“The
advice given in David C’s Big Book Recovery website on professional counsellors,
medication and step 5 are a direct contradiction with the Alcoholics
Anonymous “Big Book” and the “Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions”:
“Those
of us belonging to a religious denomination which requires confession
must, and of course will want to go to the properly appointed
authority, whose duty it is to receive it… … If we cannot or
would rather not do this, we search for our acquaintance with a
closed – mouthed, understanding friend. Perhaps our doctor or
psychologist will be the friend. It may be one of our own family, but
we cannot disclose anything to our wives or parents which will hurt
them or make them unhappy.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, “Big Book”
page 74,)
“This
person may be one’s sponsor, but not necessarily so… … Perhaps,
though, your relationship to him is such that you would care to
reveal only a part of your story. If this is the situation, by all
means do so… … It may turn out, however, that you’ll choose
someone else for the more difficult and deeper revelations. This
individual may be entirely outside of A.A. – for example, your
clergyman or your doctor. For some of us, a complete stranger may
prove the best bet.” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page
62)
“An
A.A. sponsor does not offer services such as those provided by
counsellors, the legal, medical or social work communities, but may
sometimes help the newcomer to access professional help if assistance
outside the scope of A.A. is needed. (Questions and answers on
sponsorship, page 14)
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-15_Q&AonSpon.pdf
“A.A.
Does not….solicit members….follow up or try to control its
members…. Make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses… …
provide … … any medical or psychiatric treatment; offer religious
services; engage in education about alcohol… … or any other
welfare or social services; provide domestic or vocational
counselling…” (Members of the clergy ask about Alcoholics
Anonymous page 18)
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.pdf
“If
we recognise religion is the province of the clergy and the practice
of medicine is for doctors, then we can we can helpfully cooperate
with both” (Concept 12, warranty five)
It
is a sad day indeed, when victims of abuse in A.A. seek support
elsewhere; when the safeguards and procedures already available are
not being used; when professional alcoholism counsellors write to the
A.A. Grapevine, asking A.A. to read its own literature.
It
is a sad day when a District Committee Member (D.C.M.) in the USA,
does not appear to be able to find important information from within
the A.A. Service structure; but instead, the concerned A.A. member
feels the need to source it from a non AA UK internet forum:
“In
this USA area, about 2 1/2 years ago in 2008, a Yellow cover book -
"Back to Basics " by Wally P., began to be passed around;
soon many were buying it and some malcontented [sic] people from a
few AA groups began to gather to discuss the book. They were
generally outspoken and not recieved [sic] well by AA groups and the
strong opposition seemed to bond the malcontents to each other. They
had a fixed idea of how the 12 steps should be done, an out of
balance view of AA history and statistics. Like claiming that AA once
had 75% success rate; and futher [sic] claimed AA lost that sucess
[sic] rate when AA became organized!
The
movement has grown more active and now "seeds" meetings and
discussion rooms with individuals who push their views. Now, there
seems to be an organized effort for 6 to 10 "Back to Basics"
people to meet before a target meeting - they split up a few small
groups - go to various tables or each Meeting Room and steer
discussions into issues which give them a format to present half
truths and thier [sic] "sprituality" [sic] claims.
Many
of us "regular" AA people are concerned. It seems to me
that your experiences are similar and may be repeated here in this
USA area. I found your "Cultwatch" site on the Bing search
engine. The information is valuable and appreciated by me and I have
passed the web address on to a DCM friend”. (aacultwatch forum;
subject entitled “Back to Basics movement”)
http://forums.delphiforums.com/aacultwatch/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3E
There
needs to be better communication within the fellowship.
This
is a statement at the bottom of the page on Wally P’s Back to
Basics website:
“After
receiving notification from the General Service Office about our
mission statement, the Board of Directors of the Back to Basics
Foundation met in a special session and voted to change the wording
of the statement so it would be in compliance with the Twelve
Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The
Board also voted to move all materials pertaining to other Twelve
Step programs to separate web sites, so there would be no confusion
about the primary purpose of the Back to Basics Foundation.
We
ask for your patience in this matter because, at the present time, we
have no means to accomplish this objective. We have no paid
employees, and continue to operate with a negative cash flow. If it
is God’s will, there will be sufficient individual donations to
make the wishes of the Board of Directors a reality.
