Al-Anon and Alateen Meetings

General Al-Anon & Alateen Meeting Information

With 1,000’s of Al-Anon & Alateen meetings being held around the world every day, it’s easy for you to find online meetings with people from your local community in attendance and local live, in-person meetings. Many meetings have childcare, to ensure mothers and fathers can attend meetings also.

Meetings for Al-Anon & Alateen and are most often held in public places like churches, community centers, club houses and parks. During the COVID pandemic, many of your local Al-Anon & Alateen meetings are still being held on the same day and time as before, but have transitioned to an electronic platform like Zoom. While Al-Anon & Alateen groups do not affiliate themselves with any particular religion, they are spiritually based, helping the families and friends of alcoholics connect and support each other through meetings, information, and shared experiences.

Types of Al-Anon & Alateen Meetings

As a general rule, there are two standard types of Al-Anon & Alateen meetings: open meetings and closed meetings. An open Al-Anon & Alateen meeting is open to anyone who meetings are open to anyone wishing to attend, whether or not they identify personally with having been affected by someone else’s drinking. Closed Al-Anon & Alateen meetings are open only to those who believe their lives have been adversely affected by another person’s drinking.

Open and closed Al-Anon & Alateen meetings often follow various formats including:

(AAC) –Al-Anon Adult Child meetings are for anyone who was raised with an alcoholic parent or affected as a child by an adult family member’s drinking. These meetings focus on recovering from the behaviors learned during childhood which helped members cope as children with living with the alcoholic.

Step Study meetings use Al-Anon conference approved literature addressing the Twelve Steps, Traditions, and Concepts as the basis for meeting topics.

Speaker meetings invite a member of Al-Anon to speak before the members to discuss the experience, strength, and hope they’ve received from practicing the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts.  These speaker meetings are often open to the public, many are recorded, so you can listen to your favorite Al-Anon Speakers any time you want.

Newcomers or Beginners meetings are offered for those new to the Al-Anon Program. These meetings are also attended by members who have some time in the Program and are willing to share their experience, strength, and hope with those new to the Program. Members can attend as many of these meetings as they wish.

Spanish-speaking meetings are conducted in the Spanish language and use Spanish language Al-Anon conference approved literature.

Men’s meetings are primarily for male members of the program, although they are open to any member.

Women’s meetings are primarily for female members of the program, although they are open to any member.

Family, Friends and Observer Meetings where professionals and the general public obtain information about Al-Anon and the effect of drinking problems on other people.

AA Meeting Nearby - Any Al-Anon meeting that meets at about the same time and place as a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).  AA and Al-Anon meetings are run separately and independently.  Times and locations may not always be exactly identical.

Parents Meetings are where the discussion focuses on issues relating to being a parent of a problem drinker.

LGBTQ+ Meetings are where the discussion focuses on issues found in the lives of LGBTQ+ people and their friends who have been affected by someone else's drinking.

Alateen meetings are held at the same location and approximate time as the Al-Anon meeting. Alateen meetings are for those between 13 and 18 who have been affected by someone else’s drinking and who wish to discuss their experience, strength, and hope with other teens.

People can attend as many Al-Anon & Alateen meetings as the want and are often encouraged to attend a number of meetings until they find a meeting or set of meetings they like and that have people attending who they can relate to. People are encouraged to find an Al-Anon & Alateen home group which they attend regularly. This is usually a meeting you relate to, that has people who are benefiting from the meeting and Al-Anon & Alateen program. They generally take a commitment at their Al-Anon & Alateen home group and hold themselves and others accountable for attending.

How is a Al-Anon & Alateen Meeting Conducted?

In a typical Al-Anon meeting, participants share and listen to the experiences, strengths and hopes of one another on a confidential and anonymous basis.  Most Al-Anon meetings focus at first on a topic delivered by a lead-off speaker, followed by participants speaking about how that topic relates to their own lives or about other experiences in their lives. Participants are not required to speak, but when they do, they are encouraged to share their own experience, strength and hope, focusing on their own life without gossip or criticism of one another.

Typical Al-Anon & Alateen Meeting Format

Individual Al-Anon & Alateen groups may differ slightly in the way they run Al-Anon & Alateen meetings, but in general, a typical format for an Al-Anon & Alateen meeting is as follows:

• Welcome and opening
• Moment of silence and recitation of an opening prayer, with the Serenity Prayer being a common opening prayer
• Reading of Al-Anon preamble, with a reading on expectation of confidentiality, and reiteration of openness to all and no cost for membership
• Reading from the Al-Anon & Alateen Literature (12 steps, 12 traditions, 12 concepts)
• Introductions around the room (first name only, though no one is required to speak)
• Introduction of the speaker or facilitator of the meeting
• Discussion
• Announcements
• Passing of the collection plate, donations are not required although this is how the Al-Anon & Alateen group sustains itself
• Closing, most likely with an Al-Anon & Alateen reading and a closing prayer

As Al-Anon & Alateen meetings are meant to be a fellowship, there is also often coffee and refreshments at some point either before, during, or after the Al-Anon & Alateen meeting for networking and socializing. Al-Anon & Alateen members may choose to volunteer at Al-Anon & Alateen meetings as coffee makers, greeters, literature distributor, or they can get more involved volunteering as the Al-Anon & Alateen group’s secretary, Al-Anon & Alateen treasurer, Al-Anon & Alateen chairperson, etc.

Those who have been in Al-Anon & Alateen for a long period of time may become a “sponsor” for newer Al-Anon & Alateen members. A sponsor is a more veteran member of the Al-Anon & Alateen group, who has gone through the same difficulty you may be facing, has taken the 12-steps of the Al-Anon & Alateen program, and will guide you through the 12 steps of Al-Anon & Alateen to help with your success. Al-Anon & Alateen sponsors also offer encouragement around the clock, helping to provide in-the-moment support and guidance when needed, and introduce you to other Recovery Resources. Al-Anon & Alateen sponsors are often available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, usually by phone, to help sponsees get through potentially difficult situations. Al-Anon & Alateen sponsors may meet or check-in with their sponsees regularly, and lifelong relationships may be formed.

Al-Anon & Alateen groups are safe environments which can provide individuals with a network of sober peers who can understand and empathize with each other in ways that others who are not in Al-Anon & Alateen may not be able to as easily.

The Recovery HQ Team is here to help you!

It’s important to know that you and your loved one are not alone in your fight for sobriety. Whether you choose to go to Al-Anon & Alateen meetings, take up meditation or yoga or use other resources, taking the first step toward regaining your life has begun. Contact our dedicated team and we will help find the solution which best fits your needs.