Where do you go to meetings?
 

Hey all, and happy Friday!
For the meeting-goers, I'm wondering where y'all attend meetings. I always hear that they happen once an hour almost every hour around here where I live, but that's not the case at all, that I know of anyway.
There's a website for meetings, so people can see when they start.

I have a printed out list of every meeting in my town. They aren't every hour like I've heard some claim. Maybe in a big city like NY, LA, etc. that is true. Most towns don't have that capability.

In my town, there's always lunch time meetings held at churches, and then 2 or 3 evening options at each of those churches. The next meeting I want to check out is AA for beginners, as I don't feel I've made any luck or gotten a good feeling walking into an established group where these people have been in it for years. I wish the beginners meeting wasn't in the cafeteria of a psychiatric center that makes it a little less anonymous, but oh well, lol

I live in a fairly small town, but we have an active AA community and there is at least one meeting every day of the week. Most days two or three. And several neighboring towns with meetings, also. I was lucky that I found great meetings right in my town pretty much right away. I went 2-3 times a week at the beginning, and I was also going to outpatient treatment 3x per week. Now I go to a meeting a week, most weeks. I'm 4 and a half years sober.

I understand what you are saying about feeling a little intimidated by meetings with a lot of established sober folks - but if you identify yourself as a newcomer, they should shift gears for you and go back to basics for a meeting or two. If they don't, keep trying to find a meeting that feels like a good fit.

i found it best to attend meetings where and when theres one happening.:lmao
when i first got sober, like MLDS1, i was in small town and didnt have many in that town-just 4/wk. i hit them then started venturing to neighboring towns where there were meetings.
its hard to say which meetings you should attend. i think it would be wise to pick one and go. however, if the listings you have happen to have a key for them describing what type of meeting they are(bb discussion step study, open,closed,topic...), i suggest a closed step study to start.
when there ask if they have a meeting list/book available. if not ask if they know where you could get one.

just google search "your town" AA and it comes right up

heres mine

https://aasanjose.org/

:tyou

One more suggestion is to call the local hotline number- should be listed on the website and whoever answers should know most up-to-date info.

The first three months I was using a tank of gas a week going to meetings. It took some doing but I found them and this was in addition to out patient treatment and therapy.
Some were good some were just ok but I got my self there.

I very often don't go to meetings, but I'm just back from one and it was a real good one. I needed a good one; the last couple were not so good. I'm more inspired this time round to keep going back.

you could also keep an eye out for AA Halls and/or Alano clubs.

i live generally speaking in Seattle WA and while we have a lot of meetings in the greater region, it's still not exactly one an hour!! and even if so you'd be spending a lot of time DRIVING!

I live in a pretty large city and there's many to choose from. Some are in churches,some are in AA 'clubhouses' and,yes, there's a few even in bars..Tripped me out the first time I went to the bar one,but I just had to see what that was like/about. LOL

For me some meetings were a better fit and I found one close to home that I called my 'main one',but I really enjoyed the bar "lunch meeting" too,when I went. Some good people in that group(food was great too!:herewego)

^^my home group for quite awhile is in a restaurant. Has been for ages. I only get there about once a week these days but it's a neat type of group and the owner and server know all of us.

One meeting I go to 2x a week is at the church literally next door to my house; no excuse to miss since I am always up way before the 730 time.

One is in a big clubhouse. It has separate rooms for meetings so sometimes multiple are on at the same time.

Even in Atlanta - there isn't one every hour at the same place; except on holidays, when a couple of the big clubhouses do that for about 12 hr straight or so.

I share this mostly because it also describes how varied the actual meetings at these different places are - the meeting codes can help you decipher where/what is good for you. Personally, the "OD" - Open Discussion- are my fave; "Newcomers" might appear on a schedule you see and it's just what it sounds like; BB or 12/12 would be Big Book or a "Traditions" meeting (here those are two separate kinds)....mens, womens...

Above all - just go - and let us know! Last comment- all meetings aren't the same as far as you "clicking" so my strong suggestion is to go to a good number, the 90 in 90 (meetings in days) or at least 30/30 to start to get a feel for things.

When I did go to meetings in early sobriety, there was a great tool in LA called meeting finder. You could list meetings and filter them...Gay/Lesbian, WOmen Only Open/Closed, etc., and filter by geography as well. Not sure if your area has something like this.

You might also ask this question in one of the AA forums in addition to here. Might get more visibility.