Recovery
Puerto Vallarta has a wealth of 12-step recovery groups, many of which are English speaking. If you would like more information visit the links below.
A Variety of 12-Step Programs
A twelve-step program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems. Originally proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a method of recovery from alcoholism, the Twelve Steps were first published in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism. The method was adapted and became the foundation of other twelve-step programs.
As summarized by the American Psychological Association, the process involves the following:
- admitting that one cannot control one’s alcoholism, addiction or compulsion;
- recognizing a higher power that can give strength;
- examining past errors with the help of a sponsor (experienced member);
- making amends for these errors;
- learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior;
- helping others who suffer from the same alcoholism, addictions or compulsions.
There are lots of English speaking meetings for AA, Al-Anon and various other 12-Step Groups available around the Puerto Vallarta area.
Visit the links above for more information about those meetings including location and meeting times.
Meetings In English
All the meetings and other activities at the Convention are conducted in English. If you are in the PV area outside the Convention and wish to find an English speaking 12-Step meeting, please use the links above for information about meetings and schedules.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.
THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.
THE TWELVE TRADITIONS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (Short Form)
A.A.’s Twelve Traditions apply to the life of the Fellowship itself. They outline the means by which A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world about it, the way it lives and grows.
Alcoholics Anonymous has but one purpose:
Tradition Five states: “Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers”
Al-Anon
For over 55 years, Al-Anon (which includes Alateen for younger members) has been offering strength and hope for friends and families of problem drinkers. It is estimated that each alcoholic affects the lives of at least four other people… alcoholism is truly a family disease. No matter what relationship you have with an alcoholic, whether they are still drinking or not, all who have been affected by someone else’s drinking can find solutions that lead to serenity in the Al-Anon/Alateen fellowship.
The Al–Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength and hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness, and that changed attitudes can aid recovery.
Al-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization, or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause. There are no dues for membership. Al-Anon is self-supporting through its own voluntary contributions.
Al-Anon has but one purpose:
Help families of alcoholics. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps, by welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics, and by giving understanding and encouragement to the alcoholic.
PLEASE NOTE: This convention is NOT affiliated with AA. It is a recovery event organized by the SUS Organizing Committee, which is a separate group of individual AA and Al-Anon members, who practice and support the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of AA and Al-Anon.
We Have Free Speaker Audio Files from our most recent past conventions
Have questions or would like more information?