AAWOL

The Alcoholics Anonymous Way of Life Program (AAWOL) followed foundation of Gavin House, in 1969, when members of the Alcoholics Anonymous community were invited to participate in groups at the Gavin House.  AAWOL evolved as an in-depth study of AA’s Twelve Steps to Recovery, the spiritual Principles of the program. Using the AA book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions as the focus, AAWOL developed a structured 21 week program of reading and group discussion.  Initially, groups met at Gavin House.  Before long, however, interest in participating spread throughout Greater Boston 12-step groups.  The search for a place to accommodate the growing interest eventually found the nearby Tynan School, which was made available on Tuesday nights.  This allowed AAWOL to offer weekly men’s and women’s groups, for more than 600 men and women each year.

From the first small group meeting at Gavin House, the AAWOL program has been shared throughout Massachusetts, nationally, and internationally:  in England 1998, Poland in 1999, Ireland in 2000 and China in 2005.