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Welcome, Young People
Call for articles from young AAs:
We'd like to read your stories about YPAAs or other AA events--or about any aspect of your recovery.
Photos are welcome as well. Email articles to: gveditorial@aagrapevine.org, or mail to:
Editorial Department, AA Grapevine, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115. Go to submission guidelines
for more information. Email photos to: ArtEditor@aagrapevine.org, or mail to: Art Editor, AA Grapevine, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 1040, New York, NY 10115.
The 52nd Annual ICYPAA (International Conference of Young People in AA), will be held Aug. 26-29, 2010, in New York, N.Y. For more information go to:
www.icypaahost.org.
Other international YPAA events include the AusYPAA (Australian Young People in AA) Conference (www.vicypaa.org), which debuted in January 2010, and the upcoming EURYPAA (All-European Young People in AA Convention), July 23-25 in Stockholm, Sweden (www.EURYPAA.org).
For other 2010 YPAA events, click here.
Getting sober and staying sober isn't easy at any age. Most of us alcoholics are convinced that we are different,
that we are too young or too old, too smart or too savvy to have a
problem with drinking; we couldn't possibly be drunks.
But, after hearing other people's stories, we discover that no one is immune to suffering. Other people your age have felt the same
soul-searing pain and the desperation.
Here are a few stories that might help you decide.
In the Middle of a Miracle
"For some reason, I just started thinking about my first year of
sobriety and remembering details. I am coming up on my twenty-first biological
birthday and my sixth AA birthday.
"Yes, I sobered up at age fifteen, and if you're wondering when I started
drinking, it was when I was eleven." Read more >
Here are more stories that might help you decide.
A surfer cuts through an undertow of anger.
Earth to Stand On
"I am seventeen years old, and I recently graduated from a public high school, although I've also been to a military school, continuation schools, and group homes. I have two years of
sobriety and I was able to stay sober in most of these places." Download PDF
What it was like, what happened, and what it's like now.
Happy Birthday -- You're an Alcoholic
"I had my first drink at age eleven, but even before then I can remember feeling that I just didn't fit in. Read more >
Don't Call Me Young
"The last thing I wanted was to be seen as a 'young person' in
AA when I came in at twenty-seven. I was one of those who wanted to be forty years old with ten years of
sobriety in the first week."Read more >
Progress Not Perfection
"I started drinking at the age of twelve. My weekends were filled with parties and
driving around with friends getting drunk . . . . Today I try to live the AA program, one
based on action and honesty."Read more >
Where to go from here?
Learn more about alcoholism and young people in the "Youth Enjoying Sobriety" section of the AA Grapevine’s Digital Archive. Also browse
all of our other departments and topics that are pertinent to anyone getting and staying sober.
The Grapevine ran special sections on Young People in Sobriety in our September 2005 and 2007 issues, as well as March 1998 and 1992.
Also find out more about ICYPAA, International Conference of Young People in AA, and other YPAA organizations. There are YPAA groups throughout the country and world. On a local
level you can search for YPAA and your state or city.
Read a sample from Grapevine's recently published book:
In Our Own Words: Stories of Young AAs In Recovery
You might also want to check out AA's pamphlets:
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The Young One: A teen finds that age doesn't matter when all are alcoholics
From the July 2009 Grapevine "Since my first meeting, I have felt the sense of camaraderie
that the Big Book describes. I was blessed to walk into a welcoming
group. My parents walked me up to the church and kind folks on
the entrance steps told them, “We’ll take her from here. The meeting
ends at 9. You can pick her up shortly after that.”
A man named Charlie handed me my first Big Book and guided me into the beginner’s meeting. At my second
meeting, Sarah
extended her hand
and pronounced
herself my sponsor.
I felt welcome.
I walked into
these halls at 14,
which means my
first three years
as a member of
Alcoholics Anonymous
were without
a driver’s license.
I joined an older
group—its core membership
being a group of
men and women 20 or
30 years my senior with
long-term sobriety. The
women of my home group
joked about being soccer
moms, calling one another
to figure out, “Who’s
got Danna?”
My parents usually dropped me off
for the meeting; the AAs
handled the rest. I was
always brought along to
dinner or the movies. My
age mattered less than
the fact that I identified
as an alcoholic. I had a
ride home even when
it was out of the way or
late at night. The women
from my home group
threw me a surprise high
school graduation party
and pooled to buy me a
wonderful gift.
Read more >
If you have read a good Grapevine story for young AAs, please let us know. Also, let us know what else you'd like on your page.
Email: specialprojects@aagrapevine.org
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