What Happened To The Al-Anon Group

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of talks from my friends and colleagues that they have enrolled their parents, close relatives and loved ones to the Al-Anon group. I was a little bit curious and asked my colleague what was the buzz all about this Al-Anon group, and she directly answered me that it was the answered prayer she was praying for her mother.

She shared with me that it's been a while that their family had troubles dealing with their mom who was a chronic alcoholic. As long as she can remember, her mom had been an alcoholic, and drinking had become more of a ritual than a hobby.

She said she had been drinking all sorts of drinks from beers to whiskey and then recently to wine. Having a family member with such addiction can be frustrating at times, and there have been times where her mom would miss special events like
birthdays and gatherings simply because she's drunk to hell.

They already tried a lot of programmes to help them solve their family problems like therapies, self-help books and even to a to a more bizarre way, the sober wallet in which when a person thinks of buying a bottle or drink, they put that amount of money in the Sober wallet. I was thinking that would be an excellent idea knowing that once in a while thoughts of buying or drinking alcoholic beverages would cross the mind of a chronic alcoholic. It would shock me.

But as incredible as it sounds, it did not work out for her mother up until recently when she was involved in this new group.
She heard it from a friend that Al-Anon group works wonders, so she then enrolled her mom to this group. At first, her mother was hesitant, having tried a lot of solutions, and it was already draining her to try a new one. Her mom had become pessimistic and was saying that there could be no one who would understand the struggles she was facing. But boy she was wrong, all along she was not the only one who has this kind of problem on this planet.

According to their website page al-anon.org, 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. Every member is free to ask questions or to talk about their situation at the first session. If you’d rather just listen, you can say “I pass,” or explain that you’d just like to listen. As stated, every meeting is different; they can go as far as whatever topic they wanted to discuss or
share.

Every meeting as suggested has the autonomy to be run as its members choose to, within guidelines designed to promote Al‑Anon unity. It is a nonreligious group and accepts the member of any race, gender, ethnicity, and background.

It takes pride in the anonymity of the group, meaning that the people in the room will respect the confidentiality 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.

It helps to know that someone out there also has the same problem that you have, knowing you can share your struggles, ideas, frustrations, and dreams without being judged.I think this was the idea that propelled for this group to be a big hit. You can share this to your colleges, friends and loved ones; you may never know if this will be the answer they were praying until they tried it.