Al-Anon
The Al-Anon Family Groups ( English Al-Anon Family Groups ) are a worldwide self-help organization of relatives of alcoholics that was founded in the United States . Her main concern is to help relatives of alcoholics. Al-Anon is organized into a large number of local groups whose members meet regularly. They are based on the so-called twelve-step program , cooperate with Alcoholics Anonymous in the area of public information , are networked with thematically related organizations and are otherwise independent.
history
During the pioneering years of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) from 1935 to 1941, the close relatives of convalescent alcoholics realized that after the alcoholics in AA had sobered, difficulties in their relationships often continued to arise. They wanted to understand better what alcohol had done to their partners and how they could put their own lives back in order.
It became clear to them that the exchange with equally affected people, as AA practices, could also help them and other relatives enormously. In the meantime they had learned to understand the illness, which had brought them into desperate straits and problems as relatives of alcoholics, as a family disease. They soon found that they needed to change their own thinking, acting, and attitudes. Thus the Al-Anon community slowly took on a certain shape.
In May 1951, Lois (wife of AA co-founder Bill ) and Anne and several other relatives founded the "Al-Anon Family Groups" in New York.
The name "Al-Anon Family Groups" is derived from " Al coholics Anon ymous Family Groups". The program of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions etc. could be adopted by AA with small changes.
In 1957, a youth whose parents included Al-Anon and AA started a group for teenagers in California . They call themselves Alateen and meet in their own groups.
The first Al-Anon group in the German-speaking area was founded in 1964 in Pratteln , Switzerland. The first German group was founded in 1967 in Mülheim an der Ruhr . The German association is registered in Bremen and the service office is based in Essen . In Austria, an Al-Anon group was founded in Salzburg in 1971 .
structure
Al-Anon
The Al-Anon family groups are a self-help community. They offer self-help groups that are there so that relatives of alcoholics can share experience, strength and hope with one another in order to support one another. In the local groups (meetings) there is close, personal exchange between the group members. There are also Al-Anon groups in which mainly relatives meet who grew up in an alcoholic family.
Alateen
Alateen are the names of the groups for young people from alcoholic parents. You belong to Al-Anon. Any interested young person can attend an Al-Anon meeting if there is no Alateen group on site. If there are several young people and they want to start their own Alateen group, they can do so with the help of a group sponsor.
Methods and principles
A basic principle is anonymity in order to be able to exchange information in a protected environment. In the self-help groups, those affected help those affected. All meetings worldwide work with the same Al-Anon literature. The groups work on a recovery program, the Twelve-Step Program , which was adopted in a modified form by Alcoholics Anonymous. The Twelve Traditions are decisive for organizational questions in the groups and their "unity". The Twelve Principles of Service provide helpful guidelines for organizing the various ministries in Al-Anon.
New visitors are recommended to attend a meeting several times and to try different meetings. Many meetings have adopted the saying of serenity as a conclusion.
Another principle is self-preservation, no outside funds are accepted, the community is only supported by donations from its members.
literature
In 1960, Al-Anon's base book was revised and published as "Living With an Alcoholic".
- Lois remembers: The memoirs of the co-founder of Al-Anon, 2000. ISBN 978-3935836098
Web links
- Al-Anon Germany
- Al-Anon of German-speaking Switzerland
- Al-Anon Austria
- German-speaking Al-Anon online meetings
- Al-Anon / Alateen USA (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Why relatives of addicts need special help. WAZ, August 16, 2017, accessed September 1, 2017 .
- ↑ About Al-Anon, »Al-Anon. Al-Anon.de, accessed on September 1, 2017 .
- ^ Help with Al-Anon. Retrieved October 23, 2017 .
- ^ The Al-Anon Program. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 23, 2017 ; accessed on October 23, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Twelve Traditions of Al-Anon ( Memento of December 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Defeat the vicious circle. Augsburger Allgemeine, August 30, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Alcoholism is a family disease. Märkische Allgemeine, March 28, 2017, accessed on September 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Lois remembers: memoirs of the co-founder of Al-Anon, 1979. Lois recalls: The Memoirs of the Co-Founder of Al-Anon, 2000. | ISBN 978-3935836098
- ↑ Self-help guide. Retrieved September 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Sharing experience, strength & hope. Osthessen News, August 27, 2012, accessed on September 24, 2017 .
- ^ Al-Anon family groups - Alateen - Austria - Al-Anon adults children Austria. Retrieved August 17, 2017 .
- ↑ Alateen for teenagers. Al-Anon, accessed September 24, 2017 .
- ^ Al-Anon Family Groups - Alateen - Austria - About Alateen. Retrieved August 17, 2017 .
- ↑ Alateen. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 22, 2017 ; accessed on October 23, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b I can be fine. Der Teckbote, August 7, 2012, accessed October 3, 2017 .
