Well it would seem that
south west region are less than enthused by the new all-singing, all-dancing
cult intergroup's bid to join the AA fold. The chairman of this new 'creation'
was recently invited to put his case to region as to why this novel body
(composed of two groups: Bournemouth Road to Recovery – part of the Visions/Road
to Recovery cult franchise and Poole St Ann's Hospital, Thursday)
should be allowed to participate in the AA service structure. Apparently his
oratorical skills (up to this point mostly devoted to pointing out to the rest
of us how wrong we all are – remember the cult mantra – We are ALWAYS RIGHT and
you are ALWAYS WRONG!) failed him at this critical juncture, region were duly
unimpressed and the vote went against Wessex; it would not receive the support
of region. For those of you who are not fully up to date with this apparently
unending saga the new 'intergroup' was formed (unilaterally of course) as a
result of the repeated attempts by the Bournemouth cult group to join either
Bournemouth IG or Poole IG. Both of these service bodies being fully aware of
the cult's performance down in Plymouth ie. Plymouth Road to Recovery (the local
branch of the same franchise), declined their advances pointing out to this
rogue group their already established history of “controversial” conduct ie.
bullying, abusive sponsorship, interference in medical matters etc. So what do
you do when no intergroup wants you? Well you starts your own! It's obvious
really when you think about it... Doh!!! Still we don't think a minor setback of
being given the cold shoulder by south west region will make much of a
difference here. Going by past performance the whole thing is something of a red
herring anyway. Cult groups by and large only pay lip service to the notion of
AA unity (something which they use as a way of manipulating AA members and
groups and thereby diverting criticism). We fully expect them to continue in
their efforts (no doubt whilst playing the martyr role to the hilt!) to
undermine the fellowship by competing with the existing AA IGs in the area, and
by the repeated promotion of their own perversions of the recovery programme
(sponsorship idolatry, personalities before principles etc). Now talking of
perversions we come to …....
…....the Plymouth Road
to Recovery group. This troublesome little gang headed up by Wayne P (or that is
until recently when his trousers fell down! Wayne incidentally is one of Clancy
I's sponsees (Pacific Group) – a grouping many of whom seem to have similar
problems with keeping their kegs in place!) together with his two cohorts Alexis
K and Jon F (see Incident at Conference) is
still busily breaking as many AA traditions as it can discover. The diary dates
section of their prettily designed website contains adverts for the latest crop
of celebrity circuit speakers to hit the UK. These include two operating under
the banner of “Step N ahead into “emotional sobriety””. Step 'N Ahead operates
under the auspices of yet another “Foundation” (a US based enterprise) which
represents itself as having “non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS
effective 29 July 2009”. This must be a substantial loss to the US Treasury
since this organisation charges a pretty penny indeed for the privilege of
attending one of its “workshops”, “conventions” etc together with all the
associated paraphernalia of “workbooks”, “CDs” etc, that constitute the usual
'stock in trade' of the professional recovery 'broker'. Moreover the
Foundation's website clearly states in a disclaimer that:
“Step'n Ahead into
Emotional Sobriety®
Step'n Ahead at The Last Mile® and
Friends of Step'n Ahead®
...cooperate with but are not affiliated with AA or any alcoholism treatment program/process.
The mention of AA herein is not meant to imply or suggest affiliation with, endorsement by nor approval from AA regarding the posting or content of this site, and/or the presentation of the workshop itself. AA neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the workshop leaders. They do not wish to imply nor suggest they speak as experts for or representatives of medicine, psychology, psychiatry, religion or talk therapy.”
Step'n Ahead at The Last Mile® and
Friends of Step'n Ahead®
...cooperate with but are not affiliated with AA or any alcoholism treatment program/process.
The mention of AA herein is not meant to imply or suggest affiliation with, endorsement by nor approval from AA regarding the posting or content of this site, and/or the presentation of the workshop itself. AA neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the workshop leaders. They do not wish to imply nor suggest they speak as experts for or representatives of medicine, psychology, psychiatry, religion or talk therapy.”
Now we are distinctly
impressed by this nifty side-stepping of the non-affiliation tradition,
something that might even be contrived by a lawyer, and which brings us on
rather neatly to one of the speakers at this heavily promoted
event:
“S. D. Washington, D.C.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This young and sober
legal-eagle found himself spiritually defenseless and broken in sobriety as he
attempted to argue and defend his own case of troubled emotions v. the world --
and lost; but he emerged victorious when he finally surrendered his case to the
'highest court' and plead for mercy."
together with yet
another Wayne (but not our own “trouserless one”), Wayne B, who hails from St
Petersburg Florida (also due to “headline” shortly in Terra Haute, Wabash Valley
Intergroup, Indiana (US).
Anyways we'll leave it
to you to hunt down this gang (we've given you quite enough clues after all!) Of
more interest from our point of view (and in respect of non-affiliation) is the
fact that the Derbyshire Intergroup have had their entire website link with the
main AA (GB) website removed on the grounds that the IG site carried a link to
Google maps (see Stop Press: 16/09/11 “Derbyshire AA Intergroup?”) Now the
Plymouth Road to Recovery website (which has an indirect link posted on the same
AA website) has been carrying promotional material for non-affiliated
organisations for some time now (quite apart from advertising various
“personalities” eg. the “Venerable” C (otherwise known as Clancy I) yet their
website retains advertising space on the GB website. We pointed out this
apparent anomaly to the General Service Office (York). It will be interesting to
see what happens (or not as the case may be)!
Business as usual we
guess!
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends
of Alcoholics Anonymous)
(our thanks to our
local reporters for the info)
