Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led mutual-aid fellowship dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA’s Twelve Traditions, besides stressing anonymity and the lack of a governing hierarchy, establish AA as free to all, non-professional, unaffiliated, and non-denominational, as well as apolitical. In 2021 AA reported a presence in approximately 180 countries with nearly two million members—73% in the United States and Canada.
Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith, aided its membership to overcome alcoholism. Since that time dozens of other organizations have been derived from AA's approach to address problems as varied as drug addiction, compulsive gambling, sex, and overeating. All twelve-step programs utilize a version of AA's suggested twelve steps first published in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism.
William Duncan Silkworth was an American physician and specialist in the treatment of alcoholism. He was director of the Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions in New York City in the 1930s, during which time William Griffith Wilson, a future co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), was admitted on four occasions for alcoholism. Dr. Silkworth had a profound influence on Wilson and encouraged him to realize that alcoholism was more than just an issue of moral weakness. He introduced Wilson to the idea that alcoholism had a pathological, disease-like basis.
Elizabeth Anne Ford was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of former president Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a politically active presidential spouse. Ford also was the second lady of the United States from 1973 to 1974 when her husband was vice president.
William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with Bob Smith.
The Betty Ford Center (BFC) is a nonprofit residential treatment center for persons with substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and residential day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions, as well as prevention and education programs for family and children. The Betty Ford Center, which is next to the Eisenhower Medical Center but is under a separate license to practice, has 100 inpatient beds available on their campus and additional lodging for 84 clients in the Residential Day Treatment program. The Betty Ford Center opened on October 4, 1982.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the world and one of the original three NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located within Texas Medical Center (TMC), Houston, the largest medical center and life sciences destination in the world. MD Anderson Cancer Center has consistently ranked #1 among the best hospitals for cancer care and research in the U.S. and worldwide, and it has held the #1 position 20 times in the last 23 years in U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals rankings for cancer care. As of 2023, MD Anderson Cancer Center is home to the highest number of cancer clinical trials in the world and has received more NCI-funded projects than any other U.S. institute. In 2024, Newsweek placed MD Anderson at #1 in their annual list of the World's Best Specialized Hospitals in oncology.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is a public medical school in Memphis, Tennessee. It includes the Colleges of Health Professions, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Since 1911, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has educated nearly 57,000 health care professionals. As of 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 17th among American pharmacy schools.
Dan Anderson was an American clinical psychologist and educator. He served as the president and director of the Hazelden Foundation in Center City, Minnesota. He is most associated with the development of the Minnesota Model, the clinical method of addiction treatment, based in part on the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Gundersen Health System is a comprehensive non-profit health system based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The system includes multi-specialty group medical practices, a teaching hospital, regional community clinics, affiliate hospitals and clinics, behavioral health services, vision centers, pharmacies, and air and ground ambulances.
Jerry Moe is a therapist, author, trainer, and public speaker. He is a leader on issues for children living in families impacted by addiction and an advocate that recovery from addiction should include all family members.
Willingway, located in Statesboro, Georgia, is a privately owned Substance Use Disorder facility which specializes in treating alcoholism and drug addiction. The treatment modality at Willingway is based on the principles of the twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous. It is referred to by many as "The Betty Ford Center of the South."
Robert L. DuPont is an American psychiatrist, known for his advocacy in the field of substance abuse. He is president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, whose mission is "to reduce the use of illegal drugs". He has written books including Chemical Slavery: Understanding Addiction and Stopping the Drug Epidemic,The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction, as well as Drug Testing in Treatment Settings, Drug Testing in Schools, and Drug Testing in Correctional Settings, published by the Hazelden Foundation. DuPont is a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and a life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Brighton Hospital is one of the oldest alcoholism and addiction treatment centers in North America.
William L. White is a writer on addiction recovery and policy.
The Little Red Book is a non-conference approved study guide to The Big Book which was also called The Big Red Book because of the thickness of its pages when it was first published.
James Ward West was an American physician, psychiatrist, surgeon, and pioneer in the fields of organ transplantation and addiction treatment. He was part of a team of surgeons who performed the world's first kidney transplant in 1950. West practiced as a surgeon from 1948 to 1981. He then focused on psychiatry during his later career. He co-founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, in 1982. West served as the founding medical director of the Betty Ford Center from 1982 until 1989.
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is an addiction treatment and advocacy organization that was created in 2014 with the merger of the Minnesota-based Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, in the United States.
The Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine (MCASOM), formerly known as Mayo Medical School (MMS), is a research-oriented medical school based in Rochester, Minnesota, with additional campuses in Arizona and Florida. MCASOM is a school within the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (MCCMS), the education division of the Mayo Clinic. It grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). In November 2018, the school was renamed in honor of a $200 million donation from businessman Jay Alix.
John F. Kelly is an American-based researcher and professor of addiction medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the Founder and Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Recovery Research Institute, Associate Director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, and Program Director of the MGH Addiction Recovery Management Service.
