace. I continue to lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in the people in my life. My attitude and outlook on life has changed. Fear and economic insecurity is down and I know how to intuitively handle situations which use to baffle me. I realize that my Higher Power does for me what I could not do for myself alone.

A Vision For You

Thus I grow spiritually and so can you with a Big Book in your hand. It contains all you will need to begin working with the addict who still suffers. I know what you are thinking, "I'm a newcomer myself and I do not have enough sobriety time to be of use to anyone. What could I possibly offer another newcomer? Maybe I should wait a year or two." Rubbish! By working the Big Book solution, you will tap a source of power greater than yourself. To duplicate, with such backing, what I have accomplished is only a matter of willingness, patience and labour. Remember your reliance is always upon your Higher Power. It will show you how to create the fellowship you crave. Ask in morning mediation what you can do for the addict who still suffers. The answers will come if you work your program. But if you are shaky you had better work with another alcoholic/addict instead. Remember you have recovered and have been given the power to help others. You will soon find out that when all other measures fail, work with another alcoholic/addict will save the day. Give freely of what you have been shown and join us on the Broad Highway of the Fellowship of the Spirit. You will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.

Trust God, Clean House, Help Others.

Cameron F.
Toronto, ON

Are you a Big Book Sponsor? Tell us about your experiences.

In the 12 Step rooms today we can witness all kinds of addictions and, in many cases, people who suffer from more than one kind of addiction. Furthermore, when one overcomes one addiction, often another substitute addiction arises.

In many 12 Step fellowships, it is difficult and sometimes forbidden to share and discuss these other afflictions because of Tradition Five: "Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

Many addicts feel that identification, one type of addict with another addict of the same type is vital to securing the confidence of the one who suffers and that the addict who is making the approach has a real solution to the addiction. However, there are many cases where a Big Book sponsor does not share the same addiction, but has been able to identify with another type addict and successfully show them how to recover using the Big Book as a recovery text. For example, we know of a Big Book sponsor in Alberta, who is an alcoholic but has successfully shown food addicts, sex addicts, drug addicts, emotion addicts, self-mutilation addicts, and others how to recover. There are other examples of these kinds of Big Book sponsors throughout Canada, United States and the UK.

In the Big Book of A.A., the jay-walker story makes an excellent case for using the Big Book as a recovery text for treating any and all addictions.

On pages 37-38 in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous it says:

"Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warnings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideas of fun. Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succession. You would expect him, if he were normal, to cut it out. Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull. Within a week after leaving the hospital a fast-moving trolley car breaks his arm. He tells you he has decided to stop jay-walking for good, but in a few weeks he breaks both legs."

"On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether. Finally, he can no longer work, his wife gets a divorce and he is held up to ridicule. He tries every known means to get the jaywalking idea out of his head. He shuts himself up in an asylum, hoping to mend his ways. But the day he comes out he races in front of a fire engine, which breaks his back. Such a man would be crazy, wouldn't he?"

"You may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism or any addiction for jay-walking, the illustration would fit exactly. However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It's strong language but isn't it true?"

What terms and phrases can we substitute for drinking, drink, alcohol, alcoholic when working with other addictions?

Do you have experience working with other additions using the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as your recovery text? If so, please share your experience with us and tell what terms and phrases do your substituted for Alcoholism, Alcoholic, Drink and Drinking.

Don't let anyone talk you out of your miracle.

By the 1980's, working the 12 Step Program had been replaced by a "Meeting Makers Make It" Program and going to meetings became the program!

In the 1940's and 50's meetings were a place where recovered alcoholics talked about carrying the message of experience strength and hope to suffering alcoholics and help newcomers work out a solution to their problem (alcoholism/addiction).

"Seeing much of each other, scarce an evening passed that someone's home did not shelter a little gathering of men and women, happy in their release, and constantly thinking how they might present their discovery to some newcomer. In addition to these casual get togethers, it became customary to set apart one night a week for a meeting to be attended by anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life. Aside from fellowship and sociability, the prime object was to provide a time and place where new people might bring their problems." (A.A. 4th Ed., 159-160)

Today, our meetings have changed into something else.--endless rituals of readings and poetry recitals intermixed fellowship bromides such as, "This program is caught not taught" and "Keep Coming Back and Wait for the Miracle". Recovery success rates went from 50% to 75% to less than 10%! Many alcoholics or addicts would be better off trying to quit on their own will power than come to a meeting where untreated alcoholics sit around and talk about their problems and tell the newcomer not to work any Steps for the first year.

