CFT Committee
The Corrections Facilities and Treatment (CFT) Committee carries the A.A. message to alcoholics in correctional facilities and treatment centres across the Ottawa region, and supports them as they transition back into the community through our Bridging the Gap program.
Committee Contact: cft@ottawaaa.org
When: 4th Tuesday at 6:00 pm via Zoom
Meeting ID: 815 5183 4935
Password: 521429
Who: All A.A. members are welcome.
Where We Carry the Message
Ottawa Withdrawal Management Centre (OWMC / Detox): meetings three times a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 pm, Saturdays at 10:30 am). Often a person's first contact with A.A. Home groups and individual members can sign up to host.
Les Maisons (residential treatment): information sessions at Maison Gilles Chagnon (women's) and Maison Billy Buffett (men's), supporting clients as they stabilize before entering long-term treatment.
Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC): regular meetings behind the walls, bringing hope to those who may feel forgotten.
Bridging the Gap (BTG)
The hardest moment is often the first one outside. Bridging the Gap connects a person leaving a facility with an A.A. contact in their home community: someone who'll meet them at a meeting that first week, help them find a home group, and walk them through the door.
Want to help with Bridging the Gap? Sign up as a 12-Step volunteer. BTG uses the 12-Step volunteer list when someone leaving treatment or corrections needs a temporary A.A. contact. If you have some sobriety and are willing to meet a newcomer at a meeting, choose 12-Step on the volunteer form and the coordinator will follow up.
Corrections
Practical guidance for AAs carrying the message into jails, prisons, and detention centres: from in-facility meetings and pre-release contact to anonymity, sponsorship, and working with corrections staff.
- Corrections Committees: aa.org
- F-68: Corrections Kit Contents: PDF, A.A.W.S.
Treatment
Shared experience for AAs taking meetings into detox, residential treatment, and outpatient programs, including how to work with treatment staff, building bridges back to community A.A., and the role of Temporary Contacts.
- Treatment Committees: aa.org
- F-167: Treatment Kit Contents: PDF, A.A.W.S.
Get Involved
Whether you have personal experience with treatment or corrections, or simply want to carry the message where it's needed most, this work strengthens our own recovery while offering hope to those who still suffer. Sobriety requirements depend on the facility:
- OWMC / Detox host: owmc@ottawaaa.org
2 years sobriety minimum; co-host: 1 year minimum - Les Maisons: lesmaisons@ottawaaa.org
- Bridging the Gap: sign up as a 12-Step volunteer
- OCDC or general committee inquiries: cft@ottawaaa.org
"I am responsible. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible."