One of our meetings has trialled some big changes. The problems were:
- old timers arriving late
- meeting not opening on time
- too few members at the start of the meeting - trouble starting meeting with strength
- difficulty filling service roles
- fluctuating attendance and numbers
- losing old-timers
- not keeping newcomers
- meetings always the same - focussed on members just telling their stories with slippers and sober members getting equal sharing time and not enough focus recovery
- step meetings once a month, discussing the next step in order, regardless of newcomers' needs
- too many slippers sharing in newcomer meetings
- numerous members only doing this meeting each week - having a very narrow view of recovery and little knowledge of the breadth of literature
Our solutions were:
- shortened meeting from 90 to 75 minutes
- abolished repetitive meeting style
- 2 sober members only share in shortened newcomer part of meeting - then revert to a scheduled topic
- room set up 30 mins before meeting
- meeting room decuttered
- various new formats tried
- a larger range of SA/AA literature used
- focussed on recovery
- relevant to both newcomers and old-timers
- bringing out the depth of recovery that is in the room
- present recovery as a dynamic process
- encourage members to talk about current stuff but with a recovery, solution focus
- having suggested readings for most topics but allowing the chairman to choose others or conference recording
- encouraging members to own their own meeting and not just be passive recipients
After 8 weeks, the results are:
- numbers are stabilising at the higher end
- members are positive about the changes including those who were sceptical
- members are turning up earlier
- newcomers are responding
- old timers are sharing stuff they have not shared before