How do aa sponsors work

As this was primarily a qualitative study, random sampling was not used. We were cautious when interpreting descriptive and analytical statistics, as the sponsors included may not be a representative group. The median age was 43 [interquartile range IQR 17, range 33—73].

The median length of AA attendance was 9. There was a wide range 0—17, IQR 3. The sponsors scored highly on the AAAS median 8. To put this in context, a previous study reported a mean AAAS score of 2.

The median length of sobriety of the sample was 11 years IQR 8. One sponsor did not answer this question. The median duration of heavy drinking was 12 years IQR 14, range 3— The average daily consumption of alcohol UK units by sponsors at the peak of their drinking. However, scores for affective withdrawal symptoms were higher median 9, IQR 5.

Sixteen sponsorship roles were identified through the initial content analysis. These are listed in Figure 2 , ranked by frequency of response. Data saturation occurred after sponsor 25, i. Three super-ordinate roles were created by categorizing the roles identified during the initial analysis into themes by linking nodes in common.

These roles, working the programme of AA, support, and carrying the message of AA, will be discussed in turn. The most important role of a sponsor is to encourage their sponsee s to work the programme of AA, which comprises the following core activities. The most important thing is taking [sponsees] through the steps, not telling them how to do them but what the meaning behind them is.

This involves reading [AA literature], discussing and understanding. The sponsors regarded encouraging their sponsees to attend meetings as one of their main roles. However, none commented specifically on how often they thought that their sponsees should attend meetings.

The mean number of meetings the sponsors themselves had attended in the previous year was SD 66, range 20— , an average of just over 2 per week. Doing service is voluntary but it is embedded in AA culture and is considered helpful both to the recovery of the individual member and to AA as a whole. Service positions include being involved in the running of a meeting e. The second most common super-ordinate role was support giving. The support offered by sponsors can be broken down into two broad types.

The first is of an emotional nature, which is especially important in the sponsee's early days of recovery and during periods of difficult life events, such as a divorce.

To offer empathy and support through difficult times, helping the person to know that they are not alone. Secondly, practical support is provided around AA-related issues. This ties in with the previous super-ordinate role of working the programme of AA. A number of sponsors recognized that sponsees may have issues that were not directly related to AA, such as co-morbid mental health problems, and indicated that they would encourage their sponsee to seek help from other appropriate sources outside of AA, such as a doctor or a counsellor, if they had done so themselves.

I think it is important to note that a skilful sponsor will also know when to recognize that a sponsee has problems outside their own sphere of experience and encourage the sponsee to get help from another source if required. This may be another AA member or help outside of AA if required. Another theme to emerge from the data was that AA meetings were not an appropriate environment to share problems of a particularly personal nature, for example sexual problems.

A benefit of sponsorship is that such issues can be discussed in a more confidential way. The need to develop their sponsee's trust was an important role identified by the sponsors. This connected with the lower-order theme of being non-judgmental.

Finally, a number of participants recognized that the role of sponsorship changed over time as the sponsee developed a longer period of sobriety, often growing into a genuine friendship. Five sponsors identified friendship as a primary role. According to the AA literature, this involves sponsors sharing their experience of alcoholism and recovery with their sponsees, but doing so within the framework of AA principles rather than adopting a personal viewpoint.

The concept of propagating AA for the benefit of other alcoholics is embedded in the final step of the programme, step 12, i. Although not a requisite of the final step, the AA member may, in turn, become a sponsor.

Carrying the message included the lower-order role of advice giving. As might be expected, a sponsor relating their own experience of recovery and doing the programme of AA will often venture into the territory of giving advice to a sponsee, or a sponsee will seek their sponsor's opinion on an issue.

The role of advice giving was the only theme for which differing, and sometimes contradictory, responses were provided by sponsors. The various viewpoints taken by sponsors in the domain of advice giving are described in Table 1. A number of sponsors were of the view that the message of AA should be delivered gently to sponsees.

One member admitted to having been a controlling sponsor initially but now recognized that this was the wrong approach. I told everyone exactly what to do and fired them [i. Despite the use of a non-random sampling method, the sponsors were representative of AA members in general in terms of age and ethnicity.

Whether the sample is representative of AA sponsors as a whole is unknown as there are no previous studies describing the characteristics of sponsors. Caution is needed in interpreting these comparative data as the AA membership survey covers members in North America only and our sample comprised UK sponsors.

The number of sponsors who had active sponsees was lower than we expected. The average number was one per sponsor but there was a wide range 0— Despite the fact that all the respondents had been a sponsor in the past, 11 had no current sponsee this was, in fact, the modal number.

It is probable though that there are fewer sponsors than sponsees. In addition, it is likely that sponsees change sponsors over time, which may account for the low number of currently active sponsors in this sample. The average severity of past alcohol dependence of the sample was less than we expected. For example, in a study by Harris et al.

