A Court Slip at an AA Meeting

The paper is soft from being folded in your pocket. You keep touching it through the cloth. A judge, a probation officer, or a program told you to bring it back signed, and now you are afraid of two things at once. You are afraid the room will hear your case. You are afraid the room will see the slip and tell you that you are not the kind of person they let in.

Both fears are common on a night like this. The meeting information answers them more plainly than the rumor does.

Meetings welcome people who were sent by a court program or a treatment facility. Who made the referral is not what A.A. is interested in. Many members first came because someone pressured them. Pressure is not a stain that keeps you outside. Membership is voluntary. You are not drafted into a new identity by sitting down. You also do not have to arrive already convinced.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. That is Tradition Three. The long form says membership ought never depend upon money or conformity. Being sent is not the same thing as pretending to love the meeting. You can be unsure and still walk in.

What proof of attendance actually is

Sometimes the place that sent you asks for proof that you were there. There is no set procedure. Each group decides whether to sign anything at all.

Some groups, with your consent, have a member acknowledge your attendance on the slip, or acknowledge it digitally. You are the one who returns that proof to the court or the program. Proof of attendance is not part of A.A.'s procedure. It is something a group may help with, or may decline. Another meeting's habit does not bind this one.

That is the whole national picture. There is no office that signs for every group. There is no form A.A. requires the chair to use. If you need a signature, you ask the group you are about to attend, and you live with that group's answer.

Ask before you are in the middle of the room with the paper open, if you can. Get there a little early, find the person who looks like they are setting up, and say you have a slip and you need to know whether this group signs them. If the answer is no, you still may sit and listen. Then you look for a different group that is willing. The meetings search and the Meeting Guide app can show you other start times. Listings on this site are not verified. Confirm with the group.

Open meetings are for anyone interested in the program, and nonalcoholics may attend as observers. Closed meetings are for members, or for people who have a drinking problem and a desire to stop drinking. The slip does not pick which kind you need. If you are there because of your own drinking, either can fit. The open and closed guide explains the difference. Neither one comes with a guaranteed signature.

Being seen

You do not have to introduce yourself. The chair often asks if anyone new wants to. That question is not mandatory. You can sit and listen. The newcomer page says the choice to listen or to share is completely up to you.

An anonymity statement might be read. Hear it as part of that group's opening, not as a contract about your court file. Tradition Eleven says personal anonymity is kept at the level of press, radio, and films. That tradition is about public attention. It is a different subject from a piece of paper a referral source asked for.

What the meeting information describes, when a group agrees to help, is your consent, a member's acknowledgment, and you carrying the proof back. It does not describe your charge being read as the night's topic. Each group still decides its own format. If you are afraid of how public the signing will be, that fear is a question for the person at that meeting. You are allowed to ask it.

A.A. cannot predict who will recover. It has no authority to decide how recovery should be sought. The group is not your judge, and it is not the author of your sentence. The court remains the court. The meeting remains a meeting of people talking about drinking and what they did about it.

What this phone line cannot do

Call or text (800) 653-9376 if you want help finding treatment. That number is a treatment referral line. It is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery. The call is free to you. Treatment providers pay for the referral service. The line is not an intergroup.

It cannot sign your slip. It cannot stamp it, date it, or tell a probation officer that you sat in a room. The only acknowledgment the meeting information describes comes from a member of a group that has agreed to do it, with your consent, after you were actually there.

aa.org does not contain a meeting finder. Use local lists or Meeting Guide. The app shows time, place, and name, and sometimes the format notes the group wrote. Those notes will not replace a conversation about the slip.

If you are too sick to sit there for a signature

A signature is not medical care. If you are sick, shaking, confused, or you think you might seize, call 911. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. A meeting cannot manage that. NIDA says mutual-help groups are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment.

If you are in a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Licensed programs are on FindTreatment.gov. The court paper can wait longer than a seizure can.

There are no dues or fees. You do not pay the group to consider the slip. If a basket comes around, that is voluntary self-support, and there is no listed price.

Tonight, pick a meeting, ask that group whether anyone signs, and go in even if your hands are sweating. You can listen. You can leave when it is over. The paper goes back with you, if they agreed to mark it. If they did not, you ask the next group. You were not required to be famous, or anonymous on a poster, in order to sit down.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• A.A.: Information about meetings
• A.A.: New to A.A.
• A.A.: The Twelve Traditions
• A.A.: Find A.A. near you
• A.A.: Meeting Guide app
• NIDA: Treatment
• NIAAA Core Resource on Alcohol
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• FindTreatment.gov
• SmarterRecovery meetings search
• SmarterRecovery about and referral line

Common Questions