Connecticut Al-Anon Meetings
Questions about our
Al-Anon/Alateen Meetings
Al-Anon Meetings
Al-Anon is a mutual support group of peers who share their experience in applying the Al-Anon principles to problems related to the effects of a problem drinker in their lives.
Alateen Meetings
Alateen is a peer support group for teens who are struggling with the effects of someone else’s problem drinking.
Electronic Meetings
Electronic Al-Anon meetings are held online and over the phone. Electronic meeting formats include: Phone, Email, Chat, Blog, Bulletin Board, Instant Messaging (Skype, WhatsApp, Discord, etc.), Web Conferencing (Zoom, WebEx, etc.) and Social Media (Facebook, “X” Formally Twitter, etc.).
Worldwide Al-Anon Contacts
Directory of U.S., Canadian, and worldwide Al-Anon Family Group offices to obtain Al-Anon meeting information and other services provided.
Here are a few things to keep in mind at your first meeting
- If you are concerned about someone’s drinking, you may attend ANY Al‑Anon meeting. While some groups choose to have certain Attendees selected, they will welcome anyone looking for help.
- 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.
- You are free to ask questions or to talk about your situation at your first meeting. If you’d rather just listen, you can say “I pass,” or explain that you’d just like to listen.
- Every meeting is different. Each meeting has the autonomy to be run as its members choose, within guidelines designed to promote Al‑Anon unity. Al‑Anon recommends that you try at least six different meetings before you decide if Al‑Anon will be helpful to you.
- Al‑Anon is not a religious program. Even when the meeting is held in a religious center, the local Al‑Anon group pays rent to that center and is not affiliated in any way with any religious group. Your religious beliefs—or lack of them—are not a subject for discussion at Al‑Anon meetings, which focus solely on coping with the effects of someone’s drinking.
- It will take some time to fully understand the significance of anonymity to the Al‑Anon program. But at its simplest level, anonymity means 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.
- The meeting will likely begin with a reading of the Twelve Steps of Al‑Anon. It will take some time to fully understand how the Twelve Steps can be a helpful tool in recovering from the effects of someone’s drinking. But Al‑Anon gives you the opportunity to grow at your own pace.