12-Step Meeting: Al-Anon

Attending the 12-Step Al-Alon Meeting was a great experience. I originally wanted to attend the AA meeting, but it was a closed group so we attended Al-Anon. I honestly had never heard of Al-Anon before, and I assumed it was just like AA. However, I learned that this meeting is for people that are worried about someone with a drinking problem.

Besides my sister and I, the group consisted of 4 people. They explained there usually are more, but many people were gone to a conference. With only 6 people in the room, it was a very personal environment. I think this environment had a huge impact on the session. Since it was such a small group, each member had plenty of time to talk, and it didn’t seem as intimidating as sharing with a large group would have.

I thought it was really neat that the members of this group follow the same steps as the members in AA do. At the beginning of the session, one of the members mentioned that the focus of the group is not on the alcoholic loved one, but about each person sitting in the room. I really liked that because it facilitated an environment that allowed individuals to discuss problems they were having and how they were dealing with them, instead of gossiping about the alcoholic in their life.

I believe this group was psychodynamic. It was very loosely structured – Emily and I left the session still not knowing which person was the actual group leader or what the role of the leader was because it was so go-with-the-flow. It made the session seem more like a group of friends hanging out than a group therapy session, so all of the members encouraged participation from each other. This session was very introspective. The majority of the time was spent discussing the “slogans” Al-Anon and AA members use. The slogan for today was “Easy Does It”. Each member took turns discussing how they apply this slogan to their lives. While some members related this slogan to dealing with the alcoholics in their life, they also related it to use in an everyday environment, such as the workplace. 

I thought this session was therapeutic. I think anytime there is a safe place for individuals dealing with some of the same issues to come and discuss, it is therapeutic in a sense. I really appreciated that it wasn’t just people gossiping or pouring out feelings. Every person that shared a problem referenced the Al-Anon books, slogans, and/or the 12 steps for how they have been or are working to use these tools to work through their problems. There was a lot of emphasis on applying these tools to everyday life problems instead of just problems with the alcoholics in their life. I think this is a very beneficial way to encourage carry-over of positive coping skills to all situations these individuals could encounter.

Overall, this was a great experience. It was very insightful to hear stories about how much Al-Anon has changed these individual’s lives for the better.