Alcoholics in the Philippines

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To get the meetings all over the Philippines Contact this number

CONTACT NUMBERS OF ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS PHILIPPINES

A lot of contact names and numbers and meeting times and places have changed since 2006. Here’s the link of the yahoo group of AA Philippines:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAPhilippines

If anyone is interested please join the group. Once a member, you can access DATABASE where the List of meetings and contacts will be found. Metro Manila is under NCR. You may leave the group anytime you wish.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) hotline# +632 896 5707. (Teena M.)

Email: bigbook@edsamail.com.ph / mclm@edsamail.com.ph

mel gibsonWhen the high and mighty fall, the road to recovery begins with a public apology. If there is any redeeming factor that [tag]Mel Gibson[/tag] has given to the world is the media coverage of [tag] alcoholism[/tag] devastating consequences. In the Philippines, drunken men or women are a common sight in parties, fiestas or celebrations. Oooh, you can see them falling to the floor, slurring their words or being just an annoying loud mouth. The party drunk, the life of the party, right? The San Miguel Beer says it all. The multi-million ad portrays a festive atmosphere where beer overflows and sexy ladies sashay their bodies or flaunt their beauty. Such an ad conditions the mind of our vulnerable young kids to associate beer with lovely women and lure them to a life of fun-filled parties.

The effects of alcoholism are easily shown in the sensational section of the local TV news. How often do you see wives beaten up by their husbands? Or children being sexually abused by their biological fathers? What about that actor caught for drunk driving? Though I don’t have the statistics right now, I bet there are cases of drunk -related accidents or physical abuse.

Countless families are ruined and being ruined by alcoholism. Family members walk in eggshells as they pass by the pink elephant snoring in their living room. Not many know that alcoholics are just in the same level as drug addicts. It’s even harder for alcoholics to abstain from their addiction because alcohol is available everywhere. San Miguel beer ads often show a party atmosphere and that a party is incomplete without beer. Oh well, how else can they advertise right? Still they shouldn’t show bottles of beer on the table. Drinking alcohol is so much a part of our Filipino culture. In fact , it is “macho” if one can gulp a number of beer bottles. There is the issue that one is not an alcoholic just because the person is not rolling in the road or that he doesn’t drink everyday anyway. Does the person even know he is an alcoholic?

It was Alcoholics Anonymous who

was instrumental in again emphasizing the “disease concept” of alcoholism, the defining work was done by Elvin Jellinek, M.D., of the Yale Center of Alcohol Studies. In his book, The Disease Concept of Alcoholism, published in 1960, Jellinek described alcoholics as individuals with tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and either “loss of control” or “inability to abstain” from alcohol. He asserted that these individuals could not drink in moderation, and, with continued drinking, the disease was progressive and life-threatening. Jellinek also recognized that some features of the disease (e.g., inability to abstain and loss of control) were shaped by cultural factors- source

I wasn’t aware that alcoholism is a “disease” until my friend confided that her husband was confined in a rehab center in Tagaytay two years ago. (I asked permission to quote her and changed some circumstances to protect their privacy. ) I thought only drug addicts get rehabiliated.

“Alcohol is a drug. Alcoholism is an illness, which is successfully treatable with a wide variety of interventions. It stems from a genetically mediated biological predisposition, and for those who are hardwired with the potential for alcoholism, drinking can prove to be a chronic, debilitating enemy.

My husband wasn’t a social drinker. His drinking bouts got to the point that he incurred so many absences from work . I felt he would lose his job anytime if he didn’t shape up. I didn’t want to wait till he had nothing left so I had him confined at Makati Medical Center upon the advice of a psychiatrist-friend. He experienced withdrawal symptons like any drug addict like “hand tremors and rage”. But don’t you know my husband was the only alcoholic among the in-patients? Even the Alcoholics Anonymous Philippines have very few alcoholics. In fact, most of its members are drug addicts. That does not deter him from attending weekly AA meetings for the past 2 years now. I am aware that he can relapse anytime.

The level of awareness that alcoholism can be treated is still not as widespread as drug addiction rehabilitation. Rehab cost is not cheap. One can spend up to 140,000 thousand pesos ($2800) for a 60 day program. But his life was at stake if he didn’t try to recover, right? So it was worth the expense. I am just taking it one day at a time. I too have my own recovery program because alcoholism is a family disease. Even if I am not an alcoholic, I imbibed some of his irritating habits. I am recovering. He is on the road to recovery thanks to AA meetings.

