If you know a close friend or a family member who is alcoholic, you’re probably aware of the challenges they face because of their addiction.
What most people fail to realize is that an alcoholic can also make the lives of those close difficult. This is where Al-Anon steps in to help.
The Purpose of Al-Anon
Founded in 1951, Al-Anon aims to assist alcoholics and their families with the emotional and physical side effects resulting from alcoholism. Unlike the more popular Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon is for everyone – the alcoholics, their families, and even close friends and companions.
Approach of Al-Anon
The approach used in Al-Anon meetings focuses on helping the affected parties deal with alcoholism’s effects, rather than trying to cure the alcoholic. This approach is based on research that shows 95% of alcoholics who recover had the internal motivation to do so.
However, all people affected by alcoholism need emotional and mental support to help them deal with the effects because recovery is lifelong.
Structure of Al-Anon Meetings
Al-Anon meetings are based on the same structure as that of many other recovery programs. They use the same 12 Step approaches used by AA, but instead of focusing on alcoholics, they focus on everyone affected by alcoholism.
The meetings are anonymous, and there’s no attendance, so people can walk in at will. Since the focus of Al-Anon is the family of the alcoholic, most alcoholics will attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while their family attends Al-Anon.
How Does Al-Anon Help?
The most important part of alcohol recovery is reconciliation. Al-Anon focuses on reconciliation for family members of alcoholics and puts them on a path to emotional recovery. It’s a community of people affected by similar situations, and this structure gives new participants hope.
Alateen is a similar and valuable program used to assist teenagers affected by alcoholism in their families. It’s based on the same principles as Al-Anon but provides an open environment for teens to share their experiences with people of a similar age group.