If someone you love is in AWNA, or thinking about it, you may have arrived at this page with a complicated mixture of relief and apprehension. Relief because they are getting help; apprehension because you have heard about 12-step programs and you are not sure what kind of thing they are about to step into. This page is for you. It is short and honest.
What AWNA actually is
AWNA is a free, anonymous, online twelve-step fellowship for people seeking to recover from alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine, and sugar and carbohydrates. Meetings are online every day of the week at 3 PM Eastern on WhatsApp. There is no fee, no membership, no contract. Members attend quietly if they wish. Many simply listen.
AWNA is not a cult, not a religion, not a treatment program, not a billing operation. It does not pressure members to come. It does not contact people. It has no central office and no employees. It is what it appears to be: a small group of people who help each other recover by sitting in the same online room and sharing honestly.
For more detail, the About page is the canonical introduction. For the structure of a meeting, see what happens at a meeting.
What AWNA doesn't ask of you
AWNA does not require anything of the family member or friend. Specifically:
- You do not need to attend meetings yourself.
- You do not need to abstain from anything.
- You do not need to become religious or spiritual to support someone who is using a Higher Power frame for their recovery.
- You do not need to stop drinking coffee at your kitchen table, or stop eating dessert in front of them. (Most members do not ask this of the people they live with — see below for the nuance.)
- You do not need to learn the Twelve Steps, the readings, or the language. You can if you want; it is not required.
What you can do, that genuinely helps
- Believe them when they tell you what their addiction is. If they tell you sugar is a substance for them, treat it the way you would treat alcohol if they had told you that — not as a quirky choice, but as the real thing it is. The substances are not equivalent in danger, but they are equivalent in the role they play in your loved one's life.
- Don't push the substance. Don't offer the slice of birthday cake "just this once." Don't suggest they should be able to moderate. Don't make their abstinence harder by treating it as optional. The same rule that applies to a recovering alcoholic at a wedding — don't offer them champagne — applies to a recovering sugar addict at the same wedding.
- Don't ask, in detail, what they shared in a meeting. What is said in the room stays in the room — including for you. The boundary is part of how the program works. If they want to tell you, they will.
- Let them keep their anonymity. Don't post about their recovery on social media. Don't introduce them as "in AA" or "in AWNA" to others. Don't tell extended family without asking. Their anonymity is theirs.
- Show up for the ordinary parts of life. Recovery is held together by ordinary days — meals together, walks, conversations that have nothing to do with substances. The fellowship handles the program; you handle the ordinariness around it. Both matter.
- Get your own support. See the next section.
What to avoid
- Trying to control their program. You cannot make them go to meetings. You cannot make them work the steps. Attempting either tends to push the work backwards.
- Acting as a sponsor. A sponsor is another member of the same fellowship — not a partner, parent, or friend. The dynamics are different and the program is structured around it.
- Surveilling. Don't check their food, their bag, their phone. Anonymity inside the home matters too.
- Making their recovery yours. If you find yourself thinking about their program more than they do, you may be carrying weight that is not yours. Al-Anon (below) exists for this.
About the kitchen
People who live with an AWNA member often ask: do I have to stop bringing sugar into the house? The honest answer varies by household.
Most members do not ask housemates to abstain. They develop a personal practice that holds with the substances around them — much as a recovering alcoholic learns to live in a society where alcohol is sold on every corner. Some members, in early recovery, do ask for specific kitchens to be substance-free for a while, particularly with sugar. This is a conversation to have with the person, not a rule to assume.
The exception is when a household choice creates a meaningful daily challenge — e.g., bringing in the exact food they binge on, repeatedly. There the conversation is worth having.
Your own support
Loving someone in active addiction — or in early recovery — is exhausting and isolating. You also need a place to take it. The fellowships built for this:
- Al-Anon Family Groups — for families and friends of alcoholics. Vast, accessible, free, anonymous. Many AWNA members' partners attend Al-Anon and find it changes their own life regardless of what happens in their loved one's recovery.
- Nar-Anon — for families and friends of people with drug addiction. Same structure as Al-Anon.
- SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-HELP (4357), free 24/7. Provides referral and support for family members as well as the person using.
- SMART Recovery Family & Friends — a secular alternative to Al-Anon, evidence-based.
None of these is specific to AWNA, but all are entirely compatible. The Al-Anon principle that the family member's recovery is separate from — and equally important as — the addict's recovery applies fully here.
If they are in crisis
If your loved one is in immediate medical or mental-health crisis — acute withdrawal, suicidal ideation, overdose risk — use emergency resources first. Our safety page lists hotlines for the US, UK, EU, and elsewhere. The fellowship is not equipped for crisis. The lines on that page are.