As we continued chatting, I immediately surfed and discovered that there is no [tag]Alcoholics Anonymous[/tag] (AA) Philippines website nor contact numbers on how to reach this group. But they are found in the PLDT telephone book. Look for “Alcoholics Anonymous”. , my friend added. A lot of alcoholics around the world have been saved by the AA program since 1935 but how many alcoholics in the Philippines even know that the group is active?

My friend continued

Word of mouth I guess. Psychiatrists even recommend it. My husband also attended an AA meeting in Boracay during our last summer vacation.

Alcoholics in the Philippines, there you have it. You can recover if you want to. AA is free so try that first.

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  • Bobby

    I just happened to see your entry at pinoyblog. I have the meeting schedules of AA meetings when I called the number in the telephone book. The dude emailed me this sched. I will gladly share it here:

    CONTACT NUMBERS OF ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS PHILIPPINES
    Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) hotline# +632-890-2247 / +63917-8954254 (Teena M.)
    Email: bigbook@edsamail.com.ph / mclm@edsamail.com.ph

    ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS MEETINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES

    Monday at 7:00 PM
    Holy Trinity Church
    48 A Mckinley Road
    Forbes Park Makati

    Tuesday at 730PM
    St. Andrews Church
    Reposo cor Kalayaan
    BelAir 2

    Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 8:30 PM
    Makati Medical Center
    College of Nursing Student Lounge

    Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 6:30 PM
    11th St. New Manila

    Thursday at 7:30 PM
    Holy Trinity Church
    48 A Mckinley Road
    Forbes Park Makati

    Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 PM
    Makati Medical Center
    College of Nursing Student Lounge

    Saturday at 12:30pm
    Seaman’s Club
    Bonifacio Drive
    8th St. Port Area
    Manila

    Sunday at 12 noon
    Seaman’s Club
    Bonifacio Drive
    8th St. Port Area
    Manila

  • http://www.byahilo.com Eric

    hay buti na lng naka graduate na ako sa pag iinom bago ko pa marating ang level ni mel gibson.

    sakit lang sa katawan makukuha mo jan.. tsk tsk

  • http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/ eric

    It’s quite astounding despite the adverse effects of alcoholism that our local youths are often encouraged to drink to demonstrate their inchoate machismo.

    Addiction to alcohol may also lead to addictions to other substances or behavior as well — nicotine, sugar, sexual promiscuity, marijuana, excessive spending/shopping and etc. Usually an average addict does not suffer from a single addiction alone, but from multiple addictions.

    Although alcoholism has been acknowledged a disease by our medical community, it is oftentimes, a mere symptom to a deeper-seated personal dilemma. And unfortunately, unless the addict himself acknowledges his addiction and is fully willing to combat it, no one is powerful enough to make him or her seek treatment.

    A great and timely post, indeed! A subject that must be continually discussed.

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi

    @Bobby- thanks. That will be so useful

    @eric- good you stopped before you ran out of control

    @at the other eric- You’re right. Alcoholism could be an underlying sympton of a problem. Like any other drug, alcohol can numb feelings. I think this is a topic that should be discussed extensively as alcoholism as a disease is still a new concept in our country,

  • http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/ eric

    BTW, Noemi, neglected to include the fact that my father was an alcoholic and died from it. He was never abusive or hurtful to anyone; but just the same, his death adversely affected everyone in the family. And although I never acquired a taste for alcohol, I grew up angry for his having died when I was young. Such was the hidden collateral damage brought about by alcoholism. Once I gain the strength, I will blog about this personal trauma.

  • http://niceheart.wordpress.com niceheart

    As you already know, Noemi, my father was also an alcoholic who abused my mother when he was drunk. This led to their separation and it also affected all of us greatly. My father has long been gone now, but we never really talked about the abuse that happened when my sister and I were still little girls. We’d talk about my father once in a while, but just like that pink elephant in the room, we’d just talk around how he drunk too much and how he’d pass out and never really talk about the effects had his drinking on us. It’s good that there is now an Alcoholic Anonymous there in the Philippines because I don’t think we had it back then.

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi

    @eric: when I wrote this blog entry, I surfed for blogs that discussed alcoholism in the Philippines setting. If you write about it one day, it wil add to the facts of how alcoholism affects families

    @niceheart: Yes I read about it and was truly touched. Do you mind if I link it in this entry? It’s okay if you don’t want.

