While self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous are becoming more integrated into the professional substance abuse treatment network, many professionals are still hesitant to encourage clients to attend self-help groups after treatment. This study examined what factors predict the degree of cooperation between professional agencies and self-help groups for substance abusers. Nine agencies in which most of the clients attended self-help groups after treatment were compared to nine agencies in which clients rarely attended self-help groups. The clinical services supervisors of the 18 agencies and staff members (N=247) served as informants. Clients (N=470) admitted to the agencies were interviewed at intake and, at follow-up, they reported on their self-help involvement. The results revealed that the agencies that were well-linked with local self-help groups had larger staffs and employed greater proportions of recovering substance abusers, medical personnel, and paraprofessionals than did the agencies from which few clients participated in self-help groups. The well-linked agencies also were more likely to be in urban areas and to be residential treatment settings. These results suggest that staff and community variables influence the likelihood that clients will attend self-help groups after substance abuse treatment. (Author/NB)