A Short Animation Is Not the Meeting

Key takeaway

Someone pointed you at DV-15 and said to watch before you walk in. Young people share in animation, about four and a half minutes each, closed captioned, a set of four, in English, French, and Spanish. A cartoon is not the room. You can go tonight without watching.

Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

They told you to watch a cartoon first. Young people, drawn, talking about drinking, a few minutes long, as if the animation were the room and the room could wait. Maybe you felt patted on the head. Maybe you felt relieved, because a drawing cannot look at you. Either feeling can be true, and neither one makes the cartoon a meeting. You still need a place where a real voice can sit with the night you are having.

You can go tonight without watching.

Four and a half minutes, drawn

DV-15 is young people sharing in animation. Each piece runs about four and a half minutes. They are closed captioned. The set is four. English, French, and Spanish are the languages. Captions matter if the words on screen are how you catch speech. A short run time matters if your attention is shot. None of those facts turn a drawing into a group.

Four and a half minutes is a sketch. A meeting is an hour with people who showed up, some of them new, some of them shaking, some of them quiet. The purpose in that hour is experience, strength, and hope. People talk about what drinking did, what they did to stop, and how they live now. A cartoon can hint at that. It cannot hand you the person who stays after, or the chair you were afraid to take, or the chance to say nothing and still be counted as present.

The shares in the animation stay in the animation. You will not get them retold here. You do not have to memorize a drawn story before you are allowed to be young and scared in a real room.

The cartoon ends and you are still you

When the clip stops, the drinking is still your drinking. That is the rude part. A tidy ending on a screen can make the problem look finished. Your kitchen does not work that way. You can like the art and still be in trouble. You can hate the art and still be welcome.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees. You can sit and listen or share. Introducing yourself is not mandatory. You need not join a prayer. You are welcome regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, income, or profession. A cartoon is not on that list as a condition. Membership is voluntary. If someone assigned the video like homework, they were out past what A.A. asks.

You might be under the age you think the rooms allow, or just past it, and angry that the help arrived as a drawing. There is a page for being seventeen and sure it is too soon. The age fear can live there. The mix-up in front of you is between a short animation and a meeting. You do not pass one by finishing the other.

Ordinary rooms count

Young people's meetings are worth a look if you want more people your age in the room. An ordinary meeting counts if that search comes up empty, or if you do not have the patience for a special listing tonight. Beginner meetings are a format groups choose. What to expect is the doorway: you can listen, and you can leave. You can just listen is the whole permission, said again because a screen makes people think they have to perform.

Closed meetings are for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop. Open meetings are for anyone interested. If a friend or a parent wants to observe, an open meeting is the one that fits. Online can be video on, video off, or dial-in. A video-off meeting is not an animation. It is people, with the camera dark. How to find a meeting is the search.

aa.org is not a meeting finder. It will not play the cartoon as a substitute for a list, and it will not list your meeting for you. Local A.A. resources have lists. The meetings search is a place to start. Listings there are not verified, so confirm the time. Confirming a meeting is the task. Queuing four animations is a different task, and it can happen on a different night, or never.

Get care before you press play

An animation cannot tell that you are in trouble. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. NIDA says mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. A meeting is not detox. A closed-captioned cartoon is not detox.

FindTreatment.gov lists programs. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.

Tonight

Leave DV-15 unplayed. Use the meetings search and confirm a meeting you can reach, in a room or on a phone. Sit down if you can. Listen. A drawing of a young person sharing is not the same as being in the room, and you do not have to watch it to be allowed through the door.

Call (800) 653-9376 if you need treatment; the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Additional Resources

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Common Questions

Is the animation the same thing as going to a meeting?

No. DV-15 is young people sharing in animation. Each piece is about four and a half minutes, closed captioned, in a set of four, in English, French, and Spanish. A cartoon can keep you company for a few minutes. It cannot hand you a chair or a group. You can go tonight without watching. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees. You can sit and listen.

Do I have to get through all four before I am allowed in?

No. Four short pieces are a set you can ignore until you want them. Closed captions help if you need words on the screen. French and Spanish are there if you want them. None of that is an entrance test. Groups choose their own format. You can walk into a beginner meeting or an ordinary one with the animation still unplayed. Introducing yourself is not mandatory, and you need not join a prayer.

What if a cartoon makes me feel like they think I am a child?

You are allowed to bristle. Being young and being handed a drawing can feel like a pat on the head when the drinking is already wrecking your days. You do not have to like the format to be welcome, and you do not have to watch it to prove you are serious. Young people's meetings exist if you want them. An ordinary meeting counts too. The cartoon is optional. The room is the meeting.

Where do I find an actual meeting tonight?

aa.org is not a meeting finder. Use the meetings search and confirm the time, because listings here are not verified. Meetings are in person, online, or by phone. Video off or a dial-in still counts if a room of older faces makes you want to hide. Closed meetings are for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop. Open meetings are for anyone interested. You can leave.

What if I feel awful and the cartoon is all I was offered?

An animation cannot tell that you are in trouble. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. Alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. Four short cartoons cannot detox you. Mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. Get care before you press play.