AA members are concerned for people in early recovery, who might not have the support network in place to help prevent a relapse during this pandemic.
"When people are in early recovery the only thing they can do when they get home is to go straight to a meeting. I was pretty much at a meeting every day for the first few months," Matthew — a pseudonym to protect his privacy — said."A lot of things happen in meetings that will help someone in early recovery get through one more day, and often it is sometimes getting through an hour or a minute at a time.
He said those new to meetings might not yet have a sponsor — a more experienced AA member who can guide you through the 12 steps and chat on the phone if needed. Shiels, who has been sober for just over 21 years, usually has around eight people in a library at his meeting in Bulimba, Brisbane and sets up a camera to stream dozens of others joining the meeting on Zoom.
"For an alcoholic who is wavering a bit, suddenly all the meetings are closed and so 'it wasn't really my fault that I picked up a drink'. There will people who will relapse either because of [the pandemic] or because it is an excuse to do so." There are two other reasons why Shiels attends meetings, even after two decades of sobriety:"It reminds me that I am in fact an alcoholic and I can hear other people tell their stories of recovery and I can identify with those and remind myself that this is positive."Polly — a pseudonym to protect her privacy — attends three or four AA meetings a week.
Polly was hopeful that people who might have been previously too nervous to attend an in-person meeting might attend the growing number of online meetings.
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