AAWOL
                            
The Alcoholics Anonymous Way of Life Program, (AAWOL) has been in existence since 1969 when it was first introduced as a major component for the Gavin House residents in their recovery of alcoholism. Basically it is an in-depth study of the 12 steps of AA’s Twelve Steps to Recovery, which outlines the spiritual Principles of the program. It is structured over a 21 week period with selected reading material and volunteer Gavin House graduates and staff members as administrators and group leaders.
 
In order to promote healing and recovery for the residents of the Gavin House, members of the AA community were invited to participate in the group sessions. This enabled us to start groups of 15 to 20 persons every three weeks. During the past 30 years the program has grown dramatically. The healing and recovery taking place in these groups has helped this program gain in popularity.

In the early days the first groups met in the Gavin House. In some instances because of the number of request for admission onto the program it became necessary to place people on waiting lists. During those times it was not unusual to see every available space in the House used for an AAWOL group meeting. Subsequently Group meetings were held at B.C. High along with those at the Gavin House. In 1973 Women’s groups were introduced and they met on Friday nights while the Men’s groups meeting were held on Monday. The following year the Tyann School became available on Tuesday night and the program expanded to seven men’s groups and three women’s groups meetings on that night. From Group #1 in 1969 we started Men’s Group #576 and Women’s Group #341 in October 2006.

A conservative estimate of the number of enrollments in this program over the years would be in excess of 15,000 people. Traditionally, one third of all participants come to this program from the South Boston community, with nearly two thirds arriving from communities throughout Greater Boston. It is said that 85% of these have graduated AAWOL which is considered an excellent recovery rate for alcoholism and substance abuse.

From the first small group meeting at 675 East Fourth Street, the AAWOL program is being used throughout Massachusetts. In recent years the Gavin Foundation has shared the AAWOL program with England 1998, Poland in 1999, and Ireland 2000. The AAWOL program message is best carried by its graduates, who carry the message to other alcoholics about sobriety in the “Alcoholics Anonymous Way of Life”.