What is Al-Anon?

(en español) A worldwide organization that offers a self-help recovery program for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether or not the alcoholic seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. 

• Al-Anon is for families and friends of alcoholics. 

• Al-Anon is a separate fellowship from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). 

• Al-Anon is based on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions adapted from AA (see below). 

• Al-Anon is compatible with professional treatment. 

Al-Anon is not a religious organization or a counseling agency. It is not a treatment center, nor is it allied with any other organization offering such services. Al-Anon Family Groups, which includes Alateen for teenage members, neither expresses opinions on outside issues nor endorses outside enterprises. 

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.

Al-Anon Family Groups, including Alateen

These organizations have been in existence since 1995 in Steamboat and since 1951 nationally as a community resource providing support to those affected by someone else's drinking. Today, there are over 24,000 Al-Anon and Alateen groups meeting in 115 countries. Information for meetings in the Steamboat Springs, Colorado area is available HERE.

Alateen is the recovery program for young people affected by someone else's drinking. 

Al-Anon Service Centers in Colorado are located in Denver and Colorado Springs. 

Steamboat Springs Al-Anon

The purpose of the Steamboat Springs Al-Anon Family Groups is to help friends and families of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with or exposure to the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Our focus is on ourselves, not the alcoholic. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of alcoholism with a friend or relative. We believe that alcoholism is a family illness and that changed attitudes can aid recovery. 

Meetings are Free, Anonymous, and Confidential. There are no dues or fees for membership. Al-Anon Traditions state that Al-Anon/Alateen are not allied with any particular sect, denomination, political entity, organization, or institution, and do not engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any cause. Al-Anon/Alateen are fully self-supporting through their own voluntary contributions.

The 3 Legacies of Al-Anon

The 12 Steps — The 12 Traditions — The 12 Concepts of Service

The 12 Steps of Al-Anon

Study of these Steps is essential to progress in the Al-Anon program. The principles they embody are universal, applicable to everyone, whatever their personal creed. In Al-Anon, we strive for an ever-deeper understanding of these steps, and pray for the wisdom to apply them to our lives.

1.  We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. 

2.  Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

3.  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 

4.  Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 

5.  Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 

6.  Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 

7.  Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 

8.  Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 

9.  Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 

10.  Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 

11.  Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 

12.  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs. 

The 12 Traditions of Al-Anon

These are Al-Anon's 12 Traditions. These guidelines promote harmony and growth in Al-Anon groups and in the worldwide fellowship of Al-Anon. Our group experience suggests that our unity depends upon our adherence to these Traditions. 

1.  Our common welfare should come first; personal progress for the greatest number depends upon unity. 

2.  For our group purpose, there is but one authority -- a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. 

3.  The relatives of alcoholics, when gathered together for mutual aid, may call themselves an Al-Anon Family Group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of alcoholism in a relative or friend. 

4.  Each group should be autonomous, except in matters affecting another group or Al-Anon or AA as a whole. 

5.  Each Al-Anon Family Group has but one purpose: to help families of alcoholics. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of AA ourselves, by encouraging and understanding our alcoholic relatives, and by welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics. 

6.  Our Al-Anon Family Groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend our name to any outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary spiritual aim. Although a separate entity, we should always cooperate with Alcoholics Anonymous. 

7.  Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. 

8.  Al-Anon Twelfth-Step work should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers. 

9.  Our groups, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve. 

10.  The Al-Anon Family Groups have no opinion on outside issues; hence, our name ought never be drawn into public controversy. 

11.  Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, and films. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all AA members. 

12.  Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles above personalities.

The 12 Concepts of Al-Anon

The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions are guides for personal growth and group unity. The Twelve Concepts are guides for service. They show how Twelve Step work can be done on a broad scale and how members of the World Service Office can relate to each other and to the groups, through the World Service Conference, to spread Al-Anon's message worldwide. 

1. The ultimate responsibility and authority for Al-Anon world services belong to the Al-Anon groups.

2.  The Al-Anon Family Groups have delegated complete administrative and operational authority to their Conference and its service arms.

3.  The Right of Decision makes effective leadership possible.

4.  Participation is the key to harmony.

5.  The Rights of Appeal and Petition protect minorities and assure that they be heard. 

6.  The Conference acknowledges the primary administrative responsibility of the trustees. 

7.  The Trustees have legal rights, while the rights of the Conference are traditional. 

8.  The Board of Trustees delegates full authority for routine management of the Al-Anon Headquarters to its executive committees. 

9.  Good personal leadership at all service levels is a necessity. In the field of world service, the Board of Trustees assumes the primary leadership. 

10.  Service responsibility is balanced by carefully defined service authority, and double-headed management is avoided. 

11.  The World Service Office is composed of standing committees, executives, and staff members. 

12.  The spiritual foundation for Al-Anon's world services is contained in the General Warranties of the Conference, Article 12 of the Charter.

About Alateen

(All teens are welcome to attend any Al-Anon meeting; there are no scheduled Alateen meetings in Steamboat at this time)

About Alateen

Alateen is a fellowship of young Al-Anon members, usually teenagers, whose lives have been affected by someone else's drinking. 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 and follow the same Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and principles as Al-Anon. 

Purposes of Alateen - Young people come together to: 

• Share experience, strength, and hope with each other. 

• Discuss their difficulties. 

• Learn effective ways to cope with their problems. 

• Encourage one another. 

• Help each other understand the principles of the Al-Anon program. 

• Learn how to use the Twelve Steps and Alateen's Twelve Traditions. 

Alateen members learn:

• Compulsive drinking 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. 

Al-Anon and Alateen Members Are Helped When They: 

• Attend meetings on a regular basis. 

• Make telephone contact with other members. 

• Read Al-Anon/Alateen literature. 

• Have a sponsor. 

• Apply the Twelve Steps of recovery to their lives. 

• Become involved in Al-Anon service work. 

• Welcome others seeking help & information.