Al-Anon Family Groups
Al-Anon Family Groups offers mutual support to people affected by someone else’s drinking. Members share experiences and use the programme’s principles to address their own circumstances. Alateen is the part of the fellowship serving young people.
Organization profile
- Organization type
- Patient organization / disease alliance
- Headquarters / base
- Virginia Beach (World Service Office), Virginia, United States
- Geographic scope
- Global
Medical focus
Activities
Population served
Support for families and friends
Al-Anon’s focus is the experience of relatives and friends whose lives have been affected by another person’s alcohol use. Participation does not depend on that person recognizing a drinking problem or seeking help. Members use shared experience and mutual support to work on their own responses and well-being.
Alateen forms part of Al-Anon Family Groups and brings together young people, mainly teenagers, facing similar circumstances. The programme creates opportunities for peers to talk about the effects of someone else’s drinking in their lives.
Sources: [1].
The fellowship and its World Service Office
Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. is the service organization commonly known as the World Service Office. Its US office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The fellowship and the service corporation are related but distinct: the office provides services that individual groups or areas cannot readily provide on their own.
Those services include approved literature, responses to member and group enquiries and public outreach. The World Service Conference provides guidance on service matters. The office supports groups without controlling or directing them, an important distinction when describing the relationship between a local meeting and the wider fellowship.
Meeting options and geographic reach
Al-Anon’s official resources include local meeting searches, worldwide contacts and electronic meetings. Meetings may be in person, online or hybrid. Individual listings explain how to participate. These resources connect people with the broader fellowship while allowing each meeting’s location and format to be identified separately from the World Service Office.