You are not alone.

24-hour Helpline:
410-663-1922
Email: intergroup@baltimoreaa.org

Only you can decide whether you want to give A.A. a try. Admitting that you may need help, or admitting that you’re an alcoholic, takes courage. We have A.A. literature as well as our fellowship of more than 700 group meetings in the Baltimore area to help you decide if A.A. would be right for you.

About signing court slips: we voted to approve the signing of court slips back in 1980 with the “final decision resting with the individual groups.” So, please contact the group’s secretary when you go to a meeting to find out if a group participates in signing court slips or not. Baltimore Intergroup does not keep a list of groups that sign court slips.

To learn more, please explore the information below and/or contact us anytime at the phone number above, visit us at the Intergroup office, or contact us by email.

Will I find people like me in A.A.?

 Like other illnesses, alcoholism strikes all kinds of people. So the men and women in A.A. are of all races and nationalities, all religions and no religion at all. They are rich and poor and just average. They work at all occupations, as lawyers and housewives, teachers and truck drivers, waitresses and members of the clergy.

What does membership in A.A. cost?

 Membership in A.A. involves no financial obligations of any kind. The A.A. program of recovery from alcoholism is available to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking. Most local meetings “pass the basket” to defray the costs of rent, coffee and supplies. A.A. is entirely self-supporting (voluntary contributions from A.A. members only), and no outside contributions are accepted.

Can I go to any Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?

 The purpose of all A.A. group meetings, as the Preamble states, is for A.A. members to “share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.” Toward this end, A.A. groups have both open and closed meetings. Closed meetings are for A.A. members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and “have a desire to stop drinking.” Open meetings are available to anyone interested in Alcoholics Anonymous’ program of recovery from alcoholism. Non-alcoholics may attend open meetings as observers. At both types of meetings, the A.A. chairperson may request that participants confine their discussion to matters pertaining to recovery from alcoholism. Whether open or closed, A.A. group meetings are conducted by A.A. members who determine the format of their meetings.

Helpful Links on our Website:

A Guide to Meeting types:

(11) 11th Step Meditation, (12×12) Twelve & Twelve, (ABSI) As Bill Sees It, (B) Big Book, (BE) Beginners, (C) Closed, (D) Discussion, (DR) Daily Reflections, (GR) Grapevine, (LGBTQ) Lesbian/Gay, (LIT) Literature Study, (LS) Living Sober, (M) Men, (O) Open, (ONL) Online, (OUT) Outside, (PR) Promises, (S) Spanish, (SP) Speaker, (ST) 12 Step Study, (TC) Location Temporarily Closed, (W) Women, (X) Wheelchair Access, (Y) Young People

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services publications available at AA.org.

Literature is also available at the Baltimore Intergroup office in Pikesville, MD.

PROTECTING ANONYMITY & DEFAULT SETTINGS IN ZOOM

For Zoom users: With the rush to shift to online meetings, many of us did not have time to investigate how to protect our anonymity on Zoom. Now that online meetings are accessible, we want to pass on best practices for protecting anonymity. These have been curated from the membership and online resources.

Not only do members’ names show up on Zoom, but there is some concern about the information that Zoom gathers about its users, much like many online platforms do. It is our understanding that using the web browser Firefox (rather than Chrome or others) offers individuals more personal protection and control.

Unfortunately, the default Zoom settings run counter to AA’s spiritual foundation of anonymity. The meetings are publicly accessible and full names and faces are often displayed. Additionally, by default all Zoom meetings are recorded to the cloud. Turning that feature off is simple, fortunately.

Suggested Meeting Setting Changes to Preserve Anonymity

Here are some suggested settings for your meeting to use. Please note that most, if not all, of the settings below are not the Zoom default:

  1. Login to Zoom.us
  2. Click on Settings.
  3. Click on the Meeting subtab.

In the Zoom Settings section, under the Meeting subtab…

Scroll through the options in In Meeting (Basic) and In Meeting (Advanced) and change the following settings:

  • Require Encryption for Third Party Endpoints
  • Disable Auto saving chats
  • Disable File transfer
  • Disable Feedback to Zoom
  • Disable Screen sharing
  • Disable desktop/screen share for users
  • Disable Remote control
  • Disable Virtual background (While fun, some trolls have been showing up to online meeting with violent and pornographic images as their background.)

In the Zoom Settings section, under the Recording subtab:

  • Disable Local recording
  • Disable Cloud recording
  • Disable Automatic recording

We will update this page with additional information as we learn it and encourage you to share tips and tricks with us that we can include.