For More than 50 Years, Al-Anon Family Groups have been Helping Friends and Family Members Affected by Someone's Drinking

Is Al-Anon or Alateen for you?

What are Al-Anon and Alateen?

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 else’s drinking.

Questions to help you decide if Al-Anon or Alateen is for you.

How will Al-Anon help?

Many who come to Al-Anon or Alateen are 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.

How can you find a meeting?

Al-Anon meetings are found morning, noon, and night across Central Ohio. Visit Find a Meeting or Alateen Meetings for more information or follow one of the links below. You may also call the Area Information Service at (614) 253-2701 for additional information.

Meetings by Day of the Week Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Meetings by Other Designation Alateen Newcomers Outside the Central Ohio Area

Who are the 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.

Do you need to say anything at a meeting?

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.

Will anyone say you've been there?

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.

Are there fees to attend Al-Anon?

There are no dues or fees in Al-Anon and Alateen meetings. Most groups pass a basket for voluntary contributions. The money that is collected is used by the group to pay rent, provide literature, and offer support to local and worldwide service centers.

Is this a religious fellowship?

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 then 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.

There is hope.

There is hope. You are at a turning point. If you would like your life to be different, Al-Anon and Alateen offer you a better way.  We encourage you to:

• Attend an Al-Anon or Alateen meeting. Visit Find a Meeting for a complete listing of Al-Anon and Alateen meetings.
• Need to Talk? Call (614) 253-2701 or e-mail help@coafg.org.

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