AA Meetings in Memphis

Find an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Memphis today through Memphis Area Intergroup Association at memphis-aa.org, which serves the metro across Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi and answers a 24-hour helpline at (901) 454-1414. Volunteers can point you to a room in Midtown, East Memphis, or across the state line. 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 in Memphis

Start with Memphis Area Intergroup Association (MAIA), the local A.A. central office. Its Intergroup Office serves the greater Memphis metropolitan area, and volunteers there answer phones, take Twelfth Step calls, and hand out books and literature to anyone who stops by. The 24-hour helpline is (901) 454-1414 — a person from the fellowship answers, around the clock, whether you need a meeting tonight or just want to talk to someone who has been there.

The office itself is at 3540 Summer Avenue, Suite 104, Memphis, TN 38122, in the Summer Avenue corridor of East Memphis near Highland Row. It keeps weekday hours (M-W-F 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., T-Th 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed for lunch 1 to 2 p.m.) and carries A.A. conference-approved literature. The business email is [email protected], and the office site explains that local groups list their online meetings there too — for a Zoom passcode that is not printed, you call or email the office rather than post it publicly. For members without the Zoom app, the site lists a dial-in number, 1-669-900-6833.

Memphis sits where three states meet, and A.A. coverage reflects that. For a meeting list west of the river, the aa.org directory points to Arkansas Central Office in Little Rock at arkansascentraloffice.org; for the Mississippi side, callers across DeSoto County can reach the intergroup above. Within Tennessee, Jackson / West Tennessee Intergroup (aawesttn.org, (877) 426-8330) covers West Tennessee outside Shelby County. Nationally, A.A. says aa.org itself is not a meeting finder — it points people to a local resource such as the intergroup above and names the free Meeting Guide app. This site is a third door: our meeting finder searches public A.A. and N.A. feeds by day, time, fellowship, and format. Whichever door you use, confirm the day and place with the group or the intergroup before you go.

Meeting Hubs Across the Metro

Memphis rooms cluster along its main corridors, and a few stand out for newcomers:

• Midtown and Summer Avenue. The intergroup office sits on Summer Avenue, and meeting listings concentrate in Midtown's church halls and community rooms — the central, walkable part of town where many early-morning and lunchtime groups meet.
• Downtown and the Medical District. MATA's vintage trolley serves downtown on three lines — Main Street between Central Station and the North End Terminal, Madison Avenue out to the Medical District, and the Riverfront loop — so downtown rooms are reachable without a car. Hospital-area meetings in the Medical District are a long-standing part of the local listing tradition.
• East Memphis and the suburbs. Bartlett, Germantown, and Collierville are their own cities inside Shelby County, each with listings of their own on the intergroup schedule rather than a separate office.
• Across the state line. The intergroup serves the metro on both sides of it: MATA documents describe routes that operate entirely or mostly within West Memphis, Arkansas, funded by that city, and Mississippi callers in DeSoto County can use the same 24-hour line.

Common Meeting Formats & What to Expect

A.A. sorts meetings into open and closed. An open meeting is available to anyone interested in A.A.'s program of recovery, 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. Not sure which fits you? Start open.

Local directories label each listing by style, so you can choose before you go:

• Newcomer or beginner: aimed at people who are new to recovery.
• Discussion: members share on a topic; the most common style.
• Step study and 12 Steps & 12 Traditions: working through A.A.'s Steps and Traditions.
• Big Book: reading and discussing A.A.'s basic text.
• Speaker: one or two members tell their story, then the meeting opens up.
• **Men's, women's, LGBTQ+, ** and wheelchair-accessible meetings are filtered the same way.

Two things are true of every A.A. meeting in Memphis and everywhere else. First, it is free: A.A. says there are no dues or fees for membership, and a basket passed for voluntary contributions is optional. Second, you do not have to speak — A.A.'s newcomer page says you can just sit and listen or share, whichever you choose. Anonymity is a founding principle of the fellowship, not a form you sign, so what you hear in the room stays there. The first-meeting guide walks through a typical hour step by step.

Getting Around & Online Meetings

If a car is not an option, MATA is the region's transit agency. It runs fixed-route bus service across Memphis and parts of Shelby County, with three routes funded by the City of West Memphis on the Arkansas side, and it operates MATAplus paratransit for eligible riders with disabilities. The vintage trolley lines serve downtown and the Medical District, which makes central meetings reachable without parking.

Not every meeting happens in a room. A.A. says meetings can be in person, online, or by phone, and the Online Intergroup at aa-intergroup.org lists video and phone meetings around the clock. Our finder also shows online and hybrid meetings from public feeds, and the online A.A. meetings guide explains how they work, including that you can keep your camera off and stay silent if you prefer.

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 are not led by healthcare professionals, so they are not the same as treatment. That said, NIDA notes they are free, not time-limited, and many people find them useful 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. Up to half of people with alcohol use disorder have some withdrawal symptoms, and a small proportion need a few days of medical detox to manage symptoms that can be dangerous. 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 Memphis 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 helpline 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:

• Memphis Area Intergroup Association (MAIA)
• MAIA: Make a Contribution (address, 24-hour helpline)
• MAIA: I Want to Volunteer (volunteers answer phones and Twelfth Step calls)
• MATA: Short Range Transit Plan (routes, three trolley lines, MATAplus, West Memphis routes)
• Middle Tennessee Central Office: Links (Tennessee central offices incl. Jackson/West Tennessee Intergroup)
• A.A.: Find A.A. Near You (United States)
• 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
• 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