AA Meetings in Richmond

Find an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Richmond, Virginia today through the Richmond Intergroup at aarichmond.org or its line at 804-355-1212, answered 24/7. The Intergroup serves Richmond and the surrounding counties. Spanish-language groups are listed by the Oficina Intergrupal Hispana in North Chesterfield. 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 Richmond

Richmond's A.A. central office is Richmond Intergroup, Inc. Its website keeps the meeting directory for the Greater Richmond area, and the Intergroup's contact page says you can call anytime of the day or week at (804) 355-1212 — the phone line is available around the clock, and the call is anonymous.

The office is at 5310 Markel Road, Suite 108, Richmond, VA 23230, open Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed 2 to 3 p.m. for lunch and closed on weekends; garage parking is available beneath the building entrance on the north side. The Intergroup meets monthly on the first Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the office, and any A.A. member is welcome to attend. Because the Intergroup serves the Greater Richmond area, its directory reaches beyond the independent city into Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, and other nearby counties.

A.A.'s national site at aa.org is not a meeting finder; it points people to the local office, which here is the Intergroup. Virginia's area site keeps a statewide list of intergroups and hotlines, including the Northern Virginia Intergroup in Fairfax, if you are on the other side of the region.

Spanish-language groups are organized separately: the Oficina Intergrupal Hispana for Richmond is listed at 306 Turner Road, Units J and K, North Chesterfield, VA 23225, at (804) 337-0901, with its groups' meetings published through aaintergrupalnva.com.

This site's meeting finder is another route: it searches public A.A. and N.A. feeds by day, time, fellowship, and format, including online. Confirm the day, time, and entrance with the group or the Intergroup before you go.

Richmond Meeting Hubs & Communities

Richmond meetings run from the downtown business district out through the city's historic neighborhoods and into the surrounding counties, and the Intergroup's directory is the practical map. Because the office serves a region, you can search by the neighborhood or county you are in rather than a single central list.

• Downtown and Shockoe Bottom. The central business district and the Shockoe Bottom area sit along the GRTC Pulse line and hold a steady set of meetings within walking distance.
• The Fan, Carytown, and the Museum District. These west-of-downtown neighborhoods are dense and residential, with meetings reachable by bus and the Pulse along Broad Street.
• Scott's Addition and the Near West End. The Pulse reaches Scott's Addition and the Science Museum area, tying the near West End to downtown by transit.
• Church Hill and the East End. Across the river from downtown, the East End and its neighborhoods have their own recurring groups.
• The surrounding counties. Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover are inside the Intergroup's service area, so listings extend to the suburbs along the Pulse corridor and beyond.

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 Richmond directory labels meetings by format so you can choose before you go:

• Newcomer or beginner meetings, aimed at people who are 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

GRTC, the Greater Richmond Transit Company, runs the region's buses along with the Pulse bus rapid transit line. According to GRTC, the Pulse provides fast, frequent service between Willow Lawn and Rockett's Landing, and local and express buses run from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily across the city and surrounding counties. The Pulse's Broad Street and Main Street corridor passes many downtown and near-West-End meeting neighborhoods, so a car is not required for central meetings. GRTC Customer Service is (804) 358-4782.

Meetings are not only in person. A.A. says meetings can be in person, online, or by phone, and the Intergroup and the Online Intergroup both list online and phone meetings. Our finder also shows online and hybrid meetings from public feeds. 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 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. 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 Richmond 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:

• Richmond Intergroup, Inc. (aarichmond.org)
• Richmond Intergroup: Contact (office, phone line, hours, monthly meeting)
• Alcoholicos Anonimos Hispano Maryland: Grupos de Virginia (Oficina Intergrupal Hispana, Richmond)
• GRTC: Home (Pulse bus rapid transit, local and express bus service)
• Virginia Alcoholics Anonymous: Intergroups and AA hotlines
• 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