A.A. and professional treatment can help the same person while doing different work
A.A. offers a program of personal recovery from alcoholism through meetings, the Twelve Steps, and one alcoholic helping another. Professional treatment supplies clinical services that A.A. does not provide. A person may use either or both without turning one into the other.
The boundary protects both relationships: A.A. members share recovery experience as peers; qualified professionals diagnose, counsel, prescribe, and deliver treatment within their professional roles.
A.A. is not a treatment provider
There are no “A.A. rehabs” or hospitals
, and no professional services or facilities are ever offered or performed under A.A. sponsorship.
(Does A.A. operate hospitals or rehabilitation centers for alcoholics?)
A facility may be owned or staffed by people who are A.A. members, and an A.A. meeting may be available inside a facility, but the professional service is not an A.A. service. A.A. does not license, operate, or supervise treatment.
Professional treatment may be needed alongside A.A.
A.A.W.S. states that some alcoholics may also require professional counseling or medical treatment.
(A.A. can support professionals)
Using professional care does not conflict with participating in A.A. A.A. addresses recovery from alcoholism through its own program; professional care can address medical, psychiatric, psychological, and other treatment needs.
Medical and treatment decisions belong to qualified professionals
No A.A. member should “play doctor”
; all medical advice and treatment should come from a qualified physician.
(The A.A. Member – Medications and Other Drugs)
An A.A. member or sponsor may share personal experience, but does not direct another person to begin, stop, or change medication or treatment. Those decisions remain between the person and qualified health care professionals.
A.A. does not diagnose, prescribe, detox, rehabilitate, or counsel
A.A.W.S. says A.A. does not make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses
or provide detox, rehabilitation or nursing services, hospitalization, drugs, or any medical or psychiatric treatment.
(If You Are a Professional)
A.A. meetings are not clinical sessions, sponsors are not case managers, and groups do not create treatment plans. A.A. stays within its primary purpose by sharing experience with alcoholism and recovery.
Sponsorship is peer recovery support, not professional care
A.A. describes person-to-person service or “sponsorship”
, while also stating that professional help does not in any way lessen
an A.A. member’s responsibility to carry the message and offer sponsorship. (Information on Alcoholics Anonymous; How A.A. Members Cooperate with Professionals)
A sponsor shares lived experience with the A.A. program and helps a newcomer work with the Twelve Steps. Sponsorship does not replace a clinician, therapist, physician, medication prescriber, or treatment plan.
An A.A. member who is a professional keeps the two roles separate
Professional positions are qualified by not A.A. membership but professional skill and experience
; at work, members do not wear an “A.A. hat” in their working environment.
(About A.A. – We Are Not Professionals)
A member may work as a physician, nurse, counselor, therapist, social worker, or treatment administrator. Their professional authority comes from training, licensure, employment, and professional responsibility – not from A.A. membership.
Referrals can move in both directions
When needs are beyond A.A.’s scope, A.A. members refer alcoholics and their families to competent professionals and agencies that provide such service.
(How A.A. Members Cooperate with Professionals)
Professionals may give clients accurate A.A. information and help them locate meetings. A.A. members may help someone locate appropriate professional services. A referral supplies access; it does not make either party responsible for the other’s work.
The relationship is cooperation, not affiliation
A.A. describes its relationship with organizations concerned with alcoholism as cooperation but not affiliation.
(A.A. can support professionals)
A.A. can provide meeting information, welcome professional observers at open meetings, answer questions, and receive referrals. A.A. does not endorse a provider, place treatment under A.A. sponsorship, accept professional authority over its groups, or ask professionals to present clinical work as A.A.