What the fellowship is
Alcoholics Anonymous is the fellowship the rest of these grew out of, founded in 1935. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. It is self-supporting, anonymous, and offers a programme of action rather than a treatment.
What members describe
Not a checklist and not a diagnosis — just what people in AA commonly say brought them in.
- Repeated attempts to cut down or stop that did not hold
- Cravings, or physical withdrawal, when going without
- Drinking that has cost relationships, work or legal standing
- Drinking in secret, or hiding what is drunk
- Finding that the first drink decides how many follow
Your first meeting
You can speak at your first meeting or you can pass, and passing is completely ordinary. Most of what you will hear is people describing what they used to be like, what happened, and what they are like now — which is a more useful thing to hear than advice.
Where 12Gradus fits
12Gradus is software for the sponsor, not a substitute for one and not part of any fellowship. Nothing here is affiliated with or endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous.
A sponsee's profile records that they are in Alcoholics Anonymous and dates their clean time from their last drink. Daily check-ins, a self-reported urge score, high-risk days noted beside the chart, a rough-moment button that reaches the sponsor immediately, secure chat and a text bridge all work the same in every programme.
The step work is the part that does not. The built-in library is written for Gamblers Anonymous. A sponsor in AA assigns their own materials instead — which works, and is what sponsors have always done, but it is not the same as having AA's own step work in the app.