Al-Anon Family Groups is an important source of help for anyone affected by someone else’s drinking. Al-Anon groups are made up of family members and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other.
By regularly attending and participating in Al-Anon meetings you will find healthy, positive ways of dealing with the difficulties that result from another’s alcoholism.
Even if the alcoholic continues to drink, his or her relatives and friends can achieve serenity as a result of Al-Anon.
You have taken the first step in choosing to participate in Al-Anon meetings and we hope you’ll keep coming back!
We're Glad You Are Here
We can find understanding and support when we share our common experience with each other
Just For Today
Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle all my problems at once. I can do something for 12 hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
What Is Al-Anon
Al‑Anon is a mutual support program for people whose lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking. By sharing common experiences and applying the Al-Anon principles, families and friends of alcoholics can bring positive changes to their individual situations, whether or not the alcoholic admits the existence of a drinking problem or seeks help.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I help my loved one? What is alcoholism? How will al-anon help me?
Is Al-Anon for Me?
Millions of people are affected by the excessive drinking of someone close. These 20 questions are designed to help you decide whether you need Al-Anon:
- Do you worry about how much someone drinks?
- Do you have money problems because of someone else’s drinking?
- Do you tell lies to cover up for someone else’s drinking?
- Do you feel if the drinker loved you, he or she would stop drinking to please you?
- Do you blame the drinker’s behavior on his or her companions?
- Are plans frequently upset or canceled or meals delayed because of the drinker?
- Do you make threats, such as, “If you don’t stop drinking, I’ll leave you?”
- Do you secretly try to smell the drinker’s breath?
- Are you afraid to upset someone for fear it will set off a drinking bout?
- Have you been hurt or embarrassed by a drinker’s behavior?
- Are holidays and gatherings spoiled because of drinking?
- Have you considered calling the police for help in fear of abuse?
- Do you search for hidden alcohol?
- Do you often ride in a car with a driver who has been drinking?
- Have you refused social invitations out of fear or anxiety?
- Do you sometimes feel like a failure when you think of the lengths you have gone to stop the drinker?
- Do you think that if the drinker stopped drinking, your other problems would be solved?
- Do you ever threaten to hurt yourself to scare the drinker?
- Do you feel angry, confused or depressed most of the time?
- Do you feel there is no one who understands your problems?
If you have answered “yes” to more than 10 questions, Al-Anon is for you.
Copyright Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. ©1980
Are You Troubled By Someone’s Drinking (S-17)
Reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
How Will Al-Anon Help Me?
Our personal situations may be different, but we share as equals because of what we have in common: our lives have been affected by another person’s drinking.
Understanding Meeting Designations
Meetings take on the personalities of the members that attend it. There are speaker meetings, discussion meetings, step meetings, and topic meetings. We suggest trying at least six different meetings before you decide if Al-Anon is right for you.
All Al-Anon meetings have designations:
“Families, Friends, and Observers Welcome”
Anyone interested in learning about Al-Anon may attend meetings with this designation. Students and professionals are also welcomed. Interested individuals are requested to maintain the confidentiality and anonymity of members’ identities.
“Families and Friends Only”
These meetings are attended by members and prospective members who are affected by someone’s drinking.
Conference Approved Literature
Conference Approved Literature (CAL) is written by and for our members and goes through a thorough review process by numerous Al‑Anon members to assure that the Al‑Anon program message is clear and consistent. Samples from CAL are posted on al‑anon.org.
Anonymity and Confidentiality
Anonymity helps keep the emphasis on principles that can help solve personal problems, rather than on the personal situations that might be part of the problem. No one’s social status, professional standing, or level of education matters at an Al-Anon meeting. Confidentiality ensures that members can speak from the heart at an Al-Anon meeting, because everything said at the meeting stays at the meeting.
Please be aware that confidentiality and anonymity vary from platform to platform. It is the responsibility of the Al-Anon member to understand how to maintain personal anonymity when participating in an online Al-Anon meeting.
Spiritual not Religious
Al-Anon is a spiritual program. Al‑Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization, or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause. We represent a way of life appealing to all people of goodwill, of any religious faith or of none.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is a mutual and confidential sharing between two Al‑Anon members. A Sponsor is is someone who willingly shares the experience, strength and hope of the
Al-Anon program.
For more information, see Al‑Anon Personal Sponsors in the Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual.