Beyond the Rooms [Season 1, Episode 7]

- The views and opinions expressed during this podcast are those of our guests. No one person speaks for A.A. as a whole. - A.A. members who wanna help other alcoholics don't do this essential work alone. They count on the support of professionals who interact with problem drinkers to share A.A.'s message of hope and recovery.

In order to educate professionals and provide them with the resources they need, service committees called Cooperation with the Professional Community, or CPC, have developed. The CPC work is another example of how we fulfill our primary purpose. My name is Nathan and I'm an alcoholic. Welcome to GSO. (gentle upbeat music) We begin with a conversation I had with Cooperation with the Professional Community's Staff Coordinator, Michael R. (gentle upbeat music) Good morning, Michael.

- Good morning. - Thanks for joining us today. - You're welcome. - You began working at GSO in 2022 and have held the position of CPC Staff Coordinator ever since. Cooperation with the Professional Community, break it down. - Sure, sure. - Let's talk about that first.

- So, yes, Cooperation with Professional Community, and I like to say that the word professional is anyone whose job might put them in contact with somebody who needs help, who could use Alcoholics Anonymous, who has a problem or is looking for help. And so professionals, traditionally we think of, medical professionals, doctors, obviously, people come into their doctor, the doctor's gonna notice their health is declining and there's drinking, and that could be the problem.

But also, a professional can be a faith leader, somebody at the church. Doesn't always have to be the priest or the rabbi, it can be somebody who's employed at the church or volunteer, even, as the receptionist at the church, somebody might come into their place of worship and need help, and that's where they, you know, we traditionally reach out for help in those kind of places.

- We spoke with Patrick in an earlier episode about Public Information, And PI and CPC, sometimes the service commitments, are joined together and they're comparable, but they are different. Can you talk a little bit about the difference between those two? - I like to think of it this way, when I go out and speak in public to members of the community at large, that's Public Information. Whereas professionals, CPC is working directly with those people.

Again, we use the examples of the medical professionals, the clergy or faith leaders, as I shared with you earlier, the football coach at a high school. - Yeah, tell us that story. - Yeah, so I received an email that a sports coach at a prep school had a member of their team, a teenager, high school age, who had a drinking problem. And what can they do about it?

So, as with any professional who contacts my desk, I try to share some information with them about what A.A. is, I might, if we have literature or pamphlets that target their profession specifically or might have an effective message to carry to that person, I include that in the email.

And I also contact, I reach out to the local CPC committee, and I inform them that this member of the community, in this case, this high school coach, needs to know more about Alcoholics Anonymous and how can we bring the message to them? How can we inform that professional? And so that's where the CPC chair, the local CPC chair, will reach out to them and perhaps bring them some literature, maybe bring them to a meeting.

It might also work with, as we were saying, with the PI committee, they might come and give a presentation at that school or at that job site or wherever it might be. - There's a lot of people that aren't as familiar with CPC as far as a service commitment or a committee is concerned. It certainly was obscure to me before I started working here. Is it a popular service committee? Is there a need for more? - There is a need for more. We have areas that don't currently have a CPC chair.

We have many districts where there are no CPC volunteers at all. It absolutely is an area where there is a need for volunteers, and it's a very effective way of informing professionals. - What kind of questions do you got? - The question about sobriety, some professionals feel like the alcoholic has to have left treatment already or left detox and already be sober to attend.

That was a misconception that I wasn't aware of, because, you know, as we know as A.A. members, somebody might walk in, still drinking, still drunk at that first meeting. And so I had had a chance to explain the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Also, questions about religion and spirituality. There is a wide misconception that Alcoholics Anonymous is a Christian program, and it is not. It is a spiritual program.

And many people who are atheist and agnostic who claim no spirituality in their life, and they still have a program. They still work an A.A. program and stay sober using our same spiritual principles. - I'm curious about some other stories you have about cooperating with the professional community. You had one with working with a doctor? - They were from the Pacific Northwest. The doctor just wrote an email saying they have a patient who they believe has a drinking problem.

I reached out to the CPC chair in that area of the country, and they contacted that doctor a few minutes later, and they set up a time to meet with that doctor, to attend an open meeting, to bring them to an open meeting to see what Alcoholic Anonymous is, what happens at an A.A. meeting. And then afterwards, they were gonna have coffee together and discuss the program and answer questions. And I was just blown away by how effective and how quick this happened.

- And that kind of action really encapsulates what you do at CPC. You find the need and you get the resources to the people that need it. - Exactly, and it varies, but it's also about establishing a relationship. The most important thing is for that local CPC chair, for that committee member, to then have a conversation with them, to follow up or to find out what do they need.

Maybe they need a PI presentation in their office, maybe they need some meeting guides, maybe they need to be shown how to use the Meeting Guide app, it can vary. There are many, many ways, but it's about getting that relationship so that those professionals know that we're here, how to connect with us, how to send employees or patients or members of their organization to A.A. if they should need it or want it. - It's amazing how all this works. - Yeah, it is.

- And so on that line, what kind of projects are you working on from the CPC desk? - One very interesting and promising development is the pamphlet to the mental health professionals. It's the first time we've created anything that specifically is focused for mental health professionals.

