Alcoholics Anonymous Australlia
"Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism." AA was created by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith to have a secure way for people to talk about their problems as an alcoholic without fear of their secrets leaving the group discussion. in Akron, Ohio in 1935. The only requirement to join this fellowship is that you have the desire to stop drinking and become completely sober.

AA is a completely free organization to join and it is self-funded through contributions made by group members at every meeting. AA's primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. AA is an informal society of more than 2 million recovering alcoholics throughout the world. In Australia, there are about 18,000 members. They meet in over 1,900 local meetings spread around the country. Meetings range in size from a handful in some localities to a hundred or more in larger communities. AA is not professionally run by any doctors, counselors, or psychiatrist's, but rather by a group of recovering addicts working together in their meetings. It is however beneficial that the meeting structure is similar to how all other meetings are run as these meeting have proven very beneficial to those searching for sobriety. AA meeting work by members telling their stories of what they used to be like, what happened, and what they are like now. The AA program, known as The Twelve Steps, gives a blueprint for self-examination and a road to recovery, free of alcohol.

Alcoholics Anonymous Australia is a website in which other alcoholics can share their stories with one another and give inspiration to those going through tough times and searching for a path to sobriety. The audience ranges from alcoholics looking to sober up and all the way to people who have been sober for years still finding strength in people's new stories about becoming sober. The project is hoping to work alongside with AA meetings and be another place where alcoholics can turn to for support by reading other people's stories about the journey they took to sobriety and how they did it.

The story telling project "Alcoholics Anonymous Australia" gives many stories on people sharing the journey they took to get where they are and the hardships they faced to become sober. The stories explain struggles they went through in life that led to them becoming alcoholics, when they knew it was time to get help, how they became sober, and then share the help they received through AA.

Some great stories shared by previous alcoholics on the story telling site are She Started at Ten, A long road to a life of quality, Denial held her back, and Rob's Story.

"Back at my doctor's I was told to go to AA, I said, "No, I'm not an alcoholic".

Through the readings of the stories on this site, I find three things that remain similar between a lot of AA members. One is that all of them admitted to enjoying the ability it gave them to talk to the opposite sex, or a "silver tongue". A handful of them were also working around alcohol whether it be with as a bottler for an alcohol company or as a bartender. The third similarity and most important I believe is that all AA members deny the fact that they are alcoholics. It takes them years to finally figure out it is time to get help.

"AA has given me everything I ever wanted and more than I ever dreamed of - thank you AA."