Newcomer Packet
Where Do I Start?
Below are links to A.A. literature that will help you learn more about Alcoholics Anonymous and help you decide if you are an alcoholic:
Is A.A. for Me?
A Newcomer Asks
This is AA – An Introduction to the AA Recovery Program
Information on Alcoholics Anonymous
Twelve Steps Illustrated
Questions and Answers on Sponsorship
Purchase Literature from AA.org
Find a Meeting
Local Meetings Meeting List
Smart Phone App Meeting Guide for your Phone
Meetings by State AA Near You by State – Locate AA meetings and assistance in another state.
Online Meetings Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous (Worldwide)
Call Someone
At Meetings – Ask for phone numbers from members at your first few meetings. They will be happy to help!
At Home or on the road – Call your local 24 Hour AA Hotline for Dallas (and surrounding cities) – 214-887-6699
Out of Country – Online Intergroup 12th Step Committee – Request an international Help Line phone number for your country
Pray the Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and
Wisdom to know the difference.
Remember that alcoholism is a progressive disease. Take it seriously, even if you feel you are only in the early stages of the illness. Alcoholism kills people. If you are an alcoholic, and if you continue to drink, in time you will get worse.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affectng other groups or A.A. as a whole.
Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-suppor,ng, declining outside contributions.
Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and film.
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Tradi,ons, ever reminding us to place principles before personalties.
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongdoings.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.