This month the H & I Committee continued to send out the ACA recovery message by utilizing one of the tools mentioned in the WSO H&I Guidelines. The committee sent out almost two dozen letters to recovery centers and hospitals in the South Florida area. We can help you send out letters in your community if you contact us at the email address at the end of this report.

The primary purpose of taking H&I meetings into the institutions is to carry the ACA message to those who are otherwise unable to leave the facility to attend ACA meetings.

Bringing the ACA message to hospitals and institutions requires that we carry a clear ACA message on the ACA steps, meeting attendance, sponsorship, and emotional sobriety. We provide ACA literature to meeting attendees and H&I staff and make meeting information available and accessible.

The following qualities are shared by all ACA H&I Meetings:
• The meeting is not an ACA group, but a service provided by an area's H&I subcommittee of a Region, Intergroup, or where there are no Regions and Intergroups, a Group's H&I committee.
• The H&I meeting takes place in facilities where adult children do not have access to other ACA meetings.
• Due to the institution's rules, the meeting must be closed to outside participation by ACA members other than the ACA meeting leaders or chairpersons.

It is a great way to start an ACA meeting in your community if one doesn't exist. The facility provides the meeting space and most of the attendees, and you can bring your experience, strength, and hope and the ACA literature!

Below is a link to a pdf on the WSO website that explains everything about H&I and the importance of doing this service work. There are sample letters beginning on page 5 of the 10-page pdf that will help you make the initial contact. Please let us know if you are doing H&I work so we can highlight it in the future editions of the ComLine. You can contact us at [email protected].

The following is a broken link that was removed:   http://files.adultchildren.org/uploads/all/translations/all/Hospitals_and_Institutions_EN-US_LTR.pdf