Recovery Groups

Al-Anon

How many people are involved in the life of any one alcoholic? Family, friends, employer, co-workers…it is important to remember that all these people are affected by alcoholism—not just the alcoholic. Many of them spend much time and energy trying to "fix" the alcoholic: covering up for them, punishing them, taking responsibility for them.

Living with alcoholism has been described as living on a merry-go-round, where each family member, friend, and employer plays a role with the alcoholics in their lives. These behavior patterns are like the script of a play, repeated over and over, centering on the alcoholic. A player can learn a new role by attending Al-Anon, gaining understanding of the disease of alcoholism and how it has affected them. When this happens, and the person changes their behavior, they are rewriting the script. There is no guarantee that the alcoholic will change, but the alternative is staying on the "merry-go-round." Insanity can be defined as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Changing one’s behavior can be uncomfortable and very difficult to do, but members learn that they have to take responsibility for themselves and their own recovery.

Whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not, all family members and friends are welcome in Al-Anon. When anyone in a family enters recovery, the family itself will begin to change.

Al-Anon meets Sunday & Monday evenings from 5:45 - 6:45 p.m. in Quad 1A.
For more information, contact Sue F. at (512) 585.5825. 
 

Beginner's AA

Beginners' meetings are for those who have less than one year of sobriety.

Meeting times:     
Thursday — 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. — Quad 2B&C.

Bridge to Shore AA

Alcoholics Anonymous is a voluntary, worldwide fellowship of men and women from all walks of life who meet together to attain and maintain sobriety. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership. A.A. is a program of total abstinence.

Members simply stay away from one drink, one day at a time. Sobriety is maintained through sharing experience, strength and hope at group meetings and through the suggested Twelve Steps for recovery from alcoholism.

Bridge to Shore AA Meetings:     
Monday through Friday — 12:00 - 1:00 pm — Quad 2B&C
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday — 5:45 - 6:45 pm — Quad 2B&C    
Tuesday — 7:30 - 8:30 pm — Quad 2B&C
Monday, Wednesday, Friday — 7:00 am — Quad 2B&C   

City-Wide AA

Monthly open AA speaker meetings and pot luck dinner. Meets every third Saturday of the month.
Dinner is served from 5:00 - 6:45 pm. Please bring a hot covered dish, salads, vegetables, drinks, desserts, etc.

Speaker meeting from 7:00 - 8:15 pm.
Riverbend Fellowship Hall.
Childcare is provided from 5:00 - 9:00 pm. — Building 5

For more info: www.austinAA.org
Email: AustinCityWide@sbcglobal.net

Men's Bridge to Shore AA

Topics can be more gender intensive than a regular open AA meeting.

Meeting times:     
Saturdays — 10:30 - 11:30 am — Quad 2B&C

Women's Bridge to Shore AA

Topics can be more gender intensive than a regular open AA meeting.

Meeting times:     
Saturdays — 10:30 - 11:30 am — Quad 1A

Recovering Couples Anonymous

Recovering Couples Anonymous couples are committed to restoring healthy communication, caring and greater intimacy to our relationships. Our primary purpose is to stay committed in loving and intimate relationships and to help other couples achieve freedom from addiction and destructive relationships.

For more information, contact Pam.

Meeting Time: 
Friday — 7:30 - 9:00 pm — Quad 2B

CODA

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA) is a 12-step program made up of men and women whose common purpose is to develop honest, healthy, and fulfilling relationships with themselves and others. Contact Elizabeth at (512) 263-1037 if you desire more information or have questions.

Meeting Time:    
Tuesdays — 7:00 - 8:00 pm — Quad 2A

Food Addicts Anonymous

Food Addicts Anonymous (FA) is a fellowship of men and women who are willing to recover from the disease of food addiction. Sharing our experience, strength, and hope with others allows us to recover from this disease, ONE DAY AT A TIME!

The FA program is based on the belief that food addiction is a bio-chemical disease. By following a food plan devoid of all addictive substances, we can recover. These substances include sugar, flour, and wheat in all their forms. They also include fats and any other high-carbohydrate, refined, processed foods that cause us problems individually.

Meeting Times:
Mondays — 7:00 - 8:30 pm — Quad 1B  

Gamblers Anonymous

Gamblers Anonymous (GA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem.

Meeting Time:
Thursday — 7:30 - 8:30 pm — Quad 1A
Saturday (beginning Jan. 15, 2011) — 10:30 am till noon — Quad 3D

Gam-Anon

Gam-Anon is a fellowship of men and women who have been affected by the gambling problem. It is founded on spiritual principles.

Meeting Time:    
Thursday — 7:30 - 8:30 pm — Quad 4D

S-Anon

S-Anon is a program of recovery for those who have been affected by someone else's sexual behavior. S-Anon is based on the twelve steps and twelve traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Meeting Time:
Tuesdays — 7:00 pm — Quad 1B

Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous

ABA is a 12-step fellowship for people seeking recovery from Eating Disorders (Anorexia, Bulimia, Compulsive Eating...).

Meeting Time:
Wednesdays — 12:00 pm — Quad 3A

Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous is a fellowship of individuals whose primary purpose is to find and maintain sobriety in our eating practices, and to help others gain sobriety. ABA is not allied or affiliated with any other 12-step fellowship or organization. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop unhealthy eating practices that we have come to realize are progressively destroying our lives, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

In this group we discover that our insane eating, starving, exercise and purging behaviors are addictive in nature — that is, out of our own control — and that we actually use these behaviors, and the inner physical changes resulting from them, to numb our emotions and escape from ourselves.

In doing so, we also fall out of touch with others and out of step with the universe of which we are a part, and we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to be fully alive in our present time and space.

Furthermore, we learn that we are carrying out these insane eating, starving, exercise, and purging practices in obedience to a deceptive immensely powerful voice within our own minds. This is the voice of a disease that is chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal. The first action of this cunning and baffling disease is to cast us into a state of unawareness, in which we fail to recognize that we are in mortal danger when we carry out its insane commands. We learn that the payoff we receive from this disease for our obedience to its demands is nothing more than a mirage: an illusion of control over our lives and our future.

We learn that the disease’s principal weapon is overwhelming and paralyzing fear, and that it holds us in its lethal grip by inducing profound guilt and shame within us. The disease lies to us at every turn. It even convinces us that we are to blame for our own sick condition, that we freely choose to do the insane things we do, and that we are unlovable.

In this circle of healing we learn, one step and one moment at a time, to awaken to the truth about our disease, to recognize its lies, to see how it entraps us, to trust in a Higher Power who loves us unconditionally, and to turn our will and our lives over to this loving Power.

As we recover, we come to experience this Higher Power — the Spirit of life itself — at work within us, empowering us to live without any illusion of control. We also learn to truly own our lives and to take charge of ourselves in a way that had not been possible before.

Our program is deeply spiritual, but not allied with any religion. We have found it applicable to our healing journey regardless of our religious beliefs, for we know that our eating disorders are primarily mental or spiritual diseases, although they comprise a physical component.