Saturday, January 01, 2005

A letter sent to all offices and groups in Australia informing of the criteria and functional details of online groups in Australia

G'day all, my name is Gordy, and I am an alcoholic.

I am a member of the AAustralia Unity Recovery Group, NewBBaa, Eleventh step group, Recover email and my f2f group at Port Adelaide Friday Night, South Australia.

From here on in I'll just refer to the AA-Australia group to make it simple.

A little while ago, I was granted the great privilege (on Saturday the 5th of February 2005) to address the South Australian Regional Forum in regards of the statistics and criteria of online AA meetings and importantly, on their functions and statistics.

I was kindly introduced to all by the chair and gave them a brief outline of my personal involvement with Online AA etc. I then continued by illustrating the fact that I believe as many other on-liners believe also, that a fair percentage of our general membership seems to be un-aware or un-informed of the level AA has developed online, since it's conception and up unto the present day. I feel too that many members seem to prefer to show 'contempt prior to investigation' rather than what I tend to believe is possibly, their true feelings; that it is merely a simple fact of basic computer illiteracy restricting their participation rather than a true indication of how they really see online recovery.

I can understand their sentiments as I was probably one of the worst 'knockers' in the beginning but after a few years of experience sharing with other alcoholics online, I have been swayed by the merits and realism of such meetings and together, coupled with an added bonus of true to life emotionalism (portrayed by the audio feature in a direct parallel with the blandness of text) I can feel much more humanness filtering through by the person up there sharing.

Now, before I start with the facts etc, I must say I am a keen convert to this form of meetings and I gratefully employ them as an added supplement to my regular f2f meetings and not as the main source of my recovery therapy! I never reverse that order and you may say why? Well I stress that fact because I feel we need to have plenty of person to person contact via the f2f meetings mode for us to feel enthused, inspired on by our older sober members and to experience all the processes of this wonderful fellowship, first hand.

Now down to the real truths of how online meetings operate, I'll refer to the AAustralia Online Recovery Group which was formed from a small nucleus of members ( in 1999 ) in Australia and now blessed to carry the message far and wide through out furthermost corners of the earth, to be a viable form of recovery for all who may seek it out.

The AAustralia Group has at the time of writing consists of 5 dedicated members or trusted servants holding the following offices as Secretary, Assistant Secretary, List Keeper, Greeter and Group Mentor.
We have two (unwritten) sections to the group - one is the email section where a group of topics are selected once a month ( it changes one by one once a week ) and members are invited to share on them as well as any other item they feel deemed necessary plus, lovingly encouraged to share in depth of their despair, recovery and especially plenty on their elation in a 'new found freedom' from their impending demise.

The second section is our online audio meeting located on Paltalk www.paltalk.com where we hold meetings daily 3pm and 8pm EST or located in the Sydney Australia time zone. The directions on how to access these meetings are found on our web page www.aaustralia.co.nr and also, if any members have difficulty in finding the rooms they can email any of the above committee direct from the web page to receive further instructions and information.

We also have an under structure called the Business list or in shortened phrase we term the Biz-List. This committee handles all business appertaining to the group in conjunction with the traditions using the Group Conscience as the appropriate vehicle for doing so. Anyone who wants to go on this list is welcomed 'open arms' and the excellent feedback returns in the form of personal satisfaction to service, gratitude and a deep sense of a belonging as an integral family member of a wonderful bunch of AA on-liners like my groups, stated in the beginning paragraph above.

To continue - at the time of writing we (AAustralia) have 104 members who share their experience, strength and hope via the meeting rooms on Paltalk or simply, by the constant flow of each others email (on or off topic) to and fro throughout the group. To add to that we hold Group Conscience meetings once a month to discuss ways and means to enhance our ability to 'carry the message' and implement certain structures along the way with the traditions to mold and protect our unity. Without that we have no united front to carry out our 'Primary Purpose' and a group could easily fragment as others have done before us without a stabilizing structure, to shore us up with good strong solid foundations.

Our meetings as aforementioned, are held daily and aligned along similar lines as f2f meetings with a designated chair person and at least one or two greeters to welcome (quietly people to the room in the background) members into the room. The chair calls the meeting to order in the usual manner with the Preamble and then someone is requested kindly to read chapter five. Next a short introductory is commenced by the chair asking each member present via the process of going down the list saying hi (eg my names Bill, I am an alcoholic from Sydney Aust etc) and when finished, the meeting proper commences.

