- The views and opinions

expressed during this podcast

are those of our guests.

No one person speaks for A.A. as a whole.

- A.A. members who wanna

help other alcoholics

don't do this essential work alone.

They count on the support of professionals

who interact with problem drinkers

to share A.A.'s message

of hope and recovery.

In order to educate professionals

and provide them with

the resources they need,

service committees called

Cooperation with the

Professional Community,

or CPC, have developed.

The CPC work is another example

of how we fulfill our primary purpose.

My name is Nathan and I'm an

alcoholic. Welcome to GSO.

(gentle upbeat music)

We begin with a conversation I had

with Cooperation with the

Professional Community's

Staff Coordinator, Michael R.

(gentle upbeat music)

Good morning, Michael.

- Good morning.

- Thanks for joining us today.

- You're welcome.

- You began working at GSO in 2022

and have held the position

of CPC Staff Coordinator ever since.

Cooperation with the Professional

Community, break it down.

- Sure, sure.

- Let's talk about that first.

- So, yes, Cooperation with

Professional Community,

and I like to say that

the word professional

is anyone whose job

might put them in contact

with somebody who needs help,

who could use Alcoholics Anonymous,

who has a problem or is looking for help.

And so professionals,

traditionally we think of,

medical professionals, doctors,

obviously, people come into their doctor,

the doctor's gonna notice

their health is declining

and there's drinking, and

that could be the problem.

But also, a professional

can be a faith leader,

somebody at the church.

Doesn't always have to be

the priest or the rabbi,

it can be somebody who's

employed at the church

or volunteer, even,

as the receptionist at the church,

somebody might come into

their place of worship

and need help, and that's

where they, you know,

we traditionally reach out for

help in those kind of places.

- We spoke with Patrick

in an earlier episode

about Public Information,

And PI and CPC, sometimes

the service commitments,

are joined together

and they're comparable,

but they are different.

Can you talk a little

bit about the difference

between those two?

- I like to think of it this way,

when I go out and speak in public

to members of the community at large,

that's Public Information.

Whereas professionals,

CPC is working directly with those people.

Again, we use the examples

of the medical professionals,

the clergy or faith leaders,

as I shared with you earlier,

the football coach at a high school.

- Yeah, tell us that story.

- Yeah, so I received an email

that a sports coach at a prep school

had a member of their team,

a teenager, high school age,

who had a drinking problem.

And what can they do about it?

So, as with any professional

who contacts my desk,

I try to share some information

with them about what A.A. is,

I might, if we have

literature or pamphlets

that target their profession specifically

or might have an effective

message to carry to that person,

I include that in the email.

And I also contact, I reach

out to the local CPC committee,

and I inform them that this

member of the community,

in this case, this high school coach,

needs to know more about

Alcoholics Anonymous

and how can we bring the message to them?

How can we inform that professional?

And so that's where the CPC

chair, the local CPC chair,

will reach out to them

and perhaps bring them some literature,

maybe bring them to a meeting.

It might also work

with, as we were saying,

with the PI committee,

they might come and give a

presentation at that school

or at that job site or

wherever it might be.

- There's a lot of people that

aren't as familiar with CPC

as far as a service commitment

or a committee is concerned.

It certainly was obscure to me

before I started working here.

Is it a popular service committee?

Is there a need for more?

- There is a need for more.

We have areas that don't

currently have a CPC chair.

We have many districts

where there are no CPC volunteers at all.

It absolutely is an area

where there is a need for volunteers,

and it's a very effective way

of informing professionals.

- What kind of questions do you got?

- The question about sobriety,

some professionals feel like the alcoholic

has to have left treatment

already or left detox

and already be sober to attend.

That was a misconception

that I wasn't aware of,

because, you know, as

we know as A.A. members,

somebody might walk in, still drinking,

still drunk at that first meeting.

And so I had had a chance to

explain the only requirement

for membership is a

desire to stop drinking.

Also, questions about

religion and spirituality.

There is a wide misconception

that Alcoholics Anonymous

is a Christian program, and it is not.

It is a spiritual program.

And many people who are

atheist and agnostic

who claim no spirituality in their life,

and they still have a program.

They still work an A.A. program

and stay sober using our

same spiritual principles.

- I'm curious about some

other stories you have

about cooperating with the

professional community.

You had one with working with a doctor?

- They were from the Pacific Northwest.

