AA Meetings in Madison

Find an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Madison today through the Madison Area Intergroup Central Office at aamadisonwi.org, which keeps the local meeting list and runs a hotline available 24/7. It serves Dane County and southern Wisconsin. Our meeting finder at /meetings/ searches public AA feeds by day and format.

Call 911 if someone is overdosing, seizing, not breathing, or cannot be woken. For a mental health or suicide crisis, call or text 988.

How to Find AA Meetings Across Madison

Madison's A.A. central office is the Madison Area Intergroup Central Office (MAICO). Its contact page puts the office at 2820 Walton Commons, Suite 101, Madison, WI 53718, and says its hotline is available 24/7 at (608) 222-8989, connecting callers with an A.A. member who is willing to help. Office hours are Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the answering service covering the rest of the time.

The office maintains the meeting directory and takes new-group and meeting-change forms, so the website's list is the current local source. Area 75 lists Madison alongside the Racine and Milwaukee central offices for southern Wisconsin, so if you are outside Dane County, use the office that covers the county you are in.

A.A.'s national site at aa.org is not a meeting finder; it points people to a local office, which here is MAICO, and names the free Meeting Guide app and the Online Intergroup for phone and online meetings. The how-to-find guide compares both.

This site's meeting finder is another option: it searches public A.A. and N.A. feeds by day, time, fellowship, and format, including online.

Madison Meeting Hubs & Communities

Meetings cluster around the Capitol, the university, and the city's neighborhood centers.

• Downtown and the Capitol Square. Downtown Madison holds a cluster of meetings within walking distance of the Capitol Square, served by many Metro Transit routes and the new bus rapid transit stations on Mifflin and Main streets.
• The University and campus area. The UW-Madison campus area has its own meetings in reach of the State Street and University Avenue corridors.
• The near east side and Atwood. The east side and the Atwood neighborhood have recurring groups along the East Washington and Atwood corridors.
• The west side and Hilldale. Groups meet west of downtown along University Avenue and near Hilldale.
• Monona, Fitchburg, and the near suburbs. The surrounding communities are inside the service area and are served by Metro Transit routes, which is why searching by neighborhood or city helps.

Common Meeting Formats & What to Expect

A.A. divides meetings into open and closed. An open meeting is open to anyone interested in A.A.'s program, and nonalcoholics may attend as observers. A closed meeting is for A.A. members, or for people who have a drinking problem and want to stop drinking. When in doubt, start with an open meeting.

The Madison listings mark each meeting by format so you can choose before you go:

• Newcomer or beginner meetings, for people new to recovery.
• Discussion: members share on a topic; the most common style.
• Big Book and step study: reading A.A.'s basic text and working the Steps.
• Speaker: one or two members tell their story.
• Men's, women's, and wheelchair-accessible groups are listed the same way, and online meetings are marked.

Every meeting is free. A.A. says there are no dues or fees for membership and that you do not have to pay anything to attend; a basket may be passed for voluntary contributions and passing it on is fine. And you never have to speak — A.A.'s newcomer page says you can sit and listen. Anonymity means what you hear in the room stays there. The first-meeting guide walks through a typical hour.

Transportation & Virtual Meetings

Metro Transit runs Madison's public buses, with routes converging on the Capitol Square and downtown transfer points and a newer bus rapid transit service with stations through downtown. Customer service is (608) 266-4466. Plan a trip at cityofmadison.com/metro.

Meetings are not only in person. A.A. says meetings can be in person, online, or by phone, and the Intergroup directory includes online meetings alongside in-person ones. The Online Intergroup lists phone and video meetings worldwide, and our meeting finder also shows online and hybrid meetings. The online A.A. meetings guide explains how they work.

Peer Support vs. Medical Care

An A.A. meeting is peer support, not clinical treatment. NIDA explains that mutual-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous are peer-led and not led by healthcare professionals, so they are not the same as treatment — though NIDA notes they are free, not time-limited, and useful to many people on their own or alongside professional care.

Some situations call for a doctor, not a meeting. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life threatening when people who drink heavily over time stop suddenly, rather than cutting back gradually or stopping with medical support. If you have been drinking heavily and want to stop, talk with a clinician first.

For help beyond a meeting:

• Emergency: call 911 for an overdose, a seizure, trouble breathing, or someone who cannot be woken.
• Crisis: call or text 988 for a mental health or suicide crisis.
• Treatment: search FindTreatment.gov, SAMHSA's treatment locator, or call SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) — a free, confidential line available 24/7 in English and Spanish.
• Referral help: call or text (800) 653-9376 and we can help you sort out a level of care. SmarterRecovery is a referral helpline, not the Madison Area Intergroup and not SMART Recovery; calling is free to you because treatment providers pay for the referral service.

Call or text (800) 653-9376 if you want help finding treatment. If what you need tonight is a meeting, start with the meeting finder or the Intergroup directory and confirm the listing. If this is an emergency or a suicide crisis, call 911 or 988 first.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• Madison Area Intergroup Central Office (aamadisonwi.org)
• Madison Area Intergroup Central Office: Contact MAICO (24/7 hotline, address)
• Area 75, Alcoholics Anonymous: A.A. Resources (Madison office hours and service area)
• City of Madison Metro Transit (bus and bus rapid transit)
• A.A.: Find A.A. Near You (regional and online meeting information)
• A.A.: Need help with a drinking problem? (what to expect at a first meeting)
• A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting (open and closed meetings, meeting types)
• A.A.: A.A. and Anonymity
• A.A.: Meeting Guide app
• Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous (online and phone meetings)
• NIDA: Treatment (mutual-help groups are peer-led, not clinical treatment)
• NIAAA Core Resource on Alcohol: Alcohol Use Disorder, From Risk to Diagnosis to Recovery
• SAMHSA National Helpline
• SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• SmarterRecovery meeting finder (public meeting search; listings are not verified by this site)
• SmarterRecovery about page (referral disclosure)

Common Questions