  • http://niceheart.wordpress.com niceheart

    It’s okay, Noemi. I go ahead and link it. Thanks. :)

  • http://www.worthlessme.blog.com Lani

    Yes, alcoholism destroys the person and the family. I witnessed it many times. My uncles are alcoholics and they don’t want to be rehabilitated.

  • http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/ eric

    I will Noemi. I promise.

  • Bill Urell

    The disease concept is commonly accepted in the US. It is gaining in popularity around the world.

    Bill

  • http://goggle Mark Matthews

    I know a family in the Philippines that is being distroyed by Alcoholism . They were unaware of AA. I found this site and was happy to see that alcoholics anonymous is available in the Philippines. It has been the most effective way of treating the disease . It has saved many lives and families. Awareness is a first step.

  • http://yahoo.com bernard

    i have a hangover right now at this moment.kaya hinanap ko na hinanp ko na AA philippines .i need a support group.im just 27 and became adrunkardvery early.i fought with drinking in a year,after learning meditation.but is now deafeated by it again.i still wont give up.ill be going to manila.i have to find aa philippines.and ask for help.

  • tataceb

    hi everybody.

    im tata an alcoholic. im glad i surfed this site. i was looking for some article/pictures on alcoholism for my lecture to university students. im a faculty member till now who changed my teaching schedule. now all my schedules are in the morning starting at 7 am. i’m done on absentism problem when i stopped drinking 20 months ago. i used to teach during the afternoon schedule but sometimes i could not meet my students because of alcohol.

    not only that, because of alcohol, i lost my wife through separation. i committed physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse that even my eldest daughter till now hates me.

    i have a girlfriend but she left me then because after 18 years of separation i saw the pattern of my abuses to my first wife. now she is 6 months pregnant.

    i also endangered my daughter and son lives while driving drunk or with hangover. while i was working in san pablo city, laguna i was few seconds away to be hit by a passing train.

    i resigned from my job thinking that it was boring and physically exhausting. yes it was boring and exhausting because i used to open and closed karaoke bars and do field work in the morning and slept in the afternoon.

    financially i was negative despite my contract growing with magnolia chicken. now im about to recover and pay my debts.

    above all, i was spiritually bankrupt. i thank my loving God that he brought me to a rehab ( i volunteered myself for 45 days). for the first 3 weeks i struggled because i wanted to go home but after my 4th week i was afraid to go out because i felt safe. the center introduced me the 12 steps.

    thank you guys.

  • Jem

    Thanks for all the information, ma’am Noemi. My dad’s friend in community is looking for an alcoholics program so that she could get her son to recover.
    To all alcoholics, I somehow feel your pain in another way, and about another kind of dependency. There are many ways that people can get dependent. And there is always hope even at the lowest ebb of the recovery experience.

  • rose

    guys,

    how do we arrange meetings with aa philippines? need your help got a friend who is sick of drinking alcohol…

  • Alex

    I am a dry alcoholic and on a 4 month holday in the Philippines.
    I live in a vilage called San Nicolas near tayuk or Urganata. I would like to meat other alcoholics for a meeting. Who can help.

  • richard

    hi alex, if you live at San Nicolas Pangasinan near Tayug or Urdaneta, there are Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings in Baguio City just an hour
    ride from your place..

    AA Baguio meetings are Mon Wed Fri Sat 10am
    at the Baguio Cathedral Rectory.
    and Mon Wed Fri 6PM at the Silungan Center between Barrio Fiesta and NBI very near SM Baguio.

    See you there brother….

  • Katrin

    I want to thank the man who posted the meeting list. I am mailing it from Denmark to my boyfriend who is working in Manila right now.
    I am most grateful.

  • Elena

    Hello,

    I am trying to find an AA meeting in Caloocan City.
    Do you have the address or telephone number

  • http://www.southbaybooks.com Stanley M.

    Hi,
    I will be visiting Boracy in less that two weeks and would love to find a meeting there (hey, even “whereever two or more are gathered” works!)

    I am sober almost 25 years and absolutely insist on enjoying life – and I do. (check out my book “The Glumlot Letters” at amazon or google, etc.)

    write to me at gratt2d at yahoo THX!
    Stanley M.

  • Del

    I met AA in Baguio when I monitored one of the patient attending AA meetings and everyone in the group was inviting me to attend the. Im not an alcoholic but my father died from alcohol. I never attended a single meeting, because it scares me. But i was kind of thinking of it most of the time. that is just what i really dont understand.

  • ronnie

    glad to find this site,, its really helpful for us recovering. even reading the sharing really reminds me of my desease,,a site were we can share our strenght and hope.more power buddy.

  • Romy

    i am trying to find an AA group or any alcoholic rehab center in Bohol or Cebu. Can anybody help me find a place or contact person?

  • Adam

    Hello:

    My addiction is not with alcohol but with sex; I’ve led a promiscuous, guilt-filled life these past three years, moving from one partner to another. Do you know of a support group in Metro Manila I can turn to? Please help me…

  • http://aboutmyrecovery.com Noemi

    To all those wanting to know the meetings, contact this

    CONTACT NUMBERS OF ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS PHILIPPINES
    Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) hotline# +632-890-2247 / +63917-8954254 (Teena M.)
    Telefax 890-2247
    Email: bigbook@edsamail.com.ph / mclm@edsamail.com.ph

    TO Adam: please contact a counselor. They will refer you to the anonymous group. You have to understand that one can’t just step in without referral.

  • brian m

    Hi –

    I’m visiting from Los Angeles – Looking for meetings near the Dusit hotel in downtown. Are there any? I’m also out working near here:

    Buencamino Street, Alabang
    Muntinlupa City
    Philippines 1770

    thanks.

    -tbf

  • queen

    please tell me which rehab you went. i want to help my father. he is now 68 years old and still very much hook in taking alcohol. i want him to live his remaining life with dignity. he’s been into this addiction for almost 40 years now. we grew up in a miserable condition because of his vice. please help me contact the rehab that helped you. thanks so much.

  • elena

    do you have meeting in Borocay???thanks

  • cc

    Thank you for this blogpost. I was looking for the AA website for the Philippines, and thankfully, Google led me here. I called the hotline and got a very nice response. If not for this post….I can’t say how grateful I am. Thanks again.

  • Brian

    Howdy. My name is Brian W. I live in nthe mountains of Colorado USA. I am married to a Filipina from Pangasinan. This summer we plan to travel to Pangasinan and I was going to try to start a meeting in Urdaneta City. I know AA is alive and well in the Philippines but it is too bad that there aren’t more meetings in the more rural areas. My wife has alot of alcoholic relatives and i’d like to try to help them. I’m trying to figure out why the Philippines is having such a hard time grabbing on to this simple program. The only thing I can come up with is that here in the US you can get sober and then achieve anything. Correct me if i’m wrong but it seems to me that in more impoverished countries the hopelessness drunk or sober keeps people away from getting sober. I need to know more about Philippine AA. I think helping parents get sober will also help the little children I encounter selling flower necklaces and begging in the streets. (Which is a main concern of mine)..

  • lej

    Hi i would like to inquire if you guys know any alcohol abuse rehab center in manila or somewhere in luzon. thanks

  • Brian

    Its never too late to get sober. Does your father read English or Tagalog? The Big Book of AA has been translated. One suggestion out of the book is too leave a copy of the book where he can find it. Another thing you can do is to contact members of AA and have them do a 12 step call on him. They will share with him what it was like, what happened, and what its like now. He should be able to relate with them..

  • Expat & Alcoholic in Makati

    My d.o.s. is 3/14/01. I’ve been doing business here in Makati for 2.5 months, now without a meeting. You can say my spiritual well is running dry and I’m in the process of poking around to find other drunks that speak English in metro Manila.

    I called Manila’s Intergroup last night. They gave me a meeting for today that’s an hour away via taxi from my current location (which is the Central Business District). So, I will have to employ due diligence just like anything else here to discover other meetings in and around the CBD. After I do my research, I might have to be pro-active and build an informational website for A.A. foreigners visiting metro Manila.

    Re: Brian W.
    I was married to a Pinay for 9 years, and now I’m here. The Pilipinas is a 3rd-world country, bro. People are dying in the streets of diseases that are non-existent in main-stream America. The family defines your role, here. No one leaves their family in the Phil, diba? Drinking is a family pattern. The whole family has to change … and that is not going to happen, here. Sorry.

  • brian

    Dude. Go to AAPhilippines@yahoo.com Its a website chat room thing if you have a Yahoo account. Or you can make one. I wasn’t trying to down the Philippine AA. I was just confussed because of the culture difference. In the basement of Makati Hospital where the nurses are lsctured there is a meeting twice a week. Go to Makati Medical center and ask them where it is. I’ll also look up the website for meetings and get back to you. Your attitude of starting an info website was that of mine too until I found on that Yahoo site everything is still there. Those guys set me straight and knocked me down a little bit. Your right my attitude was a little ethnocentrical. I’ll get back to you. Hang in there bro, San Miguel is cheap but, the price of giving up the fight is astronomical.

  • brian

    This blog has all sorts of good AA connections and the Makati City meeting is posted. Once again try the Philippine AA Yahoo chatrooms. They help alot..Good luck brother, Brian..

  • Joe W.

    Hi. Living in san Antonio, Tx now. Lived in the Angeles area for about 5 yrs. sober 23 years. There are meetings about four times a week in the Fields ave. area of Angeles. Post # 10 American Legion about 3 times a week at 12 noon. Mostly Americans , Australians. Solid meeting. Much long term sobriety. It is sad there is not more AA in the PI. Especially the Manila area. But , there is not. Joe W.

  • Brian

    Howdy Joe. I’m starting to understand the culture difference between the US and the Philippines. If I visit it will be up to me to find a meeting in Bagio City or Makati. If I can find someone from the village who actually wants to get sober, I can bring them to a meeting and then, if they wish, they themselves can try to start a meeting closer to the village. I’ll help to start it when i’m there. I know the next time I visit the Philipppines i’ll bring alot of literature, and maybe even a couple of meeting start up kits with the preamble and some pamphlets. Peace everyone, and in conclusion i’ll quote a part from my favorite section of the Big Book. “There are many situations which arise out of the phenomenon of craving which cause men to make the supreme sacrifice rather than continue to fight” p.XXX From the Doctors Opinion. I use to give in easily, I had a million excuses like, I’m too nervous, or those people at the meeting annoy me. No more excuses for me. The miracle has happened for me. I stuck it out and now i’m happy, joyous and free. AA is my life and this really is livin’. This is for the new people, Sometimes you have to struggle, but the miracle WILL happen if you work the program the way it was made to be worked. In the morning ask God (on your knees) to please keep you sober for the day. Try to hit a meeting that day, call your sponser or try to talk with another alcoholic , be loving, tolerant and kind, and at the end of the day get (on your knees again!) , Thank God for another day Sober. See Ya, Brian…

  • Gabriel

    Thank you for this post.

    I am just 20 years old and I want to stop my addiction to alcohol. It just hit me these past few days that I do have an alcohol problem and I want to get better. My addiction has gone so bad that it has affected my relationship with my girlfriend. One night, I was so drunk that I raised a hand on my girlfriend. I hurt her physically and emotionally. What’s worse, is that I barely remember what happened the next day. I am really sorry for what I did and I want to change for the better.

    I will use the information posted here and ask for help immediately.

    Thank you once again.

  • Expat & Alcoholic in Makati

    Hang in there Gabriel, the worst is yet to come — but it’s worth it if you can survive early recovery.

  • Joe W.

    Sober 24 years through AA . Lived in the PI for about 5 years. In Texas now . Many meetings in Texas. Much long term sobriety . But, the PI needs more AA meetings and a more positive attitude toward the Alcohol problem . In a country of about 100 million , 10 million in Manila , AA practically hardly exists. In any English speaking country , the AA directory is the size of a small phone book. Many AA Club Houses. Extensive re-hab programs. Not the PI . PI men seem to be content to sit around the Sari-Sari drinking cheap Ginebra until they die. The families watch them die. ” shabu ” , meth-amphetamine is widely used , also. Read the Big Book of AA . The Answers are all there. But, a person has to ” want ” sobriety. The First Step of AA says that. Oh. A lot of AA meetings in Pampanga in the Red Light area. POST # 10 , American Legion. Contact Dave or Pat. Big group.

  • Brian

    Gabriel: Wherever you live, find a meeting and explain how you feel to the group. You won’t be saying anything they haven’t heard before. I know if it was me, after a couple of days I would be thinking, maybe i’m making too much of this alcohol thing and regretfully give it another try. If you are being completely honest, then so will I. In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous it says, “there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an Alcoholic” (p. 31). Get a B.B. and read that chapter. It will explain the 1st step. In the beginning of the B.B. the Doctor’s Opinion explains the uncontrollable phenomenon of craving and why we drink. Being an Alcoholic is not a horrible thing, not doing something about it is. I am a grateful Recovered Alcoholic and new my life has just begun. At 20 years old you can too be happy, joyous and free for the next 80 years. Hang in there, Good Luck Brother, AA is a blast once the miracle happens. If you stick too it you’ll someday see what I mean, that’s a promise, Brian..

