Are you in recovery from alcohol and/or drugs? Are you thinking of moving to or visiting the St. Louis, Missouri, area? Let me give a few insider tips of some things to see and do in St. Louis that are conducive to your sobriety.
There are several local 12-Step facilities and meeting houses that offer great meetings and great people. Most of the places I will be mentioning are in reference to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, but there are wonderful CA and NA meetings all over too. Always remember, it doesn’t matter what your “ism” is, attendance at a closed AA meeting only requires the desire to stop drinking. Phone numbers and addresses are available at the end of the article.
North County Office is an AA facility located just a few minutes from Lambert Airport in North St. Louis County. NCO offers meetings everyday every few hours. There are open and closed meetings available. The office is open for meetings and between meetings from about 7am-10pm during the week, and 12pm on the weekends. There are often people playing dominoes or just hanging out you can chat with during the between time. The office is strictly non-smoking, but there are lots of smokers so feel free to step outside as needed for your nicotine fix. NCO also offers lots of literature, birthday coins and cards, bumper stickers, jewelry, and other 12-Step odds and ends. The phones are always staffed to answer your questions, and offer assistance and resources from about 7am until 10pm everyday. Most of the meetings run from an hour to an hour and a half. Often, around the winter holidays, NCO will be open round the clock to help cope with those Christmas and Turkey Day blues. Just check with the office for specific hours and times during this season. It’s a friendly, down to earth facility, and it’s one of my favorites.
In Dog Town, near the St. Louis Zoo, there is a coffeehouse simply named The Coffeehouse. There are meetings spread out through the day and evening in the cozy basement. There are lots of open-minded and creative people hanging out upstairs where you can purchase lattes’, sodas, simple snacks, and of course, coffee. Everything is reasonably priced, and it is cash only so hit the ATM first. There are two pool tables, a jukebox, wireless internet access, and video game machines. There are usually free local spiritual, and arts and entertainment newspapers available. This is a smoking establishment with predominantly smoking meetings. My favorite thing about this spot, aside from the people, is it offers late night meetings. Currently, there are midnight meetings on Friday and Saturdays, and 11pm meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The late night weekday meetings are hit and miss as far as how many people show up. The attendance ebbs and flows like so many meetings do. There may be 15 people or 3 people there, but it only takes two right? The average meeting length is about an hour. As long as business is steady, The Coffeehouse is open until around 3am on Fridays and Saturdays, 1am Monday-Thursday, and midnight on Sunday. Personally, I love this place.
Also in St. Louis County, you should check out the Olive Branch. This facility is about 10 minutes from Lambert Airport. This office has meetings spread out every few hours from morning until about 8pm. The majority of the meetings are smoking meetings. The Olive Branch is not open between meetings, aside from the before and after meeting socializing. Most, but not quite all, of the meetings are smoking meetings. This is a laid back kind of place frequented by wonderful, everday working class kind of people like myself, but of course, all are welcomed warmly. The meetings usually range from an hour to and hour and a half in length.
Without going into detail about all of them, I’d like to offer a list of some of the other facilities in the area:
The Hampton Facility
6001 Marquette
St. Louis, MO-Southwest City 63139
(smoking and non smoking meetings)
Steps Alano Club/Gay
3974 Humphrey
St Louis, MO-South City 63116
(a wonderful facility frequented by many of the gay and lesbian members of the recovery scene in St. Louis, non smoking) When you’re done with your meeting you might like to check out Mokabee’s coffehouse and cafe’ located nearby.
The Office
341 Droste Road
St. Charles, MO 63301
(smoking and non smoking meetings)
Lindell Club
4522 Lindell Blvd
St. Louis, MO-Central West End 63108
(this is a private club with a pay coffee and snack bar and attendance to non members is limited to a short time before and after meetings…offers some wonderful meetings though)
West County Club
15627-B Manchester Rd
Ballwin, MO 63011
212 Club
204 West Pitman
O’Fallon, MO 63366
Baden Facility
8334 N Broadway
St Louis, MO-North City 63147
Of course, the places listed above offer just a handful of the meetings in St. Louis area. St. Louis is considered a very strong 12-Step town, and there are literally hundreds of meetings going on all week long. There are events, picnics, campouts, retreats, dances, conferences, and all other types of functions sponsored by the various groups and districts happening all the time. Always be sure to check an updated meeting guide for the most accurate dates and times of meetings, or you can contact Central Services which is sort of the hub of St. Louis AA activity.
North County Office
(314) 731-4854
7246 N Lindbergh
Hazelwood, MO 63042
http://www.ncoaa.org/
The Coffeehouse
6319 Clayton Ave
St Louis, MO-Dog Town 63139
Olive Branch
8901 Lackland
Overland, MO 63114
Central Services
2683 S Big Bend Blvd
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 647-3677 (24 hour assistance available)
http://www.aastl.org/
St. Louis Area Narcotic Anonymous
P.O. Box 771908
St. Louis, MO 63177
314-830-3232
http://showmeregionna.com/
Missouri Alanon/Alateen Family Groups
http://www.missouri-al-anon.org/index.html
St. Louis Al-Anon Information Center
2683 S. Big Bend Blvd., Suite 17
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 645-1572
(Plaza Ford Service Center Building Second Floor)
Missouri Area Cocaine Anonymous
http://www.camissouri.org/meetings.php
