Sponsorship

What is a Sponsor?

A sponsor is an alcoholic who has made some progress in the recovery program and who shares that experience on a continuous, individual basis with another alcoholic who is attempting to attain or maintain sobriety through AA.

When a person first begins to attend AA meetings, it is easy to feel confused and scared. Although people at meetings respond to our questions willingly, that alone isn’t enough. Many other questions occur to us between meetings; we find that we need constant, close support as we begin learning how to “live sober.”

Sponsorship responsibility is unwritten and informal, but it is a basic part of the AA approach to recovery from alcoholism through the Twelve Steps. Most AA members have sponsors and consider the sponsor-sponsee relationship to be vital to their recovery.

A helpful resource that may answer your questions on choosing a sponsor is the “Questions and Answers on Sponsorship” pamphlet from AAWS.

View the Sponsor Pamphlet

Choosing a Sponsor

Whether you are a newcomer or a member who has been around for some time trying to go it alone, sponsorship is yours for the asking. We urge you: Do not delay. Alcoholics recovered in AA want to share what they have learned with other alcoholics. We know from experience that our own sobriety is greatly strengthened when we give it away!

Identify an AA member with whom you can feel comfortable, someone with whom you can talk freely and confidentially, and ask that person to be your sponsor. In AA, sponsor and sponsored meet as equals.

Being a Sponsor

Sponsorship strengthens an AA member’s own recovery. The act of sharing sobriety makes it easier for a member to live without alcohol. By helping others, alcoholics find that they help themselves. Sponsorship also offers the satisfaction that comes from assuming responsibility for someone other than oneself. In a very real sense it fills the need, felt by most human beings, to help others over rough spots.

Can any member be a sponsor? There is no superior class in AA. Any member can help the newcomer learn to cope with life without resorting to alcohol in any form. In most instances, AA custom does suggest one limitation: sponsorship should be avoided whenever a romantic entanglement might arise between sponsor and sponsee.

The AA Group’s role in Sponsorship

Sponsorship can also mean the responsibility the group as a whole has for helping the newcomer. Today, more and more alcoholics are arriving at their first AA meeting without having prior contact with AA. They have not telephoned a local AA intergroup or central office; no member has made a “Twelfth Step call” on them. So, especially for such newcomers, groups are recognizing the need to provide some form of sponsorship help. In many successful groups, sponsorship is one of the most important planned activities of the members.

Service Sponsorship

Service sponsorship is sometimes a lesser known form of sponsorship among AA members. A service sponsor is usually someone who is knowledgeable in AA history, the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts. They also have a strong background in service work and the overall service structure and workings of AA.

The basis of all sponsorship is to ‘lead by example’. Service sponsors can impart to their sponsees the pleasure of involvement in the work of AA. Whatever level of service people perform, all work is focused on the same end — sharing the overall responsibilities of Alcoholics Anonymous.