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PI & CPC - AA Members
Public Information Committees (PI)
Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC)
When the book Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was published in 1939, AA members had already established close relationships with nonalcoholic professionals in their communities. As a result of these early partnerships, AA was readily embraced by the professional community, receiving strong support from national publications and local organizations. The immediate acceptance of AA by these groups provided the organization with a valuable network of support and resources to aid in their mission to assist those struggling with alcoholism. These efforts were later formalized into two separate service committees now referred to as PI and CPC.
Alcoholics Anonymous
PI & CPC
Committees
Service keeps you Sober
From Our Founders
“To reach more alcoholics, understanding of AA and public goodwill towards AA must go on growing everywhere. We need to be on still better terms with medicine, religion, employers, government, courts, prisons, mental hospitals and all enterprises in the alcoholic field. We need the ever-increasing goodwill of editors, writers, television and radio channels. These publicity outlets need to be opened ever wider.” -Bill W. (Our co-founder) 1951
“If our friends don’t know who we are, they cannot recommend us” – Dr. Bob
Referrals in Action
70% of members were introduced to A.A. 'by referral':
32%: Treatment Facility
27%: Family
17%: Counselor/ Medical Professional
14%: Judicial System/ Correctional Facility
8%: Clergy/Close Friend/Employer/Co-Worker
2%: Other (Internet, Media, A.A. literature)
-2014 Membership Survey
Public Information Committees (PI)
Public Information Committees help to inform the greater community about AA and alcoholism so that they may better help the still-suffering alcoholic. Established in 1956
Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC)
These Committees focus on carrying the message to university and the professional communities. Professionals on the front line working with the still suffering alcoholic. Established in 1971
Why It Matters
Less than one in ten alcoholics in the U.S. will ever cross the threshold of a recovery room or a treatment center. – NIAAA 2023
10% of doctors are aware that alcoholism is a disease. – NIH, CDC
65% of the prison population has an active drug or alcohol problem. – NIH
Doctors receive from zero to two hours of training for alcoholism.
-Surgeons General, 2016
Only 7% of psychiatrists/therapists in America have extended training for addiction and/or alcoholism. – Surgeons General, 2016
AA IS NOT A SECRET SOCIETY
AA is not an anonymous organization, its members maintain their anonymity to protect their personal and professional lives, help protect their fellow members, and most importantly, so the newcomer feels their anonymity is protected.
GET INVOLVED
- Contact your Intergroup, District, or Area PI/CPC Committees.
- Build relationships with professionals from local industry, law enforcement, judicial to healthcare.
- Outreach to community organizations: LGBTQIA+ centers, libraries, high schools, and universities.
- Create outward facing/public facing websites. Outreach through Google, social media, & PSA's.
- Attend our monthly PI & CPC Working Group meeting to learn and share ideas.
Stock photos.
Membership in AA is unknown.
PI & CPC
WORKING
GROUP
MEETS MONTHLY
Every Month - 2nd Saturday
9 AM Pacific
12 PM Eastern
5 PM GMT
For more information: picpceastbay@gmail.com
MEETING LINK
“More and more we regard all who labor in the total field of alcoholism as our companions on a march from darkness into light. We see that we can accomplish together what we could never accomplish in separation and in rivalry.”