Tag Archives: dcig

Responders Needed for Our Local Help Line

The AA Telephone Helpline is always answered by a recovering alcoholic, usually from the Devon and Cornwall region.

The helpline is available to all and serves a variety of needs, but its primary purpose is to carry AA’s message of recovery to those still suffering from active alcoholism.

Additionally it can provide help, support and information in the following areas;

      • Someone who needs help with an alcohol problem
      • A relative or friend of someone with an alcohol problem
      • An employer with an employee with an alcohol problem
      • General enquiries such as Website Feedback

The AA Helpline always requires people who are willing to be telephone responders. The Helpline is covered by 4 Intergroup areas, Devon Central, South Devon, Plymouth and Cornwall.

The telephone shifts are either a morning, 8.30am-1pm, afternoon, 1pm-6pm or evening,6pm-10pm once every 3 weeks. The requirements for a prospective responder are as follow:

      • 12 months continuous sobriety
      • Home Group
      • Sponsor
      • Telephone landline or mobile number
      • Internet access

 

If you would like to volunteer for a shift or would like further information, then please feel free to contact Rich at the following email address, telephones.devonc@aamail.org .

Our Website

News

About the site

As many will know, the old site was launched in May 2011 and after 10 years plus, it was much in need of a refresh both in ‘look and feel’ and technically.  Consequently, on March 10, 2022  we launched an all-new site which addresses both issues.  The new site is  much  newer technology which improves the  adding  and managing of content as well as keeping the site up to date and secure. We believe that most pages will be familiar but also updated with current links and up to date information wherever necessary. All of this ‘slow changing information’ is held in pages, accessed from the menu at the top of each page.  This also gives easy discovery for new visitors and new members. More frequent visitors, primarily engaged AA members, should find navigation, using the Tag Blocks, will give quicker and easier access to fast changing information on meetings and local AA news.

TAGS and Tag Blocks

This is a newer and highly effective way to navigate the site. Most pages will have a Tags Block  as you can see on the right (or below if you are using a phone or tablet).  All the meetings are accessible from the Days Tags at the start of the Tag Block.  These run form ‘1 Sun’ to ‘7 Sat’ and give you complete and fast access to all our meetings on any given day. The tags and categories which they hold will allow  you to find Meetings and News items with ease. So if you are looking for a traditional ( F2F) meeting you just click on the ‘Traditional’  tag and  wherever you are, you will end up on the Meetings and News page with a list of Traditional Meetings (including,  currently 2 Hybrids).  Now entering November 2023 most meetings have reverted to our traditional F2F meeting  but we still have 5 Zooms and 2 Hybrids.  The ‘online’ tag will find the 5 Zooms plus the 2 Hybrids. If you need the latest WTF just click the ‘help’ Tag and then click the link on the WTF post. The same approach will work for Questions for Conference ( QfC) etc. There are tags for the days of the week Sunday to Saturday. These will give you all the meetings for the respective day.  Just have a play and see what you can find and one last thing: for visitors checking for wheelchair access, please use the ‘access tag’ in the Tags Block on the right or at the bottom if using a phone.

Categories

If you wanted to see all News Posts then select ‘News’  from Categories dropdown.  The categories will also tell you how many Meetings, News item etc that we currently have. If you want all the Intergroup news click the ‘dcig’ Category.

Tags and Categories help us to find information which changes more frequently to that on pages.

News Ticker

Latest news and meetings changes will appear on the Latest News ‘Ticker’ on the Welcome  and the Resources pages.

And Don’t Forget to try the Search – Its awesome.

The NHS have some interesting data on the impact of Alcoholism. Just type ‘NHS’ and see where you end up!

Feedback and Fault Reporting

Any questions, suggestions or if you find something that is broken or not working please use the Contact US link either here or above on the main menu.

Devon Central Intergroup March 2022

 

Creating a New Group (GSR) Email

At the DCIG  meeting (12th Feb 2023), we had a discussion on the GSR email account transfers which accompany the change to a new GSR and the many stressful situations that often ensue. If the new GSR cannot take over the email then the only way forward is to create a new Gmail account. There was a strong argument to keep what we had from one group. However it is worth saying at the outset that if a group has not had any problems using the existing email then they simply carry on doing so but if they have problems now or in the future and cannot use the existing email then a new Group Email can be set up as discussed below. And as ever  what follows is a suggestion on a reasonable way to proceed.

Directly after intergroup, the Tiverton GSR  had the problem and  arrived at a nice  idea for a new email address which with some additional consideration  became town.day.am/pm.yymm(@gmail.com). The last bit YYMM is the year and month of the new GSR being appointed and setting up the new email.

 By way of example, have a look these emails for three Sunday Meetings in the suggested format: exe.sun.am.2201, exm.sun.pm.2108, sea.sun.pm.2004. (GSR example changes Jan 22, Aug 21 and Apr 20). And to be crystal clear the three preceding emails are examples and not real emails.

This new format allows us all to see from the email address:

    • Where the Meeting is running.
    • What day it runs on.
    • Is it in the Morning or Evening.
    • When did the GSR take on the role?

 

The combo will give us an easy unique email address. And all that has to change is the new GSR date – yymm which was the heart of  the Tiverton GSR’s design.

When the new mail account is created the recovery email and the mobile should be those of the new GSR.  When that GSR steps down the succeeding GSR will repeat the process of setting up the new email by changing the YYMM at the end of the group email (town.day.am/pm). When the email change is in place please forward the new email address to the DCIG Secretary and ECLO.

To create a new  gmail account please use the this link:

 https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp

Need Help Using Our Website ?

How to use devonaa.org.uk.  An ECLO  Guided tour

For those new to the DCIG Website or the Internet in general, the Devon Central ECLO offers a 30 minute workshop on Zoom to help introduce you to the site – both content and function. Please email dcigeclo@gmail.com for a date and time.

 

 

The Chit System

For website visitors and members

The chit (confirmation of attendance) system is a scheme providing members with proof of attendance at a particular AA meeting, (issued by a group officer). These can be given by the member to any agency (probation officers/offender managers, social services, health, employment, professional disciplinary bodies, courts/legal representatives or any other body) requesting proof of attendance, showing commitment to recovery.
Initially endorsed by the 1987 AA General Service Conference in co-operation with Probationary Services, the chit system was extended at the 2017 General Service Conference to include any other agency requiring confirmation of attendance. As the member voluntarily “self-reports” their attendance, group anonymity is preserved. Chits only confirm attendance and do not verify sobriety.

Chits Meetings List