"Tradition 3" at the heart of all 12 Step Programs.

[NYC_SKP]

1. This is true, however, meeting vary in the degree to which they practice this tradition.

Go to some meetings and mention a different program, like rational recovery, and you might get shut down, stared at, ridiculed.

The same can happen at the mention of using principles from Cognitive Behavior or Dialectic Behavior theories.

Other meetings might be willing to talk about such things constructively.

Fortunately most cities have more than one meeting group and a comfortable one can usually be found.

As you say, we can change the people we work with.