The doctor just wrote an email

saying they have a patient

who they believe has a drinking problem.

I reached out to the CPC chair

in that area of the country,

and they contacted that

doctor a few minutes later,

and they set up a time

to meet with that doctor,

to attend an open meeting, to

bring them to an open meeting

to see what Alcoholic Anonymous is,

what happens at an A.A. meeting.

And then afterwards, they were

gonna have coffee together

and discuss the program

and answer questions.

And I was just blown away

by how effective and

how quick this happened.

- And that kind of action

really encapsulates

what you do at CPC.

You find the need and

you get the resources

to the people that need it.

- Exactly, and it varies,

but it's also about

establishing a relationship.

The most important thing is

for that local CPC chair,

for that committee member,

to then have a conversation with them,

to follow up or to find

out what do they need.

Maybe they need a PI

presentation in their office,

maybe they need some meeting guides,

maybe they need to be shown

how to use the Meeting

Guide app, it can vary.

There are many, many ways,

but it's about getting that relationship

so that those professionals

know that we're here,

how to connect with us,

how to send employees or patients

or members of their organization

to A.A. if they should need it or want it.

- It's amazing how all this works.

- Yeah, it is.

- And so on that line,

what kind of projects are you

working on from the CPC desk?

- One very interesting

and promising development

is the pamphlet to the

mental health professionals.

It's the first time we've created anything

that specifically is focused

for mental health professionals.

We interviewed a number of

professionals in various fields,

and they shared with us how

they can inform their patients

or their clients, or introduce

them to Alcoholics Anonymous

in ways that we will be able to share that

with other professionals who

don't know as much about A.A.

- There was never a

pamphlet like this before?

- No, not one specifically for

mental health professionals.

- And why do you think that's important

to have this pamphlet?

- We have professionals,

mental health professionals,

inquire about, "Hey, I have a client

"who might have a drinking problem.

"How can we help? How can I help?

"What resources do you have available?"

And it's also written in language

that speaks to those professionals.

We interviewed mental

health professionals,

so we use the language

and their observations

and what situations they

see in their profession,

how they educate future professionals.

- I'm curious about what the response was

from the mental health professionals

when you approached them

for help on this pamphlet.

Were they excited about it?

Were they a little bit reserved

about getting involved

with something like this?

- They were very excited.

We received several responses immediately.

They were excited to

share their experience

and offer their insight into, again,

ways that they see that

we haven't connected

Alcoholics Anonymous with

those patients and clients

who suffer from these

mental health issues.

- This is obviously gonna be something

that's gonna be really beneficial.

- Yeah.

- What kinds of things did

you ask the professionals?

- We reached out to many professionals

who were simply familiar

with Alcoholics Anonymous.

Maybe they had recommended patients

or they had seen how A.A. works.

And we interviewed them

to get their insight

into ways to effectively speak

about Alcoholics Anonymous

and how it can help connect those clients

and patients with A.A. in their community.

- That's great.

What kind of professionals

are we talking about here?

- I receive inquiries from

every imaginable profession.

We, of course, receive inquiries

from professionals in healthcare, doctors,

as we were talking about earlier,

mental health professionals, nurses,

but also students, nursing students,

legal professionals, court professionals.

I've received some

inquiries from EMS workers,

a lot of volunteers at various agencies,

social services, church

volunteers, shelters.

- Military?

- The list goes on and on.

- Military, sure, we've

received some inquiries

from professionals who help

both active and veterans

from the military and

connect them with local A.A.

- HR?

- HR departments, we've had

some wide-ranging inquiries

from small businesses to larger companies.

You know, managers directly

dealing with their employees

who might have a drinking problem

and asking what they can do.

"You know, I have my best employee,

"but they show up to work

drunk, what can we do?"

And so I reach out to

the local CPC committees

and connect them.

- Any kinds of professions

that you were surprised to hear from?

- A surprise and a pleasant one.

I received a phone call from a member,

she's a resident at a nursing

home in the southeast,

and she put me in touch

with their administrator

because while she was an long-term member,

sober for many years,

she observed the need for an

A.A. meeting in their facility.

And so I ended up connecting

with the administrator

at that nursing home.

And through the local CPC committee,

they set up a meeting to go

into that facility once a week.

So in the nursing home, once a week

is now going to be an A.A. meeting.

