Al-Anon/Alateen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al-Anon Family Groups is a twelve-step program for relatives and friends of alcoholics. Members share their experience, strength, and hope, in order to solve their common problems. They believe that alcoholism is a family illness and that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Much like Adult Children of Alcoholics (which is a completely separate program that operates by its own guidelines, and is in no way affiliated with AA, Al-Anon or Alateen), Al-Anon is a support group for family members and friends of alcoholics, whether still drinking or in recovery, rather than for alcoholics themselves. The two branches of the Al-Anon Family Groups include Al-Anon and Alateen, serving both adults and teens.

Al-Anon was founded in the early 1950s by Lois Wilson, wife of A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson and other relatives and friends of A.A. members. Lois told the personal side of the story:

"After a while I began to wonder why I was not as happy as I ought to be, since the one thing I had been yearning for all my married life [Bill's sobriety] had come to pass. Then one Sunday, Bill asked me if I was ready to go to the meeting with him. To my own astonishment as well as his, I burst forth with "Damn your old meetings!" and threw a shoe as hard as I could.

"This suprising display of temper over nothing pulled me up short and made me start to analyze my own attitudes. ...My life's purpose of sobering up Bill, which had made me feel desperately needed, had vanished. ... I decided to strive for my own spiritual growth. I used the same principles he did to learn how to change my attitudes. ... We began to learn that ...the partner of the alcoholic also needed to live by a spiritual program."

– "Lois's Story" in the Al-Anon "Big Book"^[1]

Prior to the founding of Al-Anon, it was not uncommon for such family members and others to meet with recovering alcoholics on an equal footing within Alcoholics' Anonymous. However, it became apparent that both groups, the recovering alcoholics on the one hand, and their friends and family members on the other, needed to be able to meet separately.

The mainstays of the Al-Anon program are the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts. These include the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions. There are no dues or fees required for attendance, and the only requirement for membership is for there to be a problem of alcoholism in a relative or friend.

As the name implies, Alateen is the youth/young adult program of Al-Anon. It is for youth between 12 and 20 years old who are affected by another person’s drinking. The program follows many of the same steps as its parental organization, yet is more geared to teenagers and children. Alateen members run their own meetings under the supervision of an attending Al-Anon member (adult). This is considered to be extremely important for the validity of an Alateen group, and the growth of its members.