Now AA is considering whether keeping some Zoom options is the smart way to go. When the pandemic hit, the in-person meetings that have long been a foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous moved to online Zoom sessions. They didn’t believe Zoom meetings provided the same fellowship, energy and miraculous messaging of in-person gatherings. Then some members, like Chris, fearing they could slip, started attending a network of renegade meetings. “I was hopeless.”Ĭhris got sober just over two years ago through Alcoholics Anonymous on the Big Island.īut when the pandemic hit, the important in-person support group meetings so necessary to AA stopped.

So did interventions by loved ones, who tried to talk - or scare - sense into Chris about the direction his life was heading. When he came to, he’d be in a hospital bed.

The Big Book – the 164-page instruction manual millions of alcoholics or heavy drinkers have used to become sober – also describes Chris’ condition as “hopeless.”Ĭhris, 35, lean with a tattoo on one of his forearms, used to drink himself into hospital confinement.īack then, he’d start drinking with his buddies or after one of his shifts as a server.

is what the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous would describe as a “real alcoholic” – one of those drinkers who cannot control his consumption once he takes his first sip. Editor’s note: Civil Beat is using only first name and last initial of some Alcoholics Anonymous members in this story in keeping with AA’s guidelines for members.Ĭhris B.

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