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What is Bridging the Gap?
Bridging the Gap (BTG) helps alcoholics transition smoothly from treatment centers, hospitals, and correctional facilities to AA meetings in their local community.
Volunteer AA members serve as Temporary Contacts, accompanying newcomers to up to six meetings and introducing them to other members in their AA community.
Matches are typically made by gender and, when possible, by age. This service isn’t intended to create a sponsor–sponsee relationship, but simply to offer support and connection.
Like all 12th Step work, participation in BTG is strictly voluntary and never compensated.
District 21 BTG is part of the CNIA Area 07 Bridging the Gap Committee, working closely with Treatment, Corrections, and Hospitals & Institutions (H&I) committees. Together, we help fulfill AA’s primary purpose, as expressed in Tradition Five:
“Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”
What A.A. and Bridging the Gap do
- Helps people with a desire to stop drinking find a solution to their problem
- Helps the new member to connection to A.A. outside of institutions
What A.A. and Bridging the Gap do not do
- Charge dues or fees
- Operate clinics or drying out facilities
- Provide housing, meals or transportation
- Keep membership records
- Practice medicine, psychiatry or nursing
- Offer religious services
- Offer professional counseling
Transitioning into A.A. from Treatment or Incarceration
Getting back to the “real world” isn’t always easy for an alcoholic. We admitted that our first days out were often challenging , and we didn’t know if we would stay sober. One of the more “slippery” places in the journey to sobriety is between the door of the facility and the nearest A.A. group or meeting .
Bridging the Gap is a temporary A.A. contact program to help you make the transition from treatment or incarceration into the A.A. community. Once you are discharged or released, an A.A. volunteer will contact you by phone and make arrangements to meet you at your first one to three meetings, explain the A.A. program and the importance of finding a sponsor and help get you connected into the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
There are two ways to contact us and we will make every effort to reach you on the day of your release.
- Leave us a message at (916) 426-6950 (Sorry no collect calls) and please include:
- Name
- Phone number
- Date of release
- City where you will be living
2. OR Fill out an online form below and submit.
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of A.A. – All personal information is protected and destroyed after use.
Becoming a BTG Volunteer
The purpose of Bridging the Gap is to assist the new member being released from a treatment center or correctional facility in making a successful transition to Alcoholics Anonymous in the community where they will be living.
Do you have 6 months in the program? If so, do you have a desire to be of service in Alcoholics Anonymous? Are you interested in doing real 12th step work? Then being a “temporary contact” in Bridging the Gap may be just what you are looking for.
Once you are on the Volunteer roster for BTG, if we have a contact request from someone who is the same gender, in the same age range and living in the city where you go to meetings, you would be contacted by our BTG committee member to ask if you are available. If you are and are willing, we provide the contact information and you would make arrangements to meet the new A.A. member at a meeting. You can also work in tandem with another volunteer team member.
The idea is to introduce the newcomer to other A.A. members, ensure that they get phone numbers of several A.A. members for support and share our experience of sponsorship as well as the value of a home group.
To become a volunteer, fill out the form below.
To learn more, join our online monthly business meeting, the first Tuesday of every month @ 6:30.
BTG Volunteer Form
Use the arrows to move between questions
To learn more about Bridging the Gap (P-49) or becoming a contact volunteer, see the pamphlet below.
© The above graphic is used with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.