Meetings
What to Expect from Al-Anon/Alateen Meetings
We welcome you to the Al-Anon/Alateen Family Group and hope you will find in this fellowship the help and friendship we have been privileged to enjoy. We who live or have lived with alcoholism understand as perhaps few others can. We, too, were lonely and frustrated, but in Al-Anon/Alateen we discover that no situation is really hopeless and that it is possible for us to find contentment, and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not. We urge you to try our program. "This is Al-Anon, pages 2-3"
Local Virtual
Please select the button below to see the list of local ZOOM meetings available.
Local In-Person
Please select the button below to see list of local IN-PERSON meetings available.
Extended Connections
Please select the button below to find all electronic and in-person meetings along with world wide contacts.
Frequently Asked Meeting Questions
Are there dues for membership?
Al-Anon/Alateen is self-supporting through members' voluntary conributions. There are no dues or fees for membership.
What kind of group is Al-Anon/Alateen?
Al-Anon is a mutual support group. Everyone at the meeting shares as an equal. No one is in a position to give advice or direction to anyone else. Everyone at the meeting has experienced a problem with someone else's drinking.
May I ask questions at the meeting?
You are free to ask questions or to talk about your situation at your first meeting. If you'd rather just listen, you can say "I PASS", or explain that
you'd just like to listen.
Are the meetings all the same?
Every meeting is different. Each meeting has the autonomy to be run as its members choose, within guidelines designed to promote Al-Anon unity.
Al-Anon recommends you try at least six different meetings before you decide if Al-Anon will be helpful to you.
Is Al-Anon a religious program?
Al-Anon is not a religious program. Even when the meeting is held in a religious center, the local Al-Anon group pays rent to that center and is not affilited in any way with any religious group. Your religious beliefs - or lack of them- are not a subject for discussion at Al-Anon meetings, which focus solely on coping with the effects of someone's drinking.
Why is anonymity so important?
It will take some time to fully understand the significaance of anonymity to the Al-Anon program. But it is simplest level, anonymity means that the people in the room will respect the confidentality of what you say and won't approach you outside the room in a way that compromises your privacy or the privacy of anyone who attended an Al-Anon meeting.
How will the meeting start?
The meeting will likely begin with a reading of the Twelve Steps of Al-Anon. It will take some time to fully understand how the Twelve Steps can be a helpful tool recovering from the effects of someone's drinking. But Al-Anon gives you the opportunity to grow at your own pace.
Reprinted from the Al-Anon World Service Office.