We interviewed a number of professionals in various fields, and they shared with us how they can inform their patients or their clients, or introduce them to Alcoholics Anonymous in ways that we will be able to share that with other professionals who don't know as much about A.A. - There was never a pamphlet like this before? - No, not one specifically for mental health professionals. - And why do you think that's important to have this pamphlet?

- We have professionals, mental health professionals, inquire about, "Hey, I have a client "who might have a drinking problem. "How can we help? How can I help? "What resources do you have available?" And it's also written in language that speaks to those professionals. We interviewed mental health professionals, so we use the language and their observations and what situations they see in their profession, how they educate future professionals.

- I'm curious about what the response was from the mental health professionals when you approached them for help on this pamphlet. Were they excited about it? Were they a little bit reserved about getting involved with something like this? - They were very excited. We received several responses immediately.

They were excited to share their experience and offer their insight into, again, ways that they see that we haven't connected Alcoholics Anonymous with those patients and clients who suffer from these mental health issues. - This is obviously gonna be something that's gonna be really beneficial. - Yeah. - What kinds of things did you ask the professionals? - We reached out to many professionals who were simply familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous.

Maybe they had recommended patients or they had seen how A.A. works. And we interviewed them to get their insight into ways to effectively speak about Alcoholics Anonymous and how it can help connect those clients and patients with A.A. in their community. - That's great. What kind of professionals are we talking about here? - I receive inquiries from every imaginable profession.

We, of course, receive inquiries from professionals in healthcare, doctors, as we were talking about earlier, mental health professionals, nurses, but also students, nursing students, legal professionals, court professionals. I've received some inquiries from EMS workers, a lot of volunteers at various agencies, social services, church volunteers, shelters. - Military? - The list goes on and on.

- Military, sure, we've received some inquiries from professionals who help both active and veterans from the military and connect them with local A.A. - HR? - HR departments, we've had some wide-ranging inquiries from small businesses to larger companies. You know, managers directly dealing with their employees who might have a drinking problem and asking what they can do.

"You know, I have my best employee, "but they show up to work drunk, what can we do?" And so I reach out to the local CPC committees and connect them. - Any kinds of professions that you were surprised to hear from? - A surprise and a pleasant one.

I received a phone call from a member, she's a resident at a nursing home in the southeast, and she put me in touch with their administrator because while she was an long-term member, sober for many years, she observed the need for an A.A. meeting in their facility. And so I ended up connecting with the administrator at that nursing home. And through the local CPC committee, they set up a meeting to go into that facility once a week.

So in the nursing home, once a week is now going to be an A.A. meeting. And it was just, the gratitude that I received from the administrator, like, the lights went on, like, "Oh, wow, we can bring this meeting into the facility," and that was very rewarding. - I bet. It sounds like it. - Yeah, we received several inquiries from nursing homes around the US and Canada. So there's definitely a need there, as well. - Additionally, you've had experience attending and organizing professional events.

What's that been like? - Yeah, well, we call it CPC exhibits. It could be a number of ways that we do this. And this has been a lot of fun. We may purchase a booth where we have a display of A.A. material, A.A. literature, some A.A. grapevines, and we have local volunteers that attend this booth. I like to say it's almost like a trade show where professionals from any number of professions might attend.

And they have a chance to interact with the local committees there and learn about Alcoholics Anonymous, as well. And this was very eye-opening and a learning experience. We attended a professional event last year in August that was a national event for corrections professionals, and along with two of our Class A trustees from the General Service Board, and Class A- - Let's talk about Class A trustees. - Sure. Sure, a class A trustee is a non-alcoholic trustee.

And these two Class A trustees and I together presented a workshop that was informational for corrections professionals. I spoke a little bit about how A.A. works, I explained that I'm a member of A.A., that I got sober in A.A. And then the two professionals, one from the courts and one from the corrections field, explained and informed these professionals how A.A. can work in a facility, how it can work for those who are freed from a facility.

We spoke about the literature that's available to go into prisons and jails, the pre-release contacts where a member will be waiting on the outside of a jail or a prison for that inside member to be released. They talk about how meetings and how recovery happens inside of facilities, inside of prisons and jails. It's very eye-opening, very informative. And so, yes, we presented about a 90-minute workshop to a number of these professionals from the corrections industry.

We answered questions, we made a lot of contacts. We were following up with these contacts over the next few months, connecting them, again, with local committees. That's a lot of what we do is connect professionals with the local members of Alcoholics Anonymous who volunteer and serve on these Cooperation with the Professional Community or Corrections committees, or sometimes it's Treatment and Accessibility committees, it varies.

- Yeah, it seems to be a lot of overlap between these staff positions and the work that you do. And besides that, have there been any big surprises sitting in this position as CPC Coordinator? - There have, there still is. And that is the amount of work that we need to do as members of Alcoholics Anonymous to connect with professionals.

It seems to be, the example that I use is that when I hear a doctor, let's just say, calls me up and says, "I had one course on recovery and alcoholism "in one of my first years in college or university." And they honestly say, "I don't know much about Alcoholics Anonymous "or alcoholism or recovery." And that's where the work starts and that's where we inform them. You know, we connect them with local resources so that they can help the still sick and suffering alcoholic.

