CPC – Area 91

Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC)

About CPC

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous are anonymous, but the organization is not.

Committees are established at the Provincial / District / City levels to inform the public where AA can be found.

The Cooperation with the Professional Community Committee was established to act as a resource for; and to cooperate with, those who contact the alcoholic in their daily work.

AA's Position in the Field of Alcoholism

Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of men and women who help each other to maintain sobriety and whom offer to share their recovery experiences freely with others who may have a drinking problem. The AA program consists basically of Twelve Steps designed for personal recovery from alcoholism.

The fellowship functions through approximately 97,000 groups in more than 144 countries. Some 2,000,000 alcoholics have achieved sobriety in AA, but members recognize that their program is not always effective with all alcoholics and that some may require professional counseling or treatment.

AA is concerned solely with the personal recovery and continued sobriety of individual alcoholics who turn to the fellowship for help. The movement does not engage in the fields of research or medical or psychiatric treatment, and does not endorse any causes, although AA members may participate in such activities as individuals.

The movement has adopted a policy of co-operation but non-affiliation with organizations concerned with the problem of alcoholism.

Cooperation with the Professional Community Committee

Alcoholics Anonymous is self-supported through its own groups and members and declines contributions from outside sources. AA members preserve anonymity at the level of press, film, broadcast and electronic media. We simply have a message of hope and recovery for those alcoholics who wish to listen. The program of recovery is one that works for the millions of people that have wanted it. The professional can help alcoholics who want it – by education, counseling and rehabilitative treatment, and can also be of aid through making the community aware of, and care about those still suffering from the progressive illness that AA has helped us arrest. The 2014 survey of North American A.A. members indicate that more that 57% of A.A.’s surveyed credited a member of the professional community for getting them into our fellowship. The 2014 survey indicated that 32% of our membership came from treatment facilities. AA through the years has been truly grateful for the guidance and inspiration of many non-alcoholics. This committee cooperates with the professional by providing information on Alcoholics Anonymous through:

Providing speakers for information sessions on AA
Meeting informally with groups of professionals
Providing literature and audio/visual materials to professional staffs
Providing literature and audio/visual materials for patients/clients
Providing a link to AA groups in the community for patients/clients
Attending open AA meetings or local Round-ups with professionals

Open communications and friendly cooperation between AA and professionals can mean that more still-suffering alcoholics may also experience the joy of living sober. Together we can do what none of us could accomplish alone. Suggested reading*:

How AA Members Cooperate
If You Are A Professional
AA in your Community
This is AA

* Pamphlets can be obtained at almost any AA meeting or by contacting a Central Office near you. Send an email to the CPC Chair by using the form on this page.