Help and Hope for Alcoholics/Addicts

1. Help and Hope for Alcoholics/Addicts And the people who love them • www.nationaltreatmentcenters.org • www.aa.org These are just 2 of many options. These links can lead to other treatment options.

2. Al-Anon's Purpose To help families and friends of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Similarly, Alateen is our recovery program for young people. Alateen groups are sponsored by Al-Anon members. This program of recovery is adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous and is based upon the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of Service.

3. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of alcoholism in a relative or friend. Whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not, Al-Anon/Alateen offers hope and recovery to all people affected by the alcoholism of a loved one or friend.

4. Groups Al-Anon meetings are held in 115 countries. There are over 24,000 Al-Anon and over 2,300 Alateen groups worldwide. Background Information Al-Anon Is for families and friends of alcoholics. Is a separate fellowship from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Al-Anon is based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions adapted from AA. Is compatible with professional treatment.

5. Alateen… …Is part of the Al-Anon fellowship designed for the younger relatives and friends of alcoholics through age nineteen. Members conduct their own meetings with the guidance of an Al-Anon sponsor. Follows the same Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and principles as Al-Anon.

6. Al-Anon and Alateen Groups Do Not: Give advice. Indulge in gossip or criticism. Discuss members' religious beliefs, or lack of them. Endorse or oppose any cause, therapy, or treatment.

7. Understanding Ourselves and Alcoholism "Alcoholism is a 'family' disease. Compulsive drinking affects the drinker and it affects the drinker's relationships; friendships, employment, childhood, parenthood, love affairs, marriages, all suffer from the effects of alcoholism. Those special relationships in which a person is really close to an alcoholic are affected most, and we who care are the most caught up in the behavior of another person. We react to an alcoholic's behavior. We see that the drinking is out of hand and try to control it. We are ashamed of the public scenes but in private we try to handle it. It isn't long before we feel we are to blame and take on the hurts, the fears, the guilt of an alcoholic."

8. "Even the most well-meaning people begin to count the number of drinks another person is having. We pour expensive liquor down drains, search the house for hidden bottles, listen for the sound of opening cans. All our thinking is directed at what the alcoholic is doing or not doing and how to get him or her to stop drinking. This is our obsession."

9. "Watching other human beings slowly kill themselves with alcohol is painful. While the alcoholic doesn't seem to be worrying about the bills, the job, the children, the condition of his or her health, people around them begin to worry. We make the mistake of covering up. We fix everything, make excuses, tell little lies to mend damaged relationships, and we worry some more. This is our anxiety."

10. "Sooner or later the alcoholic's behavior makes those around him or her angry. We realize that the alcoholic is not taking care of responsibilities, is telling lies, using us. We have begun to feel that the alcoholic doesn't love us and we want to strike back, punish, make the alcoholic pay for the hurt and frustration caused by uncontrolled drinking. This is our anger." "Those who are close to the alcoholic begin to pretend. We accept promises, we believe. We want to believe the problem has gone away each time there is a sober period. When every good sense tells us there is something wrong with the alcoholic's drinking or thinking, we still hide how we feel and what we know. This is our denial."

11. "Perhaps the most severe damage to those who have shared some part of life with an alcoholic comes in the form of the nagging belief that we are somehow at fault; we were not up to it all, not attractive enough, not clever enough to have solved this problem for the one we love. We think it was something we did or did not do. These are our feelings of guilt."

12. ALATEEN MEMBERS LEARN: * Alcoholism is a disease. * They can detach themselves emotionally from the drinker's problems while continuing to love the person. * They are not the cause of anyone else's drinking or behavior. * They cannot change or control anyone but themselves. * They have spiritual and intellectual resources with which to develop their own potentials, no matter what happens at home. * They can build satisfying and rewarding life experiences for themselves.

13. There is help for anyone suffering from addiction or the effects of loving and living with an addict. Seeking help requires both a WILLINGNESS to admit there is a problem and the COURAGE to change. The rewards of recovery are filled with Miracles and a better life.