Q: My sponsee wants to do X, Y, or Z. What do I advise?

Sponsees will sometimes come up with the idea of inpatient treatment, counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, using psychedelics, sweat lodges, weekend retreats with micro-dosing shamans, going to Nepal, Bhutan, or the Amazon rainforest in search of mystics, getting diagnosed with this or that, getting prescriptions for mind- or mood-altering medication, taking a break from AA, etc.

What do I say?

Here's a good answer:

"I love AA and Al-Anon. God, the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, the Twelve Concepts, fellowship, service, sponsorship, prayer, meditation, and all these two organisations have to offer have solved all of my problems. All I have had to do is get on with it. If you want what I have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, then you can do what I did. If you want to adopt another approach, that's your business, not mine."

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