Newcomers
The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope, in order to solve their common problems.
Alateen is for Al-Anon’s younger members who range from 9 to 19 years of age and whose lives have been affected by someone’s drinking.
Al-Anon Can Help
Many of us come to Al-Anon or Alateen in despair, feeling hopeless, unable to believe that things can ever change. We want our lives to be different, but nothing we do seems to work. We come to Al-Anon because we want and need help.
In Al-Anon and Alateen, members share their own experience, strength, and hope. You will meet others who share your feelings and frustrations. We come together to learn a better way of life and to find happiness whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not.
Finding a Meeting
Al-Anon meetings are found morning, noon, and night across Central Ohio. Visit Meeting Information or Alateen Meetings for more information or follow one of the links below. You may also call the Al-Anon Information Service at (614) 547-1550 for additional information.
Meetings by Day of the Week: Monday l Tuesday l Wednesday l Thursday l Friday l Saturday l Sunday
Members of Al-Anon and Alateen
Al-Anon and Alateen members are people just like you and me–people who have been affected by someone else’s drinking. They are parents, children, spouses, partners, brothers, sisters, other family members, friends, employers, employees, and coworkers of alcoholics. No matter what our specific experience has been, we share a common bond: our lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking.
Speaking in Meetings
It is your choice to speak or not during the meetings. Newcomers are welcomed to meetings, usually provided with literature and a local meeting list, and invited to listen and learn. Some meetings offer beginners’ meetings, specifically for newcomers. Also, members are available to answer questions before or after the meetings.
Anonymity
One of the Al-Anon program’s basic principles is that of anonymity. Meetings are confidential. We do not disclose whom we see or what we hear at meetings to anyone.
Spirituality
Al-Anon Family Groups is a spiritual fellowship, not a religious one. We avoid discussion of specific religious doctrine. Members of all faiths or of none are welcome. Our Twelve Steps ask us to find a “Power greater than ourselves” who can help us solve our problems and restore us to sanity. Each member is free to define that power in his or her own way.