By Joseph Holmes
I don’t know about you, but I had never been to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. When I was
invited to an open meeting, if anything, I was scared. All I had to go on was various television
depictions and celebrity cartoons. I was expecting a circle of twenty plastic chairs, brown chairs like
you’d find in a school. They’d be a handful of rough looking slouched men, dwarfing the chairs and
intimidating the walls. They’d be swearing and drinking vodka out of polystyrene cups while a
patronising young girl with a clipboard delivers a powerpoint on an abstract noun like accountability
and resilience. I’m not sure if I was out of touch or just been fed with representations from
mainstream media. I suppose I tended to stay away from musty village halls.
I apologise for my assumptions, and if I had a The majority of the people at the meeting were
lawyer, I’d give you their number. Instead, we sober but had shared experiences to those still
arrived at a non-distinct church hall, we’d addicted. Grandmotherly characters brought
gotten there before everybody, so I could have a along biscuits and home-made cakes, it was the
look around. My heart was racing, I wanted to best party I’ve been to in quite some time. What
turn back. To stop myself from having to answer struck me was that there was a variety of people-
awkward questions, I pretended that I was there business people in suits, stay at home mums,
to see if it could help a troubled family member. grandmothers, the man who buys his paper every
The thought of lying was scary, particularly in morning, the girl in your class at school. This
the company of what I thought would be the thwarted my predictions. I, one of the least
cast of a Channel 4 benefits documentary. judgemental people from the most policed
Again, I was wrong, the only thing in those generation, stereotyped what an alcoholic is and
Waitrose coffee cups was coffee. And most what an AA meeting would look like. Now, I owe
importantly, the chairs were in rows, which it to the world to shed light on the truth.
immediately lowers my adrenaline levels. I was AA meetings have different meetings focusing on
greeted by warm, welcoming people, those that different elements of the programme, for
you wouldn’t mind sitting next to on a train or example, the twelve steps. This particular
bus and might talk to- that’s how friendly they meeting was The Chair- a hot seat to you or I. The
were. I don’t usually talk to people on public speaker, in the chair, will start from the
transport, but I’d happily make conversation beginning and tell their story of alcohol recovery
with them. AA works on the concept that an and continued recovery. The reason they
alcoholic that no longer drinks has the potential continue recovery is that a sober alcoholic is still
to help an uncontrolled drinker. an alcoholic.