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Al-Anon Forum Magazine Featured Article

Tools of the Program
There are many tools of the program and many ways of listing them. Here they are they way I discovered and used them:
  1. The Information Service: This was my first contact with Al-Anon. The telephone number was listed at the end of a newspaper article about enabling. I picked up the phone and used my first tool.
  2. The Meeting: This is where it's at for me - recovery, serenity, fellowship, a life map. I still need to keep coming back for my regular doses of the program.
  3. The Phone List: This was entrusted to me after I learned the meaning of anonymity. As I used it I grew in experience, strength and hope because that's what members were sharing with me.
  4. Conference Approved Literature: This was the next tool I picked up and used. I wanted to know as much as I could as fast as I could. I read and read and read.
  5. The Slogans: Because they are short and easy to remember, the slogans became signposts along my way.
  6. The Serenity Prayer: It was becoming clear to me that this is essentially a spiritual program. I got in touch with my Higher Power, the One I had forgotten and perhaps never had really known before Al-Anon.
  7. Sponsorship: Now I was ready for this tool. I asked a wonderful lady to be my sponsor because she seemed to be just what I wanted to become. How she helped me is a whole story in itself. I learned I had choices from her.
  8. The Twelve Steps: I had taken my First Step the night I climbed the stairs to my first meeting because I no longer believed I could do it myself. So I kept on climbing those stairs and the steps, again and again, never perfectly but always growing.
  9. The Twelve Traditions: As I continued to grow in the program I wanted my group to always be there, delivering serenity to me and to anyone looking for it.
  10. The District Meeting: I wanted to help my group keep following the Traditions so I served as group representative. Years later when I was in a new, struggling group I was led to the district to find help and became district representative.
  11. The Area Meeting: Here was the tool that brought me new friends and new joy in living. Service became open meetings, workshops and conventions. I found that giving back what I had received from Al-Anon just brought me more and more.
  12. World Service: When I hear delegates and trustees share their stories, it seems they have discoved people everywhere are very much alike. We share a common disease and we share a recovery program that works.
Lorna C. - Illinois
 
Alcoholism is a family disease. Those of us who live with, or have have lived with, this disease as children or adults sometimes have problems which the Al-Anon program can help us to resolve. If you have answered yes to some of all of the above questions, Al-Anon may be of help to you. You can contact Al-Anon by checking your local telephone directory, or from the Resources page. Phone numbers and Contact Information for the Austin Area are listed on the Contact Page of this website.
 
These articles were reproduced with permission from 'The Forum', the monthly inspirational newsletter of Al-Anon. Al-Anon World Headquarters, Inc. is located in Virginia Beach, VA. See www.Al-Anon.org for more information.