And it was just, the gratitude

that I received from the administrator,

like, the lights went on, like,

"Oh, wow, we can bring this

meeting into the facility,"

and that was very rewarding.

- I bet. It sounds like it.

- Yeah, we received several inquiries

from nursing homes

around the US and Canada.

So there's definitely

a need there, as well.

- Additionally, you've had experience

attending and organizing

professional events.

What's that been like?

- Yeah, well, we call it CPC exhibits.

It could be a number of

ways that we do this.

And this has been a lot of fun.

We may purchase a booth

where we have a display of A.A. material,

A.A. literature, some A.A. grapevines,

and we have local volunteers

that attend this booth.

I like to say it's

almost like a trade show

where professionals from any number

of professions might attend.

And they have a chance to interact

with the local committees there

and learn about Alcoholics

Anonymous, as well.

And this was very eye-opening

and a learning experience.

We attended a professional

event last year in August

that was a national event for

corrections professionals,

and along with two of our Class A trustees

from the General Service

Board, and Class A-

- Let's talk about Class A trustees.

- Sure.

Sure, a class A trustee is

a non-alcoholic trustee.

And these two Class A

trustees and I together

presented a workshop

that was informational

for corrections professionals.

I spoke a little bit about how A.A. works,

I explained that I'm a member of A.A.,

that I got sober in A.A.

And then the two professionals,

one from the courts and one

from the corrections field,

explained and informed these professionals

how A.A. can work in a facility,

how it can work for those who

are freed from a facility.

We spoke about the

literature that's available

to go into prisons and jails,

the pre-release contacts

where a member will be waiting

on the outside of a jail

or a prison for that inside

member to be released.

They talk about how meetings

and how recovery happens

inside of facilities,

inside of prisons and jails.

It's very eye-opening, very informative.

And so, yes, we presented

about a 90-minute workshop

to a number of these professionals

from the corrections industry.

We answered questions, we

made a lot of contacts.

We were following up with these contacts

over the next few months,

connecting them, again,

with local committees.

That's a lot of what we do

is connect professionals

with the local members

of Alcoholics Anonymous

who volunteer and serve

on these Cooperation with

the Professional Community

or Corrections committees,

or sometimes it's Treatment

and Accessibility committees, it varies.

- Yeah, it seems to be a lot of overlap

between these staff positions

and the work that you do.

And besides that, have

there been any big surprises

sitting in this position

as CPC Coordinator?

- There have, there still is.

And that is the amount of

work that we need to do

as members of Alcoholics Anonymous

to connect with professionals.

It seems to be, the example that I use

is that when I hear a

doctor, let's just say,

calls me up and says,

"I had one course on

recovery and alcoholism

"in one of my first years

in college or university."

And they honestly say,

"I don't know much about

Alcoholics Anonymous

"or alcoholism or recovery."

And that's where the work starts

and that's where we inform them.

You know, we connect

them with local resources

so that they can help the still sick

and suffering alcoholic.

So there's a lot of work to be done,

that's the surprise to me.

- Hmm, yeah. Alright,

well, let's get to work.

- Yeah.

(gentle upbeat music)

- Professionals who want

to know more about A.A.

can check out the Alcoholics

Anonymous World Services page

on LinkedIn.

For more information about A.A.,

please visit our website at aa.org.

(gentle upbeat music)

- CPC came into being as a distinct entity

in 1970 as an outgrowth of the

Public Information Committee.

Here is one of Michael's

predecessors, Phyllis M.,

the CPC Staff Coordinator at the time,

speaking at the 1980

Pacific Regional Forum.

- Hi everybody. I'm Phyllis

and I'm an alcoholic.

- Hi, Phyllis.

- Maybe we shouldn't have

favorite assignments at GSO

and maybe everyone doesn't,

but I guess if I really had to be honest,

my favorite assignment so far has been

Cooperation with the

Professional Community.

Probably a third of the people

coming to our fellowship now

are people who are coming

either through a doctor

or a counselor or a treatment facility.

So the CPC committee

or whatever concerned

A.A. member in a community

has an opportunity to help.

So we are dealing with people

who have some knowledge about A.A.

Professional people sometimes

call us continuing treatment,

but I don't really care

what anybody calls us

as long as they send A.A. people to us.

If we want to continue to

fulfill our primary purpose

of carrying the A.A. message,

we've got a fertile field

to explain our traditions,

to describe what A.A. can

do and what we can't do.

