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Jennie Rhodes
Axarquía
Tuesday, 6 May 2025, 18:56
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) held a public information session for charities and organisations in the Axarquía area of Malaga province on Tuesday 6 May in collaboration with the British Consulate in Malaga.
Spokespersons from both entities were joined by representatives from Lux Mundi, the volunteer interpreters at the Axarquía hospital and other groups that provide support to English-speaking foreign residents, to find out more about how to advertise AA’s support network in the east of Malaga area.
The AA spokespeople explained that meetings are free and held weekly in Torre del Mar, Nerja, Malaga city and throughout Andalucía, and that there is also a Zoom meeting in the Axarquía. There has been an English-speaking group in the Axarquía for over 20 years and more than 50 meetings take place each week along the whole Costa del Sol. “Nobody living on the coast is more than a 30-minute journey from their nearest meeting,” participants learned.
As well as the physical and online meetings, there is also a website and helpline in English and information can be found in chemist’s, bus stops, hospitals and health centres and in English-language media along the coast.
The group also provides support to family members of people with addiction including to children and teenagers. They do outreach work in English-language schools in the south of Spain and say that this is vital, not only to try to warn youngsters of the dangers of alcohol, but also to support them in the event that they live with a family member who “struggles with alcohol use”.
Four people gave moving accounts of their own experiences with alcoholism and about how AA has helped them to turn their lives around. They included people who were brought up in environments where alcoholism was already prevalent, to people who started drinking socially and progressed to becoming addicted. “AA saved my life,” one person revealed and others explained how by receiving help and helping others in similar situations to theirs provided the support and “family” they needed in their recovery.
There were also stories from people who had been given support by AA because of a family member who was an alcoholic and anecdotes from some of the volunteers from other charities about how they have witnessed the support that AA has provided people.
In Torre del Mar the group meets at the Danish Club on Paseo Marítimo Levante every Monday at 7pm, while in Nerja there are a number of meetings throughout the week. Click here for a full list of meetings in English in Andalucía. The English-language helpline number in Spain is: +34 600 379 110.
AA provides a twelve-step programme that “emphasizes personal growth, spiritual principles and mutual support” and “welcomes anyone with a desire to stop drinking” relying on “voluntary contributions from its members”. It does not offer therapy or counselling, but works as a “complementary resource alongside other forms of support, including professional and community-based services”.
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