But something amazing happened!

Joe and Charlie started a "Back-to-the-Big Book" revival in the late 1980's, whereby the newcomer could work all 12 Steps in a weekend! Since then, there has been a resurgence of working the 12 Steps. Today, thanks people A.A. archivist Wally P. who revived the Beginner Meetings of the 1940's, newcomers are shown, once again, how to work a 12 Step program in four, one-hour sessions!

As a result, newcomers are again experiencing 50% to 75% recovery success rates!

Schisms in the Fellowship

You would think the fellowship would be excited about such successes, but many were not. Most were threatened by newcomers working the 12 Steps fast. They didn't understand how anyone could work the program in one day. Why this animosity? There are a lot of people in the fellowship who don't have to work a 12 Step program as outlined in the Big Book. They can get by on going to meetings.

Dr. Bob once said,

"There are two ways to work this program. The easy way was the work and in live in the 12 Step program. The other, the hard way, Don't drink and go to meetings."

So a schism developed. Fundamental lines were drawn between the Meeting Makers' program of discussion versus the Big Book Thumpers' program of action.

When a newcomer comes to a meeting, who has just learned how to work the 12 Step program, who has only a few weeks or months of sobriety, they are confronted not welcomed. There are some members in our fellowship members who act like TIME-BULLIES. They're easy to identify, they walk around the rooms announcing themselves with a sense of unbridled ego, "I'm 25 year Bill, "I'm 10 year Sally", I'm 13 years sober Kevin, My name is Dick and I'm 15 years dry", etc. Furthermore, many of them are just dry, no emotional sobriety. They're just "doing time" in meetings.

Time-bullies worship their sobriety time. They plan elaborate Medallion celebrations with endless accolades to those receiving their chip. For them, their sobriety time indicates some measure of higher sobriety over someone with less time. For them, time is a sort of "fellowship currency" and determines their status in the fellowship. For example, there are members in A.A. who smoke marijuana, but because they haven't had a drink in 15 years, claim their sobriety is intact. They bristle with antagonism at the suggestion that they are not sober.

These time-bullies love to attack the newcomer, who comes into the room full of the spirit, who having just completed their first round of 12 Steps, usually in a short period of time, and who want to reach out to other newcomers and freely share what was so freely given to them.

The first thing they're asked, "How much time do you have?" The newcomer replies, "30 days". The time-bully answers back, Oh...you're just a newcomer. What could you possibly offer another newcomer. You're still a newcomer yourself. You should be still on Step 1 and not Step 12. You're just on a pink cloud. You shouldn't be working Steps in your first year" and so on.

These types are energy vampires who suck the spirit right out the newcomer. The newcomer is sometimes ill-equipped to handle such bullying and are sometimes talked out their miracle.

Newcomer: Learn how to protect yourself

Arm yourself with the facts.

Remember, Bill W. started working with other alcoholics immediately after detox, which was a three to five day stay in a hospital. Ebby T. was 60 days sober when he approached Bill W. with the solution. Dr. Bob was only a couple of weeks sober, when he and Bill approached Bill D. A.A. number three in the hospital.

Never go to a meeting on your own. Go with two or three others, like yourself who are working the Steps. Take care of each other and support one another.

And start your own meetings with like-minded members and create a fellowship of those living in the spirit.

Have you run into any time bullies lately. What's your experience.

One of the key concepts of A.A. in the 1940's: Get the newcomer to Step Twelve as quickly as possible, so he or she can experience the life-changing spiritual awakening that occurs as the direct result of taking the Steps. Assure the newcomer that our program of recovery will relieve his or her alcoholism/addiction. Show the newcomer that the process is simple, straightforward and that it really works.

Earl T. (pictured right), founder of A.A. in Chicago "wished that every A.A. could have the benefit of this type of sponsorship today". In his story, "He Sold Himself Short" (p. 287 in 2nd and 3rd editions and p. 258 in 4th edition.) he explains how he was taken through the Steps.

"The day before I was due to go back to Chicago, a Wednesday and Dr. Bob's afternoon off, he had me down to the office, and we spent three or four hours formally going through the Six-Step program as it was at that time. The six steps were:"

1. Complete deflation. (Step 1)
2. Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power. (Steps 2, 3, 6, 7, 11)
3. Moral Inventory. (Steps 4, 10)
4. Confession. (Step 5)
5. Restitution. (Steps 8, 9)
6. Continued work with other alcoholics. (Step 10)

"Dr. Bob led me through all of these steps. At the moral inventory (Step 4), he brought up some of my bad personality traits or character defects, such as selfishness, conceit, jealousy, carelessness, intolerance, ill-temper, sarcasm and resentments. We wen over these at great length and the he finally asked me if I wanted these defects of character removed. When I said yes (Step 6), we both knelt at this desk and prayed, each of us asking to have these defects taken away" (Step 7).