Some of our daily online meetings have a topic like a reading from the 'Daily Reflections', 'As Bill sees it' or one of the 'Steps' etc. but most are the common ID style meetings we have all over Australia.
The chair asks for volunteers (to do this there is a little hand that when clicked on, pops up for the whole room to see) but if none forthcoming he/she usually goes down the list selecting as he/she goes, or maybe at random, the chairs prerogative.

Some meetings have guest speakers and this information can be found on our web page well in advance leading up to the actual time the guest is scheduled to share. As well it is usually forecast as announcement's via regular email's to the group and by the time the speaker is ready to share his recovery, most have been well informed prior to the event. The group has the added ability to publish a flyer to that effect and, it can be easily accessed on personal request.

Some members have elected to open rooms for general fellowship like just chatting amongst themselves, playing music or what ever and that is really up to the members involved and needs not be recognized as being directly related to AA but only as a place where members can have some fun or say, similar as visiting the local coffee shop before or after a f2f meeting. These rooms are often used for playing speaker tapes, 12 step work and members are encouraged to share of themselves using a recovery based theme. The actual meeting room is kept just as it's designated for in the first place, primarily for our AA meeting purposes only, and a more informative disclaimer to that effect can be found as a notification (keeping in line with that specific purpose) on our web page to keep our members up to date, and well informed.

We encourage online sponsorship for anyone who has a need for or offers themselves for that service and a selection of group mentors have stepped up in that regard so all one needs to do is contact any of these members and it is usually arranged privately, and with a minimum of fuss.
I am one of those members mentioned and my feelings on that (my thoughts only) is as it was passed on to me in my early days of acquiring a sponsor was, men for men and ladies for ladies. My thoughts only and I think most agree on that as a personal thing.

At the time of writing one of our members has been invited to sit on the OIAA (Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous) as a valued groups representative and we feel that it is a good step in the right direction keeping us united and a direct means to share information and the same time, helping us to gel together many of our online groups with a sense of direction, and a definite purpose.

I feel that if Bill W was still alive and as an enthusiastic young man, this would have been 'tailor made' for him to reach out to all those guys despairing and isolating in their own personal environment, screaming silently in anguish and crying desperately for the kind of help that we have so readily available on offer here.
Talking on that more, I believe we have just the right vehicle to connect to those unfortunate people who are so alone and suffering a incessant alcoholic forlornness within the confinement of their own homes; to reach those too who are forcibly incarcerated in prisons, lost in rehabs, ill in hospitals, possibly disabled without contact or remotely located.

This ability we have is an enormous 'God send' for all who want to become a part of, and more involved in this new age tech. of spreading the message; that there IS help out there and the amazing thing is that they can find it right from where they're at. It's from this position, with our ES &H that we are able to recognize these wonderful assets in a collective sense and begin to utilize them in the best methods of defense for maintaining our own individual sobriety, and to reach out to those who need it most by introducing them to our fellowship and an online recovery program.

Nothing is more inspirational in our life long quest of total sobriety than to bear witness of a miracle evolving before our very eyes especially of some poor unfortunate lost soul caught up in a seemingly hopeless position and despair. I love to be to be a part of their special miracle; to watch a smile slowly becoming evident and to see them helped along by Gods supreme love as the binding adhesive kindly remolding them into the beautiful spirit that was so long concealed by their addiction to alcohol.

In the near future according to recent discussions that have been taking place, an Online World Service Conference alternating between the Normal World f2f Conference on a regular basis will come into being. The actual format and when and where will be released after reasonable debate/discussion on such items concerned re. the agenda and will be made public in due course. The latest information I received was it is well underway and shouldn't be too long before an announcement will be forthcoming.

BTW...the web site of OIAA is displayed here http://www.aa-intergroup.org/ and all groups registered and falling under its umbrella are located there for your perusal, including AAustralia.

In summarizing I think I can say on behalf of our group (AAustralia Online Recovery Group) that by increasing our energies via the online concept we will increase AA membership as a whole and broaden our concepts to present much more needed assistance to many of those 'sick and suffering alcoholics' out there in suburbia and beyond; to help allay their fears and and implement our online groups as guiding stepping stones into f2f meetings and importantly, along the path to recovery and a new way of life.

God bless

Yours in the fellowship

Gordy
AAustralia Unity Recovery Group
www.aa-oztralia.com