AA Meetings in St. Louis

Find an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in St. Louis through the St. Louis Central Service Office at aastl.org, which answers a 24/7 hotline at (314) 647-3677 from 14 Sunnen Drive in Maplewood and maintains the directory of nearly 1,000 area meetings. 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 Eastern Missouri

Start with the St. Louis Central Service Office (CSO), the intergroup office for the greater St. Louis area. Its site describes it as the local service office that supports the A.A. fellowship in eastern Missouri, serving communities from St. Charles and Troy south to Cape Girardeau, and it maintains the directory of nearly 1,000 area meetings. It also answers calls from anyone concerned about their drinking — (314) 647-3677 is a 24/7 hotline.

The office itself is at 14 Sunnen Drive, Suite 144, Maplewood, MO 63143, in the inner-ring suburb of Maplewood just west of St. Louis city. It is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it provides A.A. literature to groups and members. Each A.A. group in the area elects an Intergroup Representative (IR) as its link to the office, and the Central Service Board is elected by those representatives — which is why the meeting directory reflects what the groups themselves report.

The metro also has a second intergroup. The North St. Louis County Intergroup Office answers (314-731-4854), and the Tri-County Intergroup serves St. Charles, Lincoln, and Warren Counties at (636) 970-0013. The Eastern Area of Missouri (EAMO) site keeps the full list of intergroups and district answering services across the eastern half of the state, so callers headed to Columbia, Hannibal, or Farmington can find the local line.

Nationally, Alcoholics Anonymous says that aa.org is not a meeting finder: for a local list it points people to a local resource such as the CSO 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.

St. Louis Meeting Hubs & Communities

With close to a thousand meetings in the directory, the trick is not finding a meeting — it is finding your meeting:

• Maplewood and the inner-ring suburbs. The Central Service Office sits on Sunnen Drive here, and this side of the metro carries a dense concentration of meetings. If you want to pick up a printed schedule or talk to a staff member in person, this is the stop.
• St. Louis city and the north side. The North St. Louis County Intergroup gives the north side its own office and line at (314) 731-4854, which matters on the Missouri side of the river.
• St. Charles and the west. The Tri-County Intergroup covers St. Charles, Lincoln, and Warren Counties at (636) 970-0013, so commuters and new arrivals west of the river have a local door rather than a cross-metro drive.
• Downstate. The CSO's service area stretches from St. Charles and Troy south to Cape Girardeau, and EAMO lists district answering services for towns in between — Jefferson City, Hannibal, Farmington, West Plains, and others — each with its own number.
• Both sides of the river. The Illinois suburbs have their own A.A. structure; A.A.'s find-aa page lists the Metro East local resources separately from the Missouri ones.

Common Meeting Formats & What to Expect

A.A.'s meeting page 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.

Meeting directories label listings by format, so you can choose before you go:

• Newcomer (sometimes called a beginner meeting): aimed at people who are new to recovery.
• Discussion: members share on a topic; the most common style.
• 12 Steps & 12 Traditions, and Step Study: 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, Spanish, and wheelchair-accessible meetings are filtered the same way.

Two things are true of every A.A. meeting in St. Louis and everywhere else. First, it 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 that support the group, and passing it on is fine. 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.

Transportation & Virtual Meetings

If a car is not an option, Metro Transit runs the region's buses (MetroBus) and light rail (MetroLink) across St. Louis city, St. Louis County, and St. Clair County in Illinois. Fares are moving to a tap-and-ride system with fare capping, and ADA paratransit is available for eligible riders. MetroLink's lines through downtown and toward Maplewood and Shrewsbury put the inner-ring parts of the metro — including the CSO's neighborhood — on rail.

Not every meeting happens in a room. A.A. says meetings can be in person, online, or by phone, and directories include online listings alongside in-person ones. Our finder also shows online and hybrid meetings from public feeds. The online A.A. meetings guide explains how video and phone meetings 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 the St. Louis Central Service Office and not A.A.; 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 aastl.org 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:

• St. Louis Central Service Office (AASTL)
• AASTL IR Role document (Central Service Office address, hours, structure)
• Eastern Area of Missouri (EAMO): Meetings and intergroup contacts (St. Louis, North St. Louis County, Tri-County)
• A.A.: Find A.A. Near You (North America) — St. Louis Central Service Office listing
• 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.: Find A.A. Near You (regional and online meeting information)
• 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
• Metro Transit St. Louis (MetroBus, MetroLink, ADA paratransit)
• SmarterRecovery meeting finder (public meeting search; listings are not verified by this site)
• SmarterRecovery about page (referral disclosure)

Common Questions