How does sponsorship differ from Twelfth Step calls?

A Twelfth Step call – visiting an alcoholic/addict who has asked for help and talking about the A.A./N.A. program with him or her – may become the beginning of sponsorship, but by itself it is not necessarily sponsorship.
Sponsorship, with its continuing interest in another alcoholic/addict, often develops wehen the second person is willing to be helped, admits having a drinking/using problem, and decided to seek a way out of the trap.
Sponsorship is Twelfth Step work, but it is also continuing responsibiltiy for helping a newcomer adjust to a way of life without alcohol.

How does sponsorship help the newcomer?

How should a sponsor be chosen?

The process of matching newcomer and sponsorship is as informal as everything else in A.A/N.A.. Often, the new person simply approaches a more experienced member who seems compatible, and asks that member to be a sponsor. Most A.A./N.A.s are happy and grateful to receive such a request.
An old A.A. saying suggests,"Stick with the winners." It's only reasonable to seek a sharing of experience with a member who seems to be using the A.A./N.A. program successfully in everyday life. There are no specific rules, but a good sponsor probably should be a year or more away from the last drink/drug – and should seem to be enjoying sobriety.

What should a newcomer expect from a sponsor?

A sponsor does not provide any such services as those offered by a social worker, a doctor, a nurse, or a marriage counselor. A sponsor is simply a sober alcoholic who helps the newcomer solve one problem how to stay sober.
It is not professional training that enables a sponsor to give help – it is just personal experience and observation. A sponsor was once a newcomer, too, and has tried to use the program to deal with problems similar to those the newcomer is facing now
If the sponsor's ideas sound strange or unclear, the newcomber had better speak up and ask questions. Theirs is supposed to be an easy relationship, in which both parties talk freely and honestly with each other.
The program is simple, but it didn't seem that way to many of us at first, Often, we learned by asking questions, at closed meetings or – most especially – in conversations with our sponsors.
We have many recourses when we are unable to contact our sponsors. We can telephone other members; go to a meeting; read books to find answers to almost any problem troubling us at the moment.
The newcomer with more than one sponsor shares in a wide range of experience and hears a great variety of ways to use the program.
We are always free to select another sponsor with whom we feel more comfortable, particularly if we believe this member will be more helpful in our growth in A.A./N.A.




"Awareness...It is impossible to be present with life if your needs aren't met or you're addicted to a substance or behavior. All you are present to is yourself, and even that's questionable."

Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.

The definition of addiction..."anything that takes the place of my relationship with my Higher Power."

If I'm the one to notice there is a problem.......then I'm the one to do something about it...if I'm involved in the problem!

I Try to Take One Day at a Time, But Sometimes Several Days Attack Me At Once by Ashleigh Brilliant

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