There are a number of potential explanations for this discrepancy. First, we did not ask whether the sponsors had ever received treatment for alcoholism and it is unfair to compare a treatment sample, especially an inpatient detoxification one, with a community sample. Second, it might be that individuals with more social capital the sponsors were from high socio-economic backgrounds have shorter drinking careers they seek treatment earlier than their counterparts from lower socio-economic backgrounds and are, thus, less severely alcohol dependent and have a greater likelihood of becoming sponsors if they join AA.

The reason for this is unclear. It is possible that AA members have unusually strong affective responses to life events, and this may be one explanation for the need for ongoing support through meetings. King et al. The lower-order sponsorship roles identified comprised a combination of functions that are unique to step fellowships, such as encouraging sponsees to do the steps, and others that are common to professional interventions.

However, it was possible to categorize the roles into three superordinate roles—working the programme of AA, support giving, and carrying the message of AA. These broadly matched the meta-themes described in the AA pamphlet, Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, viz. Our sponsors placed less emphasis on the role of helping sponsees achieve sobriety with only one sponsor identifying this as a specific role. The sponsors who did highlight sobriety as a role focused on maintenance e.

Only one sponsor directly mentioned Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, which is interesting as this is the main AA document dealing with the issue of sponsorship. Just make sure to not find someone that is too similar to you. A third tip for how to find an AA sponsor is to pray and meditate on your AA sponsor pick. While choosing an AA sponsor is important, choosing the wrong AA sponsor can negatively affect you long-term. Our fourth and final tip for how to find an AA sponsor is to just do it.

There are many things that you should consider prior to choosing an AA sponsor. Some of these things are described below.

You should always consider how stable your prospective AA sponsor is in his or her sobriety and how far along your AA sponsor is in his or her addiction recovery journey prior to making that person your AA sponsor.

To know how to be a good AA sponsor to you, a recovering alcoholic should be very stable in his or her sobriety and much further along in his or her addiction recovery journey than you are. You should also make sure that your prospective AA sponsor is very knowledgeable about the AA step program.

Another thing that you should consider when choosing an AA sponsor is how much time that person has available. This is an important factor because AA sponsors must be available to their sponsees in some way at all times. That way he or she can be your AA sponsor. Thus, before choosing an official AA sponsor, make sure that being an AA sponsor is something that that person wants.

This is important because a romantic relationship between an AA sponsor and an AA sponsee complicates things. The best AA sponsor and sponsee relationships are the ones where the biggest things that they have in common are AA and addiction recovery.

That way AA and addiction recovery are always the focus of the conversation. Many people choose AA sponsors that are of the same sex as them. That way, they will not develop a sexual attraction to their AA sponsors.

You should also consider the level of similarities and differences that you have with your prospective AA sponsor. You should have enough similarities between your AA sponsor and you to make it easy for your AA sponsor to understand you. On the flip side, you should have enough differences between your AA sponsor and you so that your AA sponsor can provide you with different perspectives about your addiction.

Another thing that you should consider when choosing an AA sponsor is how much you can trust him or her. If your gut allows you to trust someone with all the other qualities of a good AA sponsor, then he or she is likely a good choice of an AA sponsor for you.

If someone is asking you to be his or her AA sponsor, before saying yes, you should make sure that you have what it takes to be a good AA sponsor.

Below are some ways that you can be a good AA sponsor. To learn how to be a good AA sponsor, you must first learn how to be even-tempered.

Being even-tempered is important as an AA sponsor because you will be the listening ears to a vulnerable recovering alcoholic.

To be a good AA sponsor, you must be stable in your own sobriety. Thus, you should have at least one year of sobriety under your belt. Good AA sponsors have also been attending step AA meetings for quite some time and fully understand the step program. By having such extensive knowledge of the AA step program, you will be able to guide someone else through the program.

Thus, prior to learning how to be a good AA sponsor, you must have a genuine desire to do so. AA sponsors should never enter romantic relationships with their sponsees. Good AA sponsors are always available to communicate with their sponsees.

Much of what an AA sponsor does is listen to their sponsees. Thus, good AA sponsors are good listeners. The participants answered SADQ-C questions in regard to their times of heaviest drinking in the past.

Recall bias may have affected the SADQ-C scores, especially since the average time of sobriety for sponsors was 11 years. The content analysis identified 16 roles set forth by the sponsors, and the researchers broke these down into 3 primary or super-ordinate roles: 1. Interestingly, the researchers noted that sponsors had high scores on the SADQ-C affective withdrawal symptoms subscale but relatively low scores on other subscales.

It is possible that AA members have unusually strong affective responses to life events, and this may be one explanation for the need for ongoing support through meetings. The researchers would like to continue this line of research and examine how AA members learn to become sponsors, how sponsorship styles differ, and how advice-giving differs among sponsors.

Interested in an alternative to 12 step programs? Learn more about our non 12 step addiction treatment services. The role of AA sponsors: a pilot study. Alcohol and Alcoholism. This site uses cookies to track visits and help us better serve our visitors.