Sponsored By: Al-Anon
Have you been affected by someone’s drinking? Do you worry about how much someone drinks? Al-Anon members are people, just like you, who are worried about someone with a drinking problem.
According to the 2023 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health 28.9 million people aged 12 and older had Alcohol Use Disorder in the previous year.
The Al-Anon membership survey taken in 2021 reports that 83% of members who attend Al-Anon meetings see an improvement in their mental health within the first year of attending.
“I came to Al-Anon many years ago struggling to make sense of a life I was allowing to be controlled by my spouse’s excessive drinking, broken promises and constant fighting while trying to pretend that everything in our home was good for my three children. A counselor suggested I try Al-Anon for myself regardless of what my spouse was doing. At the first meetings, I only understood that people there were using the help and tools of this program to figure out how to make a better life. It took a while and many meetings for me to begin to understand the basics of Al-Anon, how it works and how to apply what I was learning to my own life. Today I understand that I can love an alcoholic but also love myself enough to take the steps I need to take on a daily basis to figure out my own life, set boundaries, and build healthy relationships for a happier life no matter what choices others in my life are making for themselves.” -Anonymous member
1. Q. What is alcoholism?
A. Since 1954, alcoholism has been recognized by the American Medical Association as a chronic, progressive disease. It is recognized as a disease of compulsive drinking.
2. Q. What is Al-Anon?
A. Al-Anon Family Groups is a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength and hope with each other in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family disease and that changed attitudes can aid recovery.
From the 2021 Al-Anon Family Groups Membership Survey Results:
49% of members surveyed came to Al-Anon because of a romantic partner’s alcoholism/ addiction
14% due to a parent’s alcoholism/ addiction
19% due to a child’s alcoholism/ addiction
3. Q. Are the children in the family affected by alcoholism?
A. Yes. Many children are profoundly affected. They experience many of the same feelings that adults do including a sense of loss, confusion, and guilt.
4. Q What is Alateen?
A. Alateen is a program for our younger members. In Alateen, young people meet to exchange experiences and to gain an understanding of themselves and the alcoholic. This helps their own personal development and can help stabilize troubled thinking resulting from close association with an alcoholic. Their ages usually range between 12 and 18; however, some groups have members younger than 12.
5. Q. How long has Al-Anon been in existence?
A. Al-Anon has been offering hope and help to the families and friends of alcoholics since 1951. Al-Anon/Alateen has 24,000 groups in over 130 countries.
6. Q. What is Al-Anon’s purpose?
A. Al-Anon has but one purpose: to help families and friends of alcoholics. Al-Anon is non-professional. We do not counsel or advise our members, nor do we endorse or affiliate with other agencies or organizations.
7. Q. Who can be a member of Al-Anon/Alateen?
A. Anyone whose life has been or is being affected by someone else’s drinking. This includes immediate family members, relatives, friends, co-workers, employers, etc.
Personal stories from members:
“My brother was 23 years old when he was arrested for his last DWI, one of many. This time he was facing felony charges and imprisonment. As part of his sentence, he elected to spend 30 days in a treatment center. I attended the family week portion where the facilitator told me I would find many benefits by attending Al-Anon. I was puzzled since I didn’t have a problem, my brother did. I learned that Al-Anon is a fellowship of men and women whose lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking. I qualified and attended a meeting in a distant state. The members had something I wanted even though I could not explain what it was. Today I know they had serenity and peace of mind gained by focusing on their own lives rather than the alcoholic in their families. I learned to love my alcoholic relatives and dislike their drunken behavior.
Today I work the 12 Steps to recovery with a sponsor and try to develop a manner of living based on spiritual principles like kindness, compassion, understanding and helping others. I am happier today than I ever was and appreciate the wisdom I have gained by attending meetings, sponsoring others, reading literature and studying the Steps and Traditions one day at a time. My brother has been sober since he went to treatment which I consider a miracle. “ -Sally H
8. Q. Does the alcoholic in a person’s life have to be a member of AA before that person goes to Al-Anon?
A. No, many people come into Al-Anon whether or not the alcoholic is drinking.
9. Q. Does Al-Anon help parents whose children have a drinking problem?
A. Yes. In Al-Anon, members have a variety of relationships with the alcoholic. Sometimes it is a parent, teen or adult child, spouse/partner, sibling, grandparent, or a friend. All members can offer and receive insight to recovering from the effects of this disease.
10. Q. Are people hesitant to come to Al-Anon or Alateen?
A. Yes, and there can be several reasons. There is still a stigma attached to the disease; for example, people are afraid that someone will find out there is a drinking problem in the home. The family also becomes entrenched in the disease. Denial and isolation can become a way of life and make reaching out for help very difficult.
11. Q. What is the purpose of anonymity?
A. Personal anonymity, as well as confidentiality of members sharing in our program, creates a safe place to get help. We often say, “Whom you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here.”
12. Q. Do you find most of the people in Al-Anon have the same frustrations?
A. Yes. Even though people’s situations differ, fear, anger, resentment and loneliness are some of the common effects from the family disease of alcoholism. Many people in Al-Anon and Alateen have discovered that no situation is really hopeless and that it is possible to find contentment and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is drinking or not.
13. Q. Will Al-Anon tell me how to get my loved one sober?
A. We come to realize that we can’t control or change another person and that our efforts to do this only frustrate us and can even make situations worse. In Al-Anon, we learn to detach by taking the focus off the alcoholic and concentrating on our own healing.
14. Q. How do Al-Anon members learn to detach?
A. By sharing with each other and by trying to apply the Al-Anon Twelve Steps to their everyday lives. As we learn healthy ways of dealing with our problems, we find that we live happier and better lives in spite of what’s going on around us.
15. Q. What are the Twelve Steps? A. The Twelve principles for personal recovery adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous. https://al-anon.org/for-members/the-legacies/the-twelve-steps/
16. Q. Does alcoholism result in cases of physical abuse toward adults and children in the family?
A. Yes, sometimes this is a result of alcoholism. As members grow and heal, sound decision-making skills are learned. We learn to protect ourselves physically as well as emotionally.
17. Q. How are Al-Anon and Alateen groups financed?
A. There are no dues or fees. Al-Anon is fully self-supported by voluntary contributions from members and the sale of literature. We do not accept any outside funding.
18. Q. Where can a person in this area get more information about Al-Anon and Alateen?
A. For information about meetings in the Sioux Falls area call 605-679-5497 or go to
Call the following toll-free telephone number for meeting information outside your local area:
1 888-4 AL-ANON (425-2666) You may also visit our website at: https://al-anon.org/ to find local meetings.
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. 1600 Corporate Landing Parkway Virginia Beach, VA 23454-5617 757-563-1600 • 757-563-1656 (fax) Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters (Canada) Inc. 275 Slater Street, Suite 900 Ottawa, ON, Canada K1P 5H9 613-723-8484; wso@al-anon
Check out the Al-Anon App for Literature, sharings from members, meetings and more:
Al-Anon mobile App -The Official Mobile App of the Al-Anon Family Groups -available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Links to Alateen and Al-Anon electronic meetings are available on the App.
Alateen meetings in the Mobile App are moderated by the World Service Office. The meetings are available only to Alateens worldwide.
Individuals concerned about someone’s drug addiction are welcome to attend Al-Anon to determine if it’s right for them, with the understanding that our program focuses on alcoholism. Survey results indicated- that 28% of members first came to Al-Anon because of a drug problem in a relative or friend. –From the 2021 Al-Anon Family Groups Membership Survey Results.
“Benefits of Al-Anon Recovery” PSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aCeppXO5o
