Starting a Group
Everything you need to bring How It Works Group to your community. The guidelines and format shared here come from decades of group conscience meetings — the same unified program that HIW Groups across North America follow today.
How It Works Group
HIW Group Guidelines
Starting A “How It Works” Group
The following information will provide you with all you need to start a How IT Works Group. What we share with you here is our experience from many years of Group Conscience meetings deciding how best to provide an answer to those suffering from Alcoholism. There are currently many How It Works Groups in several different cities and towns across two countries.
HIW FORMAT: The HIW format is the outline of how a meeting is to be conducted. It is the result of many years of Group Conscience meetings that decided how best to run a meeting. When possible, the format calls for the meetings to be held twice a day, every day of the year. There is a morning and an afternoon meeting. Depending upon the hours that are available to you, it is desirable to have morning meetings at or about 7:00am on the weekdays (a little later is desired for Saturday, Sunday and holidays) and an afternoon meeting at 5:30pm all seven days of the week. Please note that if your meetings are held in a church, you may have to start out having fewer meetings and eventually working your way up to two meetings a day once you have earned their trust. Meetings open with the 3rd step prater and close with the 7th step prayer. The leader sits in the same chair at every meeting and is responsible for opening and closing the meeting on-time. The leader also reads the meeting format. The Preamble, a portion of Chapter 5 “ How It Works” and the 12 steps are read by 3 participants in the meeting that are designated by the leader prior to the meeting’s start. After finishing reading the format, the leader then begins the sharing by identifying and sharing him/herself before passing for a round robin turn of shares as sharing goes around the room. Please see the section on meeting discussion and sharing found in the back of the HIW’s book.
LOCATION: Most HIW Groups are held in a private facility where the space is rented and is used solely for the purpose of holding meetings. There are also HIW groups or “clubrooms” as our members like to call them that are held in churches, whereas the space is shared with the church. Venues will very depending upon what is available in your area and what you can afford. This is a matter for each founding member to discover for him or herself.
GROUP CONSCIENCE: If your meeting is held in a facility that is your own, that is to say that it will be conducted in a room that you will need to furnish and maintain, then you will need to hold a Group Conscience to vote in the HIW format, the purchase of chairs, tables, coffee maker, powder or liquid cream for the coffee, and every other detail of everything that is done there. If your meeting is held in a church, you may already have furniture available to you, a cleaning service that comes, and food and beverage may not be permitted by the church. In this case, you will only need to hold a Group Conscience meeting that votes in the HIW works format for conducting the meeting. In any event, a Group Conscience meeting should be held to vote in the HIW format and whatever it is that you need too conduct the meeting.
SERVICE POSITIONS: You will want to have a literature person, a treasurer, a secretary, and other positions of service depending upon the needs of maintaining your clubroom in the location that you choose. These positions are usually voted in at Group Conscience meetings. The literature person is responsible for keeping a stocked inventory of big books, daily reading books, chips for various lengths of sobriety, meeting directories, and a phone list. The secretary is responsible for communicating with the landlord and making sure that a schedule of meeting leaders is maintained. Other services positions will vary depending upon your needs and may include positions such as a maintenance person who oversees stocking coffee, cups, cream, paper towels, bathroom items, and anything that needs to be fixed.
MEETING LISTING: As you start your journey, understand that some days in the beginning you may be alone. You need not be concerned. You have made the room and thereby help available. In time, people will show up and your attendance will grow. Be sure to list your meeting schedule with A.A.’s central office in your area, and on any online listings that show meeting times where you are located. Stay the course! We are with you.
God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always.
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.
How it Works Preamble
The “How It Works Group” of Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of members who share their experience, strength and hope with each other, that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. There are no dues or fees to pay, we are self-supporting through our own contributions.
The tremendous fact for us is that we have discovered a common solution to alcoholism. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news contained in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the sole purpose of our group is to carry this message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
If you are as seriously afflicted by alcoholism as we are, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and once we passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort.
Our preamble is available in Adobe Acrobat format here.
The How It Works Preamble is based on the original preamble from the A.A. Grapevine but has been modified for our own use. Reprinted with permission of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc
Chapter 5 How it Works
RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided that you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it – then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought that we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcoholism – cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power – that One is God. May you find him now.
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
[12 STEPS]
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
Daily Readings