NO it’s not okay — not in Alcoholics Anonymous or in any other 12-Step organization as a NON addict or compulsive whatever.
What is it about “one alcoholic working with another alcoholic—free of charge” that is so difficult to understand? Yet there are thousands of non-alcoholics working as alcohol counselors attempting to help their clients through the 12 steps. There are also thousands of alcoholic-addicts working (i.e. NOT offering the steps free of charge but from a position of authority) that think they are helping their clients to better “understand” the 12 Steps from an outside, psychologically-based interpretation.
Although, any non-alcoholic/addict/compulsive person may MENTOR someone in areas other than the 12 Steps. It is healthy for everyone in recovery to have outside mentors and support for help in improving behaviors, thinking patterns, and various life skills to become job-ready and community ready, etc. Absolutely. I recommend this to everyone I work with.
But ANY non-AA members who think it’s okay to “sponsor” an alcoholic with the 12 steps should read “AA as a Resource for the Health Care Professional”—LINK P.6—“As stated in the A.A. Preamble: A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution…”
P. 7—“Many health care professional have found effective ways to refer people to A.A.”
It clearly says, REFER PEOPLE TO A.A. … “This health care professional finds it helpful to have a list of A.A. contacts available to take people to their first meeting.” They also suggest that the professional attend a few open meetings to get a basic understanding to help in the referral process. They also suggest inquiries “whether the client has obtained an A.A. sponsor…who helps the client work a program of recovery.” BTW, an A.A. sponsor is a 12-step sponsor—the one who helps a newcomer to take the steps the A.A. (Big Book) way.
P. 10—“We invite health care professionals to visit an open meeting and see what A.A. offers the alcoholic.”
Another important pamphlet is titled, “Questions and Answers about Sponsorship” –LINK
There is a little paragraph on page 9 that asks, “How should a sponsor be chosen?” Clearly they recommend asking an A.A. member who is successfully using the program in their life. They do NOT suggest that a newcomer finds a sponsor who is a nonalcoholic—who therefore has no personal experience using the 12 steps for an alcoholic problem.
Page 11 has a portion asking about a newcomer receiving ‘indoctrination’ by an outside agency and that learning about alcoholism in an institutional setting is not enough for living a new, sober life in a drinking world.
Chapter Seven in the basic text is titled, “WORKING WITH OTHERS.”
This chapter is all about one alcoholic carrying the message to another alcoholic. “You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. …because of your own drinking experience you can be uniquely useful to other alcoholics.” They didn’t mean a therapist’s occasional binges while they were in college—they meant the experience of a full-fledged, real, chronic, hopeless alcoholic who tried everything else and ONLY with the spiritual solution of the steps were they able to recover. THAT’S THE MESSAGE.
An A.A. sponsor does not provide any services such as those offered by a social worker, a doctor, a nurse, or a marriage counselor. A sponsor is simply a sober alcoholic who helps the newcomer solve one problem: how to stay sober. It is not professional training that enables a sponsor to give help—it is just personal experience and observation.
And A.A. meetings are not about “substance abuse recovery” or “chemical dependency;” their purpose is to teach and practice the 12 steps—THAT is the sole purpose of an A.A. group. Outside group therapy sessions, drug and alcohol counseling are outside issues.
LINK to the blog page that discusses Primary Purpose, Sole Purpose, and Singleness of Purpose.
James H
11/18/2011 at 9:40 am
I got to AA straight from the bottle, no jail or treatment center, no counselors. It stuck from day one.
My friend Gerry says he absolutely needed the treatment program and counselling, else he would never have lasted.
Different strokes, different folks.
“Sponsor” means something different than “Counselor” – one is motivated by maintaining sobriety, the other by receiving salary. AA should not be for sale.
Not too crazy about “temporary sponsor” either. Who wants to be “temporary sober?”
James H.
Corpus Christi, Texas
ETC
11/20/2011 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for your perspective. Great points. “AA should not be for sale.” Amen.
But too many professionals and non-alkies actually do use the word SPONSOR / SPONSORING, and believe that is what they are doing. I had a couple twitter replies that INSISTED that non-alcoholics can and do sponsor newcomers with the steps–and they see no issue with receiving a salary for it either. I’ve done some exploring on the internet, (and in one of my college courses) and it seems to be a too-common occurrence. Many college courses for counseling encourage and teach “outside” versions of the steps– so no wonder it is widely accepted. Those are the folks I’m rapping my knuckles on (so to speak) as a wake-up call. It would be great if they’d keep out of trying to do A.A.’s work and do what they do separate from the 12 steps. But few people give a rat’s ass about the 12 traditions… including casual AA members. Another sad point is that the nonalkie ‘sponsors’ take God right out of the steps–so they are teaching an interpretation of the steps.
I do agree many people need treatment centers… in fact some need them over and over and over and over (until they are willing to take the steps with a recovered alkie and practice daily maintenance of their spiritual condition, etc. In the years of the AA pioneers, the hopeless drunks went to hospitals and got morphine until they made it through the DTs. In some ways it’s not so different 76 years later.
I always recommend counseling to people who are mentally ill or simply stuck in the muck and need professional help. I’ve blogged about that a few times. AAs should NOT stick their noses in that business either. But those counselors don’t try to teach AA recovery… they teach them other, specific tools to help with specific issues.