Information About Al-Anon

(Al-Anon's Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts)

Al-Anon Offers Help and Hope

What is Al-Anon?

The Al-Anon Family Groups, AFG, are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness and that changed attitudes can aid recovery.

Al-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization, or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause. There are no dues for membership. Al-Anon is self-supporting through its own voluntary contributions.

Al-Anon has but one purpose: to help families of alcoholics. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps, by welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics, and by giving understanding and encouragement to the alcoholic.

Reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. © "Suggested Al-Anon Preamble to the Twelve Steps."

Is Al-Anon For Me?

Help is here for the asking. Are you troubled by someone's drinking? Did you grow up with a problem drinker? If you identify with one or more of these statements, it is important to know that help and hope for friends and families of alcoholics is available through Al-Anon.

Some materials are found here that may assist you in identifying if our program is for you:

Is Al-Anon for You?

Are You Troubled By Someone's Drinking?

Did You Grow Up With A Problem Drinker?

We urge you to try our program. It has helped many of us find solutions that lead to serenity. We, too, were lonely and frustrated, but in Al-Anon / Alateen we discover that no situation is hopeless and it is possible to find contentment and even happiness whether the alcoholic is drinking or not.

Al-Anon and Alateen membership is open to anyone who feels his or her life has been affected by someone else's drinking. Members are all kinds of people from all walks of life: wives, husbands, lovers, sisters, brothers, parents, children and friends of alcoholics.

In Al-Anon Family Group meetings, AFG members receive comfort, encouragement and understanding. In Al-Anon, no advice is given but rather experience, strength and hope in recovery is shared among members. This personal sharing of problems and solutions bind the individual and the group together in fellowship that is protected by our Tradition of anonymity. Members learn that they have choices, and that changed attitudes, which comes from a greater understanding of the illness, and altered behavior can lead to serenity for themselves, and thereby indirectly help the problem drinker.

If you are seeking a solution, we encourage you to find a meeting or to call someone to join our community of Al-Anon Family Groups throughout San Antonio and the surrounding Texas Hill Country area. Almost any day of the week there is a meeting in your town or in a nearby community. Meetings are free, anonymous, and confidential.

A History of Al-Anon

In the late 1930s, close relatives of recovering alcoholics realized that they too needed help. They sought solutions by following the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, and formed themselves into family groups. In 1951, these groups were drawn together and became Al-Anon Family Groups. Today, there are more than 28,000 Al-Anon and 3,000 Alateen groups meeting in over 100 countries. Al-Anon and Alateen literature is produced in more than 25 languages.

Al-Anon is based on the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts of Service which have been adapted from the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The 12 Steps are a foundation for personal recovery; the 12 Traditions help the 30,000 + Al-Anon / Alateen groups sustain unity and harmony; and the 12 Concepts of Service are guides for showing how Twelfth Step work can be done to spread Al-Anon's message worldwide. Millions are finding help through these groups.

Al-Anon, though a separate entity, always cooperates with Alcoholics Anonymous.

Al-Anon also cooperates with health care providers, social workers, religious leaders, teachers, lawyers, judicial officials, and employers seeking to help the family recover.

The San Antonio Al-Anon Alateen Information Service - SAAIS - is the focal point for Al-Anon family groups - AFG - and Alateen programs in the Greater San Antonio and Texas Hill Country areas of Texas providing Al-Anon group meeting schedule, event, contact, literature, and general information. Serving the Al-Anon family groups - AFG - and Alateen in Al-Anon District 12 and Al-Anon District 13 communities of San Antonio, Bandera, Boerne, Bulverde, Canyon Lake, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Ingram, Junction, Kerrville, Mason, New Braunfels, Seguin, and Universal City, and the counties of Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Mason, Maverick, Medina, Real, Uvalde, and Wilson of the Al-Anon East Texas Area 53.