A study was made of fifty alcoholic social workers who had successfully stopped drinking for one year or more. The social workers were in many cases visibly in trouble with 63 arrests, 120 inpatient admissions, 13 suicide attempts, and a high reported incidence of addiction to other drugs. However, colleagues and superiors as well as professionals from whom they sought individual treatment were extremely reluctant to confront the alcoholism problem directly. It is suggested that social workers should consider ways of offering help to colleagues in a more systematic manner than is currently available. (11 refs)