  • Brian

    I think one of the big reasons for the sobriety struggle in PI is because of the hopelessness there. Here we can get sober and achieve anything. In the Philippines thanks to the corruption and the rich getting richer, some people think whats the use. The only reason I can see to get sober in PI is to help others. I know that would probably work for me. My wife said its too hard because of the culture difference. Filipinos are strong and proud and have trouble admitting a weakness. Now after saying that, I don’t want everyone beating on my comment. I had trouble trying to figure it out also. Half of my wifes family are probably drunk right now. Those are the best reasons I could come up with. I’m sure we are not the first to try to make sobriety strong in PI since 1935.

  • Expat & Alcoholic in Makati

    Bahala na! Filipinos are fatalistic, di ba? Stick around in AA long enough in any country, and it’s easy to acquire the same attitude. I’ve witnessed so many friends past/present go back out that I react by counting my blessings — then, I say something like, “Come what may!” If the most natural thing in the world for an alcoholic is to drink, then the most un-natural thing in the world for an alcoholic is to NOT take a drink. I’m less than a micron-traveling-at-the-speed-of-light away from taking my next drink … in my head.

    “Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body.” (p.23)
    “I knew from that moment I had an alcoholic mind.” (p.42)

    “But for the Grace of God …”

  • jemuel

    guys, i have a friend who has been in rehab centers. I came across with this AA. Is AA some kind of A REHAB? my friend doesnt want to go to rehab anymore. I see that his life is already ruined with alcoholism. Awang-awa na nga ako sa kanya pati sa family nya. I am looking forward to hear from you. pls do get in touch. we really need serious help. thanks. i need someone to talk too regarding alcoholism.

    blessings,

    jemuel

  • Brian

    Go to http://www.AA.org and you can read the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous online. The Doctors Opinion will explain why the Alcoholic gets the phenomenon of craving and why we can’t leave it alone. Chap 1 is Bill Wilson’s story (founder of AA), and what it was like for him. Chap 2 is “There is a solution”, which is what we can do about or malady. And chap. 3 is all about the 1st step of our 12-step recovery program. Reading this a couple of times will help you understand the AA program. The AA preamble which is read at the start of most meetings reads: AA is a fellowship of men and women who shair their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help othersto recover from Alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a disire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, poltics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. (End). AA is a simple yet not easy program, our whole program is outlined in the first 164 pages of the book of Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book). The only thing is that the alcoholic has to want to quit, that’s the hard part. When they decide they have had enough, that is when AA works. Good Luck with your friend, Brian..

  • Expat & Alcoholic in Makati

    If your friend already spent time in rehab, then he/she should already have information on attending meetings, or even how to contact someone who knows about the meetings. Desperation is a good place to be.

  • la

    hi,just wondering..have u found any rehab centres for alcoholics here in Phil? coz i also wanna know some info..tnx!

  • LA

    hi im a girlfriend of an alcoholic and i really am that desperate of looking for a way so my boyfriend would change and recover..we’ve been together for 6 yrs and his addiction started like 2 yrs ago..I really dont know what to do ‘coz sometimes I’m in the point of leaving him but I can’t coz my conscience is stopping me–for you know He had a lot of issues especially when it comes to FAMILY..I also know for a fact that I love him that’s why I dont wanna leave him esp now that i know he needs me the most. He always tells me when he’s sober that he wanted to change,and I see him trying, its just that sometimes he can’t. Right know, Im thinkin’ of rehab but I dont know where and how much would it cost..So pls if there’s anyone who can read this up, pls give me some advice or info about how I could end up his adddiction..thanks!!

  • Brian

    One thing you could do is to make sure he is aware of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. You can’t make an Alcoholic stop drinking because that is what you wish. He needs to want to stop. Don’t feel guilty about anything, you have to do what you have to do. You do not need to go down with him. You should get a copy of the book Alcoholics Anonymous so maybe you could understand the disease a little bit better. Try to leave the book where he may see it and may want to pick it up himself. You might want to find where the nearest AA group meets and contact that group to see if someone there could help. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous can be found on line at http://www.aa.org and you’ll also find much more helpful info. Remember, you didn’t cause his disease, and can niether control it or cure it. Good Luck, Brian..

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