"This picture is still vivid. If i live to be a hundred, it will always stand out in my mind. It was very impressive and I wish that every A.A. could have the benefit of this type of sponsorship today. Dr. Bob always emphasized the religious angle very strongly, and I think it helped. I know it helped me, Dr. Bob then led me through the restitution step, in which I made a list of all the persons I had harmed (Step 8), and worked out ways and means of slowly making restitution (Step 9). I made several decisions at that time. One of them was that I would try to get a group started in Chicago (Step 12), the second was that I would have to return to Akron to attend meetings at least every two months until I did get a group started in Chicago, third, I decide I must place this program above everything else, even my family because if I did not maintain my sobriety I would lose my family anyway. If I did not maintain my sobriety, I would not have a job. If I did not maintain my sobriety, I would have no friends left."

Sponsorship (A.A. Grapevine, April 1961)

"Though three hundred thousand have recovered in the last twenty-five years, maybe half a million more have walked into our midst, and then out again."

"We can't well content ourselves with the view that all these recovery failures were entirely the fault of the newcomers themselves. Perhaps a great many didn't receive the kind and amount of sponsorship they so sorely needed. We didn't communicate when we might have done so. So we AA's failed them." -- Bill W.

The Twelve Steps of A.A. are a way of life for anyone seeking a spiritual program. By substituting the word "alcohol" for any particular problem of life such as drugs, gambling, sex, food/sugar, self-harm, co-dependence, etc, one can identify and apply the A.A. program, found in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as a recipe for recovery.

Lois W., the "first lady" of A.A. and the non-alcoholic wife of Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, tells her story of "co-dependence addiction" and her spiritual growth by applying A.A. principles to her own life.

(Reprinted from the book, How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 1995, 2008, pp. 152-159.)

Lois's Story

Bill started drinking shortly before we were married, and although I didn't realize it then, he was an alcoholic from the very beginning. When he took one drink, he couldn't seem to stop until he was too drunk to lift another drink. I was greatly concerned, but I still had confidence that our life together would be so completed and rich that he would have no need for liquor. As time went on, his drinking grew worse.

Since we had no children, my one purpose in life was to help him get over this terrible habit. Aside from his drinking, we were very happy together. We liked the same things and were most companionable. Finally, when the drinking became practically constant, he, too, realized he must do something about it, and together we tried everything we could think of. He set up all kinds of plans for control. He read books on psychology and religion; he went to sanitariums. During two successive summers I gave up my job, and we escaped for three months to the country for renewal and rebuilding. Nothing worked. I had to assume family responsibilities and make all decisions.

By now Bill did nothing but drink. He was afraid to leave the house for fear the police would pick him up. We lived entirely to ourselves. We had dropped all our friends or been dropped by them and we saw as little of our families as possible. Our whole life had simmered down to one terrific fight against alcohol. It was tragic indeed to watch such a fine man become completely beaten and hopeless.

An old friend whom we considered a confirmed drunkard came to see Bill to tell of his "release" from alcoholism by spiritual means. Bill, encourage by the picture of his friend's bright eyes and hopeful story, went to the hospital to clear his own thinking. Here the miracle happened and Bill became a changed man, almost overnight. We were awestruck by this amazing transformation. In our happiness and gratitude neither of us doubted that his sobriety would last. (As I bring this story up to date, his sobriety lasted until his death in 1971. His friend's sobriety, unfortunately, was of shorter duration, but he was sober a number of years before his death in 1966.)

Bill figured that since a miracle had happened to him and his friend it could happen to theirs, so he worked endlessly and tirelessly to help alcoholics. We had the house full of drunks in all stages of sobriety. It seemed to me he was trying to dry out all the drunks in the world.

We gratefully went to meetings of the fellowship to which our hopeful friend belonged, and Bill used their half-dozen spiritual principles in his work with alcoholics. Later, he wrote the A.A. book, he expanded the number to Twelve Steps so as to be sure there were no loopholes through which a drunk could escape.

