Alcoholics Anonymous Oregon Area 58
Cooperation with Treatment Facilities: Bridging the Gap
Coordinates the work of individual AA members and groups who are interested in carrying our message of recovery to alcoholics in treatment
facilities, and to set up means of "bridging the gap" from the facility to an AA group in the individuals community.
Remember how you felt when you first began treatment? Even if treatment was your own idea (it wasn’t for most of us), you probably
felt angry, sad, and scared. All around you were strangers. They seemed to know what was going on. They talked and acted in ways that seemed
strange, too. At first you may have felt very much alone, out of place, cut off from the life and people you were used to.
Fear, anger and self-pity lessened as you began working on personal recovery. You learned that alcoholism is a diseases, and bow one person’s
disease affects many lives. You learned that many people do recover from alcoholism to live happier, healthier lives. You also learned that
recovery requires changing the way we used to live.
By going into treatment, you have begun the necessary changes already. You’ve stopped drinking. Now, you’re seeing yourself
in new ways, starting to pay attention to your feelings. You’re discovering new ways to make decisions, trying out new reactions to
life. You are discovering recovery is possible for you.
As you get nearer to the end of treatment, you may start feeling scared and sad all over again, even though part of you can’t wait
for it to be over. By now, the treatment facility feels like a safe place for learning about yourself and trying out new ways. You may suspect
that in the world outside, people aren’t always so understanding; you may worry you won’t find the support to keep your recovery
going. So how does anyone stay sober “out there?” AA has been the answer for us.
The gap between a treatment program and the safety we’ve found in AA’s program is a dangerous, “slippery” place.
Most treatment programs introduce us to AA meetings, but some of us were afraid at first to go on our own. Leaving treatment to go back into
the “real world,” without alcohol, wasn’t easy. Those first days were scary.
By now, you may realize that an alcoholic’s chances of recovering alone are not good. But many of us weren’t sure we could make
it in AA either. We wondered, “Where will I find meetings comfortable for me?” and, “Who can I trust?” Sometimes we
felt like giving up we though, “I won’t fit in,” or “it might be okay for them, but I’m different.” Most
of us had such thoughts.
When we left treatment, many of us feared sliding right back to where we had been. We didn’t want the trouble that was part of our drinking,
but we couldn’t imagine life without drinking; we knew we were on dangerous ground. We felt we were on the edge of that emptiness which
had swallowed us before. We knew our old ways of living wouldn’t work any more, but we didn’t know (or trust) any new ones.
Surveying our members, we found that, when new to AA, about half of us are gone within three months.
We who stayed found that attending AA meetings regularly was important to our early sobriety. If you are willing to ask, you can have help
bridging the gap between treatment and AA. AA members who live near your home have volunteered to be temporary contacts to help you get a
good start in AA.
We “Bridge the Gap” so alcoholics leaving treatment don’t have to walk alone, across that scary gap between the beginning
of recovery in treatment and the rest of recovery in AA. Before you leave treatment, you can get an AA contact willing to walk with you. In
those first critical days, your temporary contact will go with youo to a variety of AA meetings, introduce you to other AA’s help you
get phone numbers, and share his/her experience of sponsorship and home group.
Many of us who did make it across that gap are now enjoying life as human beings again, but remember how hard those first days were on our
own. “Bridging the Gap” is our way to help people coming out of treatment. We can help you get back into life on the outside through AA.
Guidelines and resources for carrying the A.A. message into treatment facilities.
Bridging the Gap flier - pdf, 189k
Spanish Bridging the Gap flier - pdf, 22k
People and Contact:
CTF South (Chair): Peggy Sue C. ctf-s@aa-oregon.org
(Please put CTF in the subject line on email)
CTF North: (Chair) Fran P. ctf-n@aa-oregon.org
