January 6, 2023 
David M
From page 17, The A.A. Group ….. Where it All Begins, A.A. Conference-approved literature: Naming an A.A. Group
No matter how noble the activity or institution, experience has taught A.A. groups to carefully avoid any affiliation with or endorsement of any enterprise outside A.A.
Tradition Six: An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Even the appearance of being linked to any organization, club, political or religious institution needs to be avoided.
Therefore, an A.A. group that meets in a correctional or treatment facility or a church should take care not to use the institution’s name, but to call itself something quite different. This makes it clear that the A.A. group is not affiliated with the hospital, church, prison, treatment facility, or whatever, but simply rents space there for meetings.
Our A.A. group conscience, as voiced by the General Service Conference, has recommended that “family” meetings, “double trouble” and “alcohol and pill” meetings not be listed in our A.A. directories. The use of the word “family” might also invite confusion with Al-Anon Family Groups, a fellowship entirely separate from A.A.
The primary purpose of any A.A. group is to carry the A.A. message to alcoholics. Experience with alcohol is one thing all A.A. members have in common. It is misleading to hint or give the impression that A.A. solves other problems or knows what to do about drug addiction.
There has also been a recommendation by the A.A. General Service Conference suggesting that no A.A. group be named after any actual person, living or dead, A.A. or non-A.A. That is one way we can “place principles before personalities.”
The A.A. Group …where it all begins
You can purchase this pamphlet on the Australian National Office Literature website here or from your local Central Service Office.
