In 1983, one of the first formal efforts to create a fellowship around work addiction recovery began in New York when a corporate financial planner and a school teacher met.
In their first meetings, spouses joined them and in retrospect were the first Work-Anon group, seeking recovery for family and friends of workaholics.
Workaholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of over fifty in-person, phone, and online meetings with over an estimated thousand active members.
Much like AA's position on alcoholism, WA believes compulsive working is chronic and done in an effort to alleviate psychological stress.
These include Listening, Prioritizing, Substituting, Underscheduling, Playing, Concentrating, Pacing, Relaxing, Accepting, Asking, Meetings, Telephoning, Balancing, Serving, and Living in the Now.
[10] Some authors suggest that initial recovery and abstinence can involve stopping, leaving, or limiting work as well as identifying bottom line and trigger behaviors.
[12][13] Workaholics Anonymous via their website also offers networking and connection for member and hosts an annual conference for those who suffer.
There is a sister workaholism recovery fellowship in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland called Anonyme Arbeitssüchtige (AAS) with thirty-four meetings and an annual conference.