Q&A on Tradition 6

Q.Hi Anonymous Alcoholic,
In tradition 6 - it mentions that members can be sitting on 2 "chairs" when for exmple working with alcohol treatment professionally and it emphasizes the importance of dividing these two parts when participating as a member in AA versus their profession.
With that said - would it be breaking the traditions if a individual promoted the AA way in rehab ? Also would it be tradition break in their work area telling clients I go to AA meetings and work AA program of recovery and that works ?
Would sitting on 2 " chairs " also mean different fellowships - i myself have noticed a problem that people have had a difficulty separating AA/CA/DAA - the common conception is that it is the " same " program wich I thin it is not - we share the same program of recovery text but are completely different fellowships with different tradition 5. Especially when people have service posts in 2 different fellowships - or am I thinking wrong ?
Would sponsoring people in other fellowships be a risk of breaking tradition 6 ? Lets say I sponsor a person from CA as a member of AA - or is that on a individual basis and not of a group basis.

Thank you Chris





A. 
Hi Chris,

In Tradition 6 - members should try NOT to be sitting on 2 "chairs" (at the same time) when for example working in the payed treatment industry professionally, one should not consider this 12 step work.  In this case one is strictly an employee and NOT an AA member. Same goes the other way around.  In an AA meeting, one would then be STRICTLY an AA member and leave what he has learned in his career, at the door.

In other words, one may have 2 hats, but must take care never to wear them both at the same time.

Would it be breaking any Traditions if a individual promoted the AA way in rehab? That depends on many different factors. Is he saying that he is a member? Or is it the practice of the facility to send clients to AA?

When one is in an AA meeting ideally, he is to focus on his AA program.  AA steps, AA Traditions, AA service etc.  As far as someone's participation or affiliation with other 12 Step Fellowships, that is none of my business and in fact an outside issue.  As an AA member, I have no opinion on outside issues. 

A few weeks back I traveled 4 hours out of town to speak at a meeting I was invited to share my story at.  When I got there, it became very clear to me that it was a meeting of a different 12 Step Fellowship.  I explained to the secretary and the chairperson that although I haven't ingested any narcotics in many years, I'm not a member of their fellowship.  The secretary apologized to me for the confusion, and wanted me to speak anyways suggesting that I "just change the language in my pitch". I had to decline because although the 12 Steps are the same, I am not a member of this other fellowship and I wouldn't be able to carry the message of their text or provide identification for their newcomers. It was a very uncomfortable situation having to decline after having drove all that way, but it would have been disrespectful of me and I would have felt like a fraud.  I did not accept travel reimbursement but I appreciate the experience gained.

When I first recovered and was on that pink cloud, I tried to sponsor everyone! I've sponsored heroin addicts, people with eating disorders, and a sex addict.  However, as a result of wonderful sponsorship, learning about our history and Traditions, and making plenty of mistakes, today I don't sponsor anyone as a sober member of AA who is not an alcoholic.

I hope I was able to answer most of your questions sufficiently or at least offer some experience with the ones I wasn't able to.

YILAS Anonymous Alcoholic

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