So there's a lot of work to be done, that's the surprise to me. - Hmm, yeah. Alright, well, let's get to work. - Yeah. (gentle upbeat music) - Professionals who want to know more about A.A. can check out the Alcoholics Anonymous World Services page on LinkedIn. For more information about A.A., please visit our website at aa.org. (gentle upbeat music) - CPC came into being as a distinct entity in 1970 as an outgrowth of the Public Information Committee.

Here is one of Michael's predecessors, Phyllis M., the CPC Staff Coordinator at the time, speaking at the 1980 Pacific Regional Forum. - Hi everybody. I'm Phyllis and I'm an alcoholic. - Hi, Phyllis. - Maybe we shouldn't have favorite assignments at GSO and maybe everyone doesn't, but I guess if I really had to be honest, my favorite assignment so far has been Cooperation with the Professional Community.

Probably a third of the people coming to our fellowship now are people who are coming either through a doctor or a counselor or a treatment facility. So the CPC committee or whatever concerned A.A. member in a community has an opportunity to help. So we are dealing with people who have some knowledge about A.A. Professional people sometimes call us continuing treatment, but I don't really care what anybody calls us as long as they send A.A. people to us.

If we want to continue to fulfill our primary purpose of carrying the A.A. message, we've got a fertile field to explain our traditions, to describe what A.A. can do and what we can't do. Because we can do a lot, but if we don't tell other people about this, we can't expect them to know it. And I couldn't close without sharing with you a favorite quote of mine, of Bill's, that together, we and the professionals can do what neither of us could do alone, thank you very much.

(audience applauding) (gentle upbeat music) (gentle bright music) - To find a meeting near you or a meeting online, download the Meeting Guide app on your mobile device. (bright upbeat music) - Since its early years, CPC has been solidifying its immense value in fulfilling our primary purpose of carrying the message of A.A. When Wallace R. from Vancouver, BC shared with us his experience, strength, and hope, we got to hear how CPC helped him. - Hi, my name is Wallace.

I'm an alcoholic from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I came into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous in February of 2011 after a period of increasing and out-of-control alcohol and drug use. I grew up in a conservative town on the east coast of Canada. I was a very sensitive child. I felt different as a kid. And when I was a teenager, I recognized that I was gay. And in my conservative family and conservative town in the 1970s, I really saw no hope for my future.

I began to use alcohol as a means of feeling better, that that became my spiritual solution. For me, like many of my friends and Alcoholics Anonymous, we find that spiritual solution in alcohol stops working for us. And I ended up increasing my alcohol and drug use. Over a period of time, I kept crossing lines and boundaries that I said I would never cross.

I didn't know what the end was going to look like, but I felt it was either I was going to lose my job, I was going to die, I was going to end up in jail or hospital. I could just see that that was going to be the outcome if I didn't stop drinking and using. One evening in February, 2011, I walked around my apartment, I was high again, I had been drinking again. And weeks of just increasing drinking and drug use, I was inconsolable.

I walked around my apartment and said, "Oh my God, I need help, I need help, I need help." And I really had no idea what that help was going to look like. I was a health professional, I am a health professional, but I didn't know much about what Alcoholics Anonymous was. It was sort of this mythological organization out there that helped some people. I didn't know how it worked, I didn't know if I qualified.

And I talked to a healthcare professional, she was a counselor in addictions and mental health. I went to her and said, "I need help. What am I going to do?" And she said, "I think you need to go to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting." And I could not be more grateful for this program. - How do you think healthcare workers are approaching A.A. today?

- There's evidence that Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the most effective programs or ways of helping somebody achieve sobriety from alcohol and drug use. I think it's kind of changing the way that health professionals look at the value of Alcoholics Anonymous. - Yeah, you've been in A.A. for a while. What keeps you interested? What keeps you engaged? - I am very interested in how this program developed, this program that has helped millions of people around the world find recovery.

Where did it come from? It's so wise and so empowering that I've just been very interested in how it evolved. So I've just, you know, read some of our literature in Alcoholics Anonymous that tells the story of A.A. and those early men and women in Alcoholics Anonymous. I've read some of the history of how Alcoholics Anonymous developed in Vancouver.

It's just a privilege, and I just, you know, I feel, oh, I just feel even more, I'm fired up for my own recovery and for helping other alcoholics maintain or sustain their recovery. And, you know, excited as well that Vancouver, BC gets to host the International Convention next year in July. I know my friends and fellow members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Vancouver are excited to welcome the alcoholics from across the world.

Vancouver's a beautiful city, especially in July, and imagine that I get to be a part of that, it's just another privilege of being in this program. - It was so great having you at GSO today, Wallace. Can't wait to see you in Vancouver. (gentle upbeat music) We hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

For more information on Cooperation with the Professional Community or the upcoming 2025 International Convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, please visit our website aa.org, and be sure to subscribe to this podcast so you can keep coming back. - Thank you for listening to "Our Primary Purpose," a podcast produced by the General Service Office on behalf of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous in the US and Canada.