Resources

Secular AA links and reading

A growing resource hub for secular AA meetings, organizations, literature, events, technology, and books. Links should be reviewed periodically before launch and after major site updates.

Secular steps

Example secular Twelve Step language

See draft step wording and discussion prompts that can be replaced by the exact version used by local groups.

View step examples

Local AA and service

Local AA service resources for Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, and Western Quebec.

Ottawa Area Intergroup

The National Capital Region's online resource for Alcoholics Anonymous, including meeting listings, help, service, events, and local contact information.

ottawaaa.org/

Secular AA organizations and hubs

Starting points for secular AA, agnostic AA, atheist AA, freethinker groups, conferences, service, and shared resources.

Meeting lists and finders

Useful places to find secular, agnostic, atheist, freethinker, and online AA meetings.

Official AA literature useful to secular members

Conference-approved or AA-published material that can help show there is room in AA for believers and non-believers alike.

Events, recordings, and talks

Places to look for secular AA conferences, speaker events, recordings, and regional roundups.

SOAAR

Secular Ontario AA Roundup site, useful as an Ontario event reference and archive.

soaar.ca/

Books

Reading for secular recovery and AA history

This list mixes AA-published literature, secular step books, practical recovery writing, and history. Inclusion is not an endorsement by AA World Services or any service body.

AA literature

Living Sober

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services · 1979

AA-published practical guidance for day-to-day sobriety: avoiding the first drink, handling social situations, managing cravings, and building sober routines.

Secular steps

The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide to Recovery

Martha Cleveland and Arlys G. · 2014

A widely used secular interpretation of the Twelve Steps that keeps the action and accountability of step work while replacing theistic language.

Staying Sober Without God: The Practical 12 Steps to Long-Term Recovery from Alcoholism and Addictions

Jeffrey Munn · 2019 / 2023

A plainspoken secular recovery guide built around practical action, self-honesty, emotional growth, and long-term maintenance, with workbook material available separately.

Twelve Secular Steps: An Addiction Recovery Guide

Dr. Bill W. (PhD) · 2018

A step-work guide that reframes the Twelve Steps in secular language for people who want recovery tools without relying on supernatural belief.

We're Not All Egomaniacs: Adapting the Twelve Steps for Alcoholics with Low Self-Esteem

Beth Aich · 2021

A practical reworking of the Twelve Steps for people whose drinking was shaped more by shame, fear, or low self-worth than by grandiosity.

Practice

Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life

Joe C. · 2013

Daily readings for agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, and anyone who wants Twelve Step reflection without having to translate religious language.

Daily Reflections for Modern Twelve Step Recovery: A Contemporary Recovery Companion

Bob K. · 2025

Short contemporary reflections for people using Twelve Step recovery today, with language that is direct, modern, and accessible.

Modern 12 Step Recovery: Alcoholics Anonymous for the 21st Century

Glenn Rader · 2021

A contemporary guide to Twelve Step recovery that emphasizes lived experience, practical change, and language that can work for modern readers.

History

Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous

Ernest Kurtz · 1991

A major scholarly history of AA's origins, ideas, culture, and early development, often cited by people studying how the fellowship took shape.

Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A.

William H. Schaberg · 2019

A detailed account of how Alcoholics Anonymous' foundational text was written, edited, funded, argued over, and published.

Carl Jung and Alcoholics Anonymous

Ian McCabe · 2018

A historical and psychological look at Carl Jung's influence on early AA ideas, especially spiritual experience, transformation, and recovery.