I'm sorry that the AA group in your town is like that. I live in a large metro area with lots of choices and each group I've gone to has been wonderful and I never got the sense that there was gossip happening. So I guess I'm saying I haven't walked a mile in your shoes yet... I do find that I supplement my AA mtgs with SR and then also I have, like I said, an IOP. I'm also reading a wonderful book that also has a workbook to help you process all the info. It's called "A Place Called Self: Women, Sobriety, and Radical Transformation" by Stephanie Brown. I don't know if you're female ..... if so, this book is really good. Good luck to you however you do it.