Thanks for your question. The short answer is yes, you can join Misery Addicts Anonymous regardless of your religious beliefs or non-beliefs.

MAA, like most 12 Step Programs, has a strong spiritual as opposed to religious foundation. While many in the program think of their Higher Power as God this is not a requirement. Many others view their Higher Power as a Universal Spirit, a higher level of consciousness or whatever else they choose to define. Even among those who call their Higher Power God, many define that God in ways that may be radically different than how the religion of their youth defined God.

In the 12 Step Tradition we follow, it’s important for recovery to accept the idea of a Higher Power but how you define it is entirely up to you. Over the years there have been many atheists and agnostics as well as people of all faiths who have found serenity and recovery through the 12 Steps.

If you think this might work for you we invite you to join us on Saturday mornings or Thursday evenings (see miseryaddicts.org/ssa-meetings). We recommend you attend several meetings before you make a final decision.

Regardless we wish you every success in your struggle with misery addiction.

We’re still a very young organization. At this time we’re only offering 2 phone meetings and 1 face-to-face meeting in Calgary. See http://miseryaddicts.org/ssa-meetings for Misery Addict Meeting Information. Thanks for your inquiry and good luck to you.

Thank you for your interest in the Misery Addicts Anonymous/Self Sabotagers Anonymous 12 Step Fellowship.

Currently we do not have meetings in LA County. We do offer 2 phone meetings, one on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Pacific and the other on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Pacific. Connect information is available here: http://miseryaddicts.org/ssa-meetings. We also recommend, if you don’t have it, Anne Katherine’s book, When Misery is Compay. Good luck in your journey. There is hope.