First NZ Alcoholics Anonymous Survey in Over Ten Years
First NZ Alcoholics Anonymous Survey in Over Ten
Years Shows Current Trends in Recovery
The
results of the first New Zealand survey of members of
Alcoholics Anonymous since 2004 have been published to mark
the Fellowship’s 2016 AA Awareness Week.
Almost 700 New
Zealand AA members took part in the online survey helping to
put together a picture of some of the key characteristics of
AA in this country and its members. The survey shows that
most respondents are aged 40 and over and have been sober
for more than five years (with a third sober for over 20
years), attend up to three meetings a week, belong to a home
group and have a sponsor.
Illustrating the importance of
one-to-one work of members carrying the message of recovery
to still suffering alcoholics, the survey indicates that
just over 23% of respondents cited an AA member as being
responsible for their coming to AA, while almost 19% were
referred by a treatment centre and 13% were introduced by a
family member.
Almost 60% of respondents received some
type of treatment or counselling before coming to AA and
almost as many did so after coming to AA with a quarter
saying it has played an important part in their recovery
from alcoholism.
Women respondents outnumber men (52.59%
to 46.98%), and although a wide range of occupations are
represented in the survey, the largest categories are
Retired (16.28%), Management (7.78%), Education and Training
(6.77%), Office and Administrative Support (6.63%) and Arts,
Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media (5.48%).
The
results are available at AA NZ 2016 Survey.
A
request from the General Service Board of Alcoholics
Anonymous New Zealand
To managing editors; news
reporters and photo directors; radio and television editors
and producers; television talk show hosts; bloggers and
online hosts of social media forums
Alcoholics Anonymous
New Zealand seeks your continued support by presenting AA
members:
only by first
name
using no recognisable picture
and
without identifying them by a unique
set of events or circumstances
Anonymity is
the spiritual foundation of our Fellowship and assures our
members that their recovery will be private. Often, the
active alcoholic will avoid any source of help, which might
reveal his or her identity.
Some of our members and some
media representatives may be unfamiliar with our tradition
of personal anonymity at the media level.
The public
relations policy of Alcoholics Anonymous is based on
attraction rather than promotion. We need always maintain
personal anonymity at the level of press radio and
films.
Therefore we respectfully ask that no AA member be
identified by full name or photograph in published,
broadcast or online reports.
We also alert members of
Alcoholics Anonymous who wish to share their experiences
with the media, that they "share in a general way" that
cannot identify them from unique events or circumstances in
their life.
Throughout the world, favourable media
coverage has been a principal means of bringing alcoholics
into our Fellowship. You have helped make this possible, and
for that we thank you.
Alcoholics Anonymous is not
affiliated with any other organisation, although many have
adapted AA's Twelve Steps for their own use. AA is
self-supporting, declining any outside contributions; and we
are non-professional, offering only the voluntary support of
one alcoholic helping another.
www.aa.org.nz