About Alateen                                Meeting Times & Location

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 follows 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.

Sponsorship

Every Alateen group needs an active, adult member of Al-Anon to serve as sponsor. The sponsor is an active part of the group, guiding and sharing knowledge of our Twelve Steps and Alateen Traditions. 

A Colorado Alateen Tells Her Story

The program known as Alateen has given me strength and a reason to live. This program has saved my life. I found the love and care that I needed here. People at these meetings know what you are talking about because they have been there. They have had or still have the same feelings you do: pain, hope and disappointment. Realizing that you need to keep faith and that you are not alone has made it work better.

When I first came, I didn't want to be there. I thought nobody there knew what I had gone through or the feelings I had and have, but I only found out how wrong I was. Everybody loves me, but that isn't based on whether or not they like me. I kept coming back to this 'lame' place because no matter who I was inside I felt accepted and that was a feeling I needed. I didn't have to wear fashionable clothes or wear a mask on my face. This was a place that I was given permission to cry and you weren't judged for it. Because of this, I kept coming back. In the beginning I was lost, but now I'm found. If I stop going, I will find myself back in the starting place and that is a bad situation.

Holly, age 14

Is Alateen for You?           

1. Do you have a parent, close friend or relative whose drinking upsets you?

2. Do you cover up your real feelings by pretending that you don't care? 

3. Are holidays and gatherings spoiled because of drinking? 

4. Do you tell lies to cover up for someone else's drinking or what's happening in your home? 

5. Do you stay out of the house as much as possible because you hate it there? 

6. Are you afraid to upset someone or fear it will set off a drinking about? 

7. Do you feel nobody really loves you or cares what happens to you? 

8. Are you afraid or embarrassed to bring your friends home? 

9. Do you think the drinker's behavior is caused by you, other members of your family, friends, or rotten breaks in life? 

10. Do you make threats such as, "If you don't stop drinking, fighting, I'll run away?" 

11. Do you make promises about behavior, such as, "I'll get better school marks, go to church or keep my room clean" in exchange for a promise that the fighting and drinking will stop? 

12. Do you feel that if your mom or dad loved you, he or she would stop drinking? 

13. Do you ever threaten or actually hurt yourself to scare your parents into saying "I'm sorry," or "I love you?"

14. Do you believe no one could possibly understand how you feel? 

15. Do you have money problems because of someone else's drinking? 

16. Are mealtimes frequently delayed because of the drinker?

17. Have you considered calling the police because of the drinker's abusive behavior? 

18. Have you refused dates out of fear or anxiety? 

19. Do you think your problems would be solved if the drinker stopped? 

20. Do you ever treat people (teachers, schoolmates, teammates, etc.) unjustly because you are angry at someone else for drinking too much? 

If you have answered yes to three or more of these questions, you may find help in Alateen.