AA Meetings in Nashville

Find an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Nashville through Middle Tennessee Central Office, which answers a hotline at (615) 831-1050 and a toll-free line at 800-559-2252 from its Sunmark Building office on Welshwood Drive. The office carries literature and publishes the Middle Tennessee meeting directory. 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 Middle Tennessee

Start with Middle Tennessee Central Office, the A.A. central office serving Nashville and the middle of the state. It works from the Sunmark Building, 417 Welshwood Drive, Suite 207, Nashville, TN 37211, in the Welshwood Drive area south of downtown, and its contact page answers three numbers: the hotline at (615) 831-1050, the business line at (615) 832-1136, and toll-free 800-559-2252 for anyone calling outside the 615 area code — useful for newcomers ringing in from Clarksville, Murfreesboro, or the smaller towns around Middle Tennessee.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The office carries A.A. conference-approved literature, and it publishes the Middle Tennessee meeting directory through its searchable meeting page — updates and corrections to listings go to [email protected]. A.A.'s national directory lists the office itself too.

Nashville is part of a chain of Tennessee central offices, each with its own list. Chattanooga Area Central Office answers (423) 499-6003, Jackson / West Tennessee Intergroup answers (877) 426-8330, Knoxville's East Tennessee Intergroup answers (865) 522-9667, and Memphis Area Intergroup keeps a 24-hour helpline at (901) 454-1414. The office's own links page names all of them — so a caller in any corner of the state gets pointed to the right room list rather than an invented one.

Nationally, Alcoholics Anonymous says aa.org is not a meeting finder: for a local list it points people to a local resource such as the central office above, and it names the free Meeting Guide app and the Online Intergroup for phone and online meetings. The A.A. how-to-find guide walks through both. This site is a third door: our meeting finder searches public A.A. and N.A. feeds by day, time, fellowship, and format, including online meetings. Whichever door you use, confirm the day and place with the group or the office before you go.

Where Meetings Happen Around Nashville

Nashville's rooms spread across the city the way its bus corridors do, and a few anchors help a newcomer picture the map:

• South Nashville. The central office itself sits here on Welshwood Drive, and church halls and community rooms along the I-65 and Nolensville Pike corridors carry many listings.
• Downtown and East Nashville. WeGo's frequent lines — routes like 3 West End, 7 Hillsboro, 50 Charlotte Pike, and 52 Nolensville Pike, each running every 15 minutes or less — tie meeting corridors on both sides of the river to downtown.
• The counties around. Nine WeGo regional routes reach Murfreesboro, Gallatin, Hendersonville, Springfield, Dickson, and Clarksville, so a Middle Tennessee listing does not always mean a Davidson County address. The central office's directory is the list of record for the region.

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. If you are not sure which is right for you, start with an open meeting.

Local listings also carry style labels, so you can choose before you go:

• Newcomer or beginner meeting: 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 Nashville 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, WeGo Public Transit serves Nashville and Davidson County with 27 local routes and 9 regional routes, plus AccessRide paratransit for eligible riders. The WeGo Star commuter rail runs from downtown's Riverfront station through Donelson, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Martha, and Hamilton Springs to Lebanon — seven stations in all — which puts a meeting list along the rail corridor within reach of riders in Wilson County.

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 Middle Tennessee Central Office 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 central office meeting search 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:

• Middle Tennessee Central Office (home, Sunmark Building address and hotline)
• Middle Tennessee Central Office: Contact (hotline, business and toll-free lines, hours)
• Middle Tennessee Central Office: Meeting Search (directory updates email)
• Middle Tennessee Central Office: Links (Tennessee central offices: Chattanooga, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis)
• A.A.: Find A.A. Near You (North America listing for Middle Tennessee Central Office)
• 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
• WeGo Public Transit (routes, WeGo Star commuter rail, frequent lines)
• WeGo Public Transit: system overview (27 local and 9 regional routes, WeGo Star stations)
• SmarterRecovery meeting finder (public meeting search; listings are not verified by this site)
• SmarterRecovery about page (referral disclosure)

Common Questions