Two Arms of Service – Current Service Structure

Member Opinion

3 Main Options

There are three ways service is provided in Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia:

• The Central Service Structure for LOCAL 12th Step work
• The General Service Structure for NATIONAL 12th Step work
• Independent Service groups

Two Service Arms

The two main structures are described as The TWO Arms of Service

It is suggested that to be fully self-supporting, each group needs to have two service arms:

1. One reaching out to the local community where the group is centred via a Centrally located Service Office – CSO, and 
2. The other reaching up through a local District/ Area and up to the National Conference of AA, which in turn directs the national General Service Board and staff of the General Service Office – GSO

This can be visualised as:

Independent service groups

From time to time, AA members join together for a specific purpose, either for other AA members, such as workshops, recovery weekends, or for community outreach, such as talks to doctors, putting up posters in community libraries, and so on.

Provided the only requirement to be a member of such a group is to be an AA member and the group is not affiliated with any other organisation or body, the meetings (not events) of such groups would be covered by the AA Australia Public Liability Insurance.

Usually it is suggested that such groups operate under the auspices of a Central Service Office/ Intergroup or District/Area/Region so that the groups operations are transparent, open to AA wisdom of others working in AA’s more defined service structures and especially if sales of products or events are involved, able to financially transparent and accountable by using the banking facilities of these usually incorporated non-profit service structures

If contributions from only AA members are collected, then such groups are operating autonomously in the same ways as AA meetings and/or groups.

Local Member