Extracts
from the aacultwatch forum (old)
“Hi,
everyone
I've
been debating for around three years, whether or not I should post
this message here. The reason I held off from doing so, is that it
doesn't directly affect AA: however, it does have a big effect on
addicts in other areas of life, but I can't find an equivalent
platform to this anywhere else. So, at long last, I've decided to
heck with it - if I post here and its not relevant, then a moderator
can remove it from the board. However, maybe it will do some good...
Anyone
who reads the AACultwatch blog knows that there is a strong cult
contingent in Plymouth, in the shape of Wayne P's "Road to
Recovery" group - there's a LOT of posts regarding their
attitudes and adventures, going back several years and showing no
sign of abating any time soon. However, the same group is also
running an SAA group, very much in the same mould. I had direct
experience of the group myself for almost two years, before I
realised it was unhealthy and moved on.
The
group, which runs under the name "There Is A Solution", was
founded by a sponsee of Wayne P's (in the interests of anonymity, I
won't name who), and they run it in exactly the same way that R2R is
run. Almost everyone is sponsored within the group - and if not, you
are encouraged to do so - which means that a pyramid is set up, with
the founder at the top. Since the Golden Rule is, Do What Your
Sponsor Tells You, it essentially means that the founder controls the
actions of everyone in the group. In addition, the group completely
ignores the Green Book of SAA, and instead uses only the Big Book of
AA, changing the terms of alcohol addiction to sex addiction wherever
they are found in the text. They actively dismiss the Green Book as
unhelpful, with several areas that are, in their words, more likely
to cause a relapse then aid recovery.
Like
I said, I was in the group for two years. The general mode of
operating in that time was to get members to come to both weekly
meetings, attend no meetings outside the group (which wasn't too
difficult to arrange, as SAA meetings are a bit thin on the ground),
and we were strongly encouraged to also attend the open meeting of
the R2R group on a Friday evening - in fact, this open evening was
given higher importance than the Thursday meeting of the group
itself! The only time in two years that we were encouraged to attend
any meetings outside our own was if we went en masse to another group
(I attended a couple in Bristol when one of our group moved up there,
and a conference in London), to "spread the word" of how
recovery "should" be done.
In
not sure what the solution to groups like this is: if anything, to my
mind they're potentially more damaging to addicts seeking recovery
than the AA groups they've spawned from. AA is now big enough that in
a city like Plymouth, there are many different groups being run. At
the time I was in the SAA group, however, it was the only group of
its kind in the area. I had no way to compare it to anything else,
and the only other twelve-step experience I had was of the R2R parent
group. It took me two years before I was able to glean that things
weren't healthy there, and I consider myself a bright and intelligent
individual, who has read up on cult activity and methods for years.
I
don't know that I can expect anything to change: this post is
certainly not an attempt to rally a call to arms, or get the group
disbanded. But I do think its important that other would-be members
are forewarned about its ties and attitudes, and in hindsight, I'm
sorry I waited three years to speak out.”
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
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