Because we can do a lot,

but if we don't tell

other people about this,

we can't expect them to know it.

And I couldn't close

without sharing with you

a favorite quote of mine, of Bill's,

that together, we and

the professionals can do

what neither of us could do

alone, thank you very much.

(audience applauding)

(gentle upbeat music)

(gentle bright music)

- To find a meeting near

you or a meeting online,

download the Meeting Guide

app on your mobile device.

(bright upbeat music)

- Since its early years,

CPC has been solidifying its immense value

in fulfilling our primary purpose

of carrying the message of A.A.

When Wallace R. from Vancouver, BC

shared with us his experience,

strength, and hope,

we got to hear how CPC helped him.

- Hi, my name is Wallace.

I'm an alcoholic from Vancouver,

British Columbia, Canada.

I came into the rooms

of Alcoholics Anonymous

in February of 2011 after a period

of increasing and out-of-control

alcohol and drug use.

I grew up in a conservative town

on the east coast of Canada.

I was a very sensitive child.

I felt different as a kid.

And when I was a teenager,

I recognized that I was gay.

And in my conservative family

and conservative town in the 1970s,

I really saw no hope for my future.

I began to use alcohol as

a means of feeling better,

that that became my spiritual solution.

For me, like many of my friends

and Alcoholics Anonymous,

we find that spiritual solution in alcohol

stops working for us.

And I ended up increasing

my alcohol and drug use.

Over a period of time, I kept

crossing lines and boundaries

that I said I would never cross.

I didn't know what the end

was going to look like,

but I felt it was either I

was going to lose my job,

I was going to die,

I was going to end up in jail or hospital.

I could just see that that

was going to be the outcome

if I didn't stop drinking and using.

One evening in February, 2011,

I walked around my apartment,

I was high again, I had

been drinking again.

And weeks of just increasing

drinking and drug use,

I was inconsolable.

I walked around my apartment and said,

"Oh my God, I need help,

I need help, I need help."

And I really had no idea

what that help was going to look like.

I was a health professional,

I am a health professional,

but I didn't know much about

what Alcoholics Anonymous was.

It was sort of this mythological

organization out there

that helped some people.

I didn't know how it worked,

I didn't know if I qualified.

And I talked to a healthcare professional,

she was a counselor in

addictions and mental health.

I went to her and said,

"I need help. What am I going to do?"

And she said,

"I think you need to go to an

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting."

And I could not be more

grateful for this program.

- How do you think healthcare workers

are approaching A.A. today?

- There's evidence that

Alcoholics Anonymous

is one of the most effective programs

or ways of helping

somebody achieve sobriety

from alcohol and drug use.

I think it's kind of changing the way

that health professionals look

at the value of Alcoholics Anonymous.

- Yeah, you've been in A.A. for a while.

What keeps you interested?

What keeps you engaged?

- I am very interested in

how this program developed,

this program that has

helped millions of people

around the world find recovery.

Where did it come from?

It's so wise and so empowering

that I've just been very

interested in how it evolved.

So I've just, you know,

read some of our literature

in Alcoholics Anonymous

that tells the story of A.A.

and those early men and women

in Alcoholics Anonymous.

I've read some of the history

of how Alcoholics Anonymous

developed in Vancouver.

It's just a privilege,

and I just, you know,

I feel, oh, I just feel even more,

I'm fired up for my own recovery

and for helping other alcoholics maintain

or sustain their recovery.

And, you know, excited as

well that Vancouver, BC

gets to host the International

Convention next year in July.

I know my friends and fellow members

of Alcoholics Anonymous in Vancouver

are excited to welcome the

alcoholics from across the world.

Vancouver's a beautiful

city, especially in July,

and imagine that I get

to be a part of that,

it's just another privilege

of being in this program.

- It was so great having

you at GSO today, Wallace.

Can't wait to see you in Vancouver.

(gentle upbeat music)

We hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

For more information

on Cooperation with the

Professional Community

or the upcoming 2025

International Convention

in Vancouver, British Columbia,

please visit our website aa.org,

and be sure to subscribe to this podcast

so you can keep coming back.

- Thank you for listening

to "Our Primary Purpose,"

a podcast produced by the

General Service Office

on behalf of the Fellowship

of Alcoholics Anonymous

in the US and Canada.