What is Public Information in AA?
Public Information (PI) in Alcoholics Anonymous is about getting the message of recovery out to the alcoholic who still suffers. We do this through implementing various strategies to inform the general public about the AA program. We carry the message through contact with the media, medical clinics, alcohol treatment facilities, schools, general industry, and any organization which might create access to those seeking a solution to problems regarding their alcohol use.
Public Information activities in the Inner City District include:
- The collation of information packs of AA pamphlets and posters to distribute to AA groups and to the wider community.
- PI representatives talk at prisons, schools, treatment centers, medical training institutions and conferences to effectively communicate the AA principles of recovery.
- Publishing and making available resources for groups and group members to distribute as they choose, such as business cards, our own designs that can be used for print media and postcards for health professionals.
- The Public Information arm of the Inner City District services the district area and acts as a service base for volunteer members to meet and organise.
In all public relations, AA’s sole objective is to help the still suffering alcoholic. Always mindful of the importance of personal anonymity we believe this can be done by making known to the individual, and to those who may be interested in their problems, our own experience as individuals and as a Fellowship in learning to live without alcohol. We believe that our experience should be made available freely to all who express sincere interest. We believe further that all efforts in this field should always reflect our gratitude for the gift of sobriety and our awareness that many outside AA are equally concerned with the serious problem of alcoholism.
We, therefore, cooperate with institutions, organisations and media but we do not affiliate with them. We want to work constructively with organisations on the issue of alcoholism but we do not want to be merged with them in the public mind. For over the last eighty years AA has remained non-professional, continuing to work from the basic principle of one alcoholic helping another.
To contact Melbourne Inner City District PI, email: pi@aainnercity.com.au
Doctor’s and Health Professionals Forum March 2020
On March 18th 2020 ICD Melbourne organised a large scale Doctors and professionals forum for Melbourne. This was the first forum of this scale attempted in Melbourne for quite a number of years (possibly 20). The Forum was designed to give the medical professional community a further tool in their arsenal to help them deal with potential alcoholics whilst developing their knowledge of AA as a whole.
Available PI Resources
There are a range of resources that the Inner City District makes available to groups to support them in carrying the AA message into the community.
Links to posts about our available resources:
- Postcards for professionals
- Poster
- Guide for speaking at non-AA events/meetings