After a while I began to wonder why I was not as happy as I ought to be, since the one thing I had been yearning for all my married life had come to pass. Then one Sunday, Bill asked me if I was ready to go to the meeting with him. To my own astonishment as well as his, I burst forth with, "Damn you old meetings!" and threw a shoe as hard as I could.

This surprising display of temper over nothing pulled me up short and made me start to analyze my own attitudes. By degrees I saw that I had been wallowing in self-pity, that I resented the fact that Bill and I never spend any time together any more, and that I was left alone while he was off somewhere scouting up new drunks or working with old ones. I felt on the outside of a very tight little clique of alcoholics that no mere wife could enter. My pride was hurt by the fact that friend, another alcoholic, had been able to do for Bill in a short time what I had tried and failed to do all our married years.

My life's purpose of sobering up Bill, which had made me feel desperately needed, had vanished. I sought something to fill the void. As I began to be honest with myself, I recognized how greatly Bill had developed spiritually and how necessary to his sobriety was his feverish activity with alcoholics. I decided to strive for my own spiritual growth. I used the same principles as he did to learn how to change my attitudes.

Several years later, Bill and I found that strained relations such as ours often developed in families after the first starry-eyed period of sobriety was over. We were heartsick and puzzled to discover that, though alcoholics were recovering through this wonderful new program, their home lives were often difficult. We began to learn how many adjustments had to made and that the partner of the alcoholic also needed to live by a spiritual program.

Soon, small groups composed of the family members of alcoholics in A.A. sprang up all over the country. They had a threefold purpose: to grow spiritually through living by the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; to give encouragement and understanding to the alcoholic in the home; and to welcome and give comfort to the families of new or prospective A.A. members.

Today Al-Anon groups have spread over this country, Canada, and many other lands. Many agencies, too, recognize that alcoholism is a family problem and that recovery can be greatly hastened by family understanding.

A.A. and Al-Anon often speak of the Twelve Steps as tools. An extension fo this idea came to me one day. There is a striking analogy between working on ourselves and cultivating a garden.

Our inheritance and early environment compose the soil out of which grow our thoughts and actions, both flowers and weeds. To raise flowers we must get rid of the weeds.

Our garden tools are these principles of A.A. and Al-Anon: knowledge of ourselves and our motives, honesty in facing ourselves as we really are, a desire to help others, and an awareness of God.

We must keep cultivating with these really effective implements lest our garden be overrun by weeds.

Soils vary; some are rocky, sandy, or swampy, while others are very fertile. But whatever the soil, there are appropriate flowers that can be grown. Even the desert blooms.

One gardener may find it difficult to uproot the weeds because his tools are constantly being dulled against many large rocks. But by repeated sharpening of his hoe and by careful selection of his plants, at last he may be able to grow a very charming rock garden.

Yet another, because he is too sure of the fertility of his plot and takes it for granted that he will have a beautiful garden because his soil is rich, does not bother to cultivate. This gardener may someday wake up to find his garden filled with insidious weeds, the weeds of smugness and self-righteousness that thrive in fertile ground.

In just this way the garden of many a martyred, self-pitying wife or husband of an alcoholic can become choked and unproductive.

The Al-Anon Family Groups point out the need to cultivate the gardens of our lives and show us how this can be done through the use of A.A.'s Twelve Steps.

My work on the Steps, over a period of years is the following:

Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol...that our lives had become unmanageable.

I was just as powerless over my husband's alcoholism as he was, since I had failed in every way I tried to control his drinking. My own life was indeed unmanageable, as I was forced into doing and being that which I did not want to do or be. I tried to manage Bill's life, although not even able to manage my own. I wanted to get inside his brain and turn the screws in what I thought was the right direction. I, too was powerless over alcohol. It took me a long time to see this.

Step 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Because my thinking was distorted and my nerves overwrought, I had fears and attitudes that certainly were not sane. Finally I realized that I, too, had to be restored to sanity and that only by having faith in God, in A.A. (and later in Al-Anon), in my husband, and myself, could this come about.

Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Self-sufficiency, caused by the habit of acting as mother, nurse, caretaker, and breadwinner, as well as always thinking myself on the credit side of the ledger with my alcoholic husband on the debit side, resulted in my having a smug feeling of rightness. At the same time, illogically, I felt a failure at my life's job helping Bill to sobriety. All this made me blind for a long time to the fact that I needed to turn my will and my life over to the care of God. I believe smugness is the very worst sin of all. Only with great difficulty does a shaft of light pierce the armor of self-righteousness.

Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Here is where, when I tried to be really honest, I received a tremendous shock. Many of the things that I thought I did unselfishly were, when I tracked them down, pure rationalizations--rationalizations to get my own way about something. This disclosure doubled my urge to live by the Twelve Steps as thoroughly as I could.

Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

I found this was just as necessary for me to do as it was for alcoholic, even more so perhaps, because of my former "mother-and-bad-boy" attitude toward Bill. Admitting my wrongs helped to balance our relationship, to bring it closer to the ideal partnership in marriage.

At first I was deeply hurt because someone else had done in a few moments what I had tried my whole married life to do. Now I have learned that a wife can rarely, if ever, do this job. The alcoholic feels his wife's account has been written on the credit page of life's ledger; and he believes his own has been on the debit side. Therefore, she cannot possibly understand. Another alcoholic, with a similar debit entry, immediately identifies himself as no non-alcoholic can.

I found no peace of mind until I recognized this important fact.

Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

There were selfish attitudes that I had felt justified in keeping because of what Bill or someone else had done to me. I had to try very hard to want God to remove these. There was, for instance, my self-pity at losing Bill's companionship, now that the house was full of alcoholics and we had little time to visit alone with each other. I didn't realize the importance of his working with others nor did I know how deep and consuming an absorption in A.A. it takes to banish the obsession with alcohol.

Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

"Humbly" was a word I never fully understood. It used to seem servile to me. Today it means seeing myself in true relation to my fellow man and to God.

While striving for humility myself, it was inspiring to see my husband's growth in the same direction. From an inferiority-ridden person durning his drinking days, Bill in A.A. at first bounced way up to superiority, but then leveled off and gained very real humility.

Slowly and with difficulty I realized I, too, had been beset by both inferiority and superiority over Bill in the old days while drinking and then inferiority to him as he made rapid progress in A.A.

Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

At first I couldn't think of anyone I had harmed. But when I broke through my own smugness even a little, I saw many relatives and friends whom I had resented and to whom I had given short, irritable answers, imperiling long-standing friendships. In fact, I remember one friend at whom I threw a book when, after a nerve-wracking day, he annoyed me. (Throwing seems to have been my pet temper outlet.)

I try to keep my list of persons harmed up-to-date, and I also try to shorten it.

Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

This is just as important for me as for the alcoholic. I found that when I cleaned away the debris of the past by making amends for each harm done, I had taken an important step towards building a bulwark against any hard knocks that might later come along, as well as gaining serenity and joy in living.

Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

It is astounding how each time I take an inventory I find some new rationalization, some new way I have been pulling the wool over my own eyes. It is easy to fool oneself about motives, and admitting it is hard--but very beneficial.

Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

I am just beginning to understand how to pray. Bargaining with God is not real prayer, and asking Him for what I want, even good things, I've had to learn is not the highest form of prayer. I used to think I knew what was good for me. Therefore I, the captain, would give my instructions to my lieutenant, God, to carry out. That is very different from praying only for the knowledge of God's will for me and the power to carry it out.

Today's living is so involved that much time for mediation is hard to find. But I've set aside a small amount of time night and morning. I am so filled with thankfulness to God that gratitude is one of my principal subjects for meditation; gratitude for all the love and beauty and friends around me; gratitude even for the hard days of long ago that taught me so much. Thus, I have made a start toward improving my conscious contact with God.

Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

I am like many Al-Anon members whose spiritual awakening was slow developing experience. But all of us, whether our awakening was sudden or gradual, need to continue our efforts toward growth. One either moves forward or slips backward. I sincerely hope there has been a change for the better between my old and new self, an that tomorrow, next month, next year here will continue to be a better new self.

Nothing has done more to urge me forward than the need to carry the Al-Anon message to the families of alcoholics who are seeking a way out of their dilemma. The helping of others over the same thorny path that one has already trod strengthens both travelers, the helper and the one being helped.

Do you have any experience using the Big Book with co-dependents? Tell us about your experiences.

In the 1940's, the A.A. Beginners' Meetings 's provided a safe and structured environment where newcomers TOOK all Twelve Steps and recovered from alcoholism, as well as a place where those who had been through the Steps learned how to sponsor those who were just starting on their spiritual journeys. The Beginners' Meetings fostered participatory sponsorship and many newcomers were sponsored by two or more A.A. members, the sponsor and his or her apprentice(s). The term the early A.A.'s used to describe this relationship was co-sponsorship. (Wally P. and Back-to-Basics)

What style of sponsorship do you practice? Let us know about your experiences...