The
Back to Basics Foundation is a 501 (C) 3, not-for-profit Corporation
dedicated to saving the lives of alcoholics. Our modified mission
statement is listed below” http://www.aabacktobasics.org/
Perhaps
the A.A.W.S. Trustees ought to take note of Bill W’s leadership
when passive
negotiations fail with “Our promoter friend” turned “alarming
poser” (A.A. Comes of Age page 130 -131), such as they have with
Wally P; and when necessary, to call on support from the A.A. groups.
If Wally P says his foundation “at the present time has no means to
accomplish this objective,” then perhaps he needs some assistance.
We are sure some two million A.A.s worldwide would be only too
willing to help both another alcoholic and the Trustees as well.
“Strong
letters … … … letters of a kind the sponsor might not like to
receive” as Bill W. put it, is a powerful dissuasive tool for any
Traditions violator. And as Bill W. recognised, the “right of
petition” is recognised in any democratic society. It cuts both
ways.
We
wonder why warranties five and six have not been carried out to their
full. Why information about Back to Basics has not been disseminated
throughout the world service structure down to the G.S.Rs and a
request to intergroup Public Information committees to inform the
general public of misuses of the A.A. name.
“Privately,
however we can inform Traditions violators that they are out of
order. When they persist, we can follow up by using such other
resources of persuasion as we may have, and these are often
considerable…….. And to this end we shall need to maintain a
continuous education of our public communication channels of all
kinds concerning the nature and purpose of our Traditions………..
Whenever and however we can, we shall need to inform the general
public also; especially upon misuses of the name Alcoholics
Anonymous. This combination of counter forces can be very
discouraging to violators or would be violators. Under these
conditions they soon find their deviations to be unprofitable or
unwise." (Concept 12, warranty five).
“Finally,
any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call
themselves an A.A. group provided that, as
a group, they have no other purpose
or affiliation”. (Concept 12, warranty 6).””
Comment:
The AA Service Manual combined with the Twelve Concepts for World Service
(2011-2012 edn). And see below for the relevant pages (Concept 12:
Warranties 5 and 6 in full)
From
the above it can clearly be seen that the Back to Basics movement is
an entirely separately run organisation with its own financing,
service structure, literature, meetings directory etc. As such it
falls into the category of an “outside organisation” and under AA
traditions an AA group which affiliate themselves with such are in
breach of Tradition 3 (long form):
“—Our
membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we
may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever
depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered
together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided
that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.”
(our
emphasis)
In
our view, and in accordance with the above tradition, (and with
reference to the above mentioned warranties) where such a group is
listed in any AA directory (local and/or national) it should withdraw
its listing immediately or be removed. Moreover any GSRs associated
with Back to Basics groups should exclude themselves (or be excluded)
from service at AA intergroup level (and indeed at any level in the
service structure). Steps should also be taken to inform all
relevant outside agencies e.g via PI, HL etc that these groups are
not affiliated with AA and should not be taken as such. In this way a
clear demarcation will be established between the two entities. The
same principles apply with regard to the Primary Purpose movement,
and on similar grounds eg. separate meeting directories (although
they still represent themselves as being part of AA). Nevertheless
their continued – and deliberate - misrepresentation of AA recovery
rates, their abusive sponsorship methods and moreover the existence
of commercial interests operating within this grouping further
disqualify them from any claim to be associated with AA. The
Visions/Road to Recovery groups are for their part not so easily
identifiable as a collective (although there is an unofficial network
of these groups in existence with the usual emphasis on abusive
sponsorship practices, anti-prescribed medication/counselling
policies etc). In this case each group should be treated
individually and where they fail to mend their ways (which is usually
the case) should similarly be excluded from the service structure
with all outside agencies being notified accordingly. It is only by
applying such admittedly drastic methods that we can ensure that
these groups (and their members) no longer inflict harm on newcomers
and thereby bring AA into disrepute. Inaction on our part is no
longer an option
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS
See our UK and US “Cult Where to Finds” for a preliminary listing
of these groups. However we believe that these represent just the
tip of the iceberg!
