Al-Anon?

[blas]

Has anyone ever been to an Al-Anon meeting?

Is it confidential?

Is it a support group, or a safe place to vent?

I see there are Al Anon meetings at local churches almost every day where I live, and I will be having some time off sometime soon either this month or next month and have been considering going to one, just to be able to tell my stories and be able to let it out without being judged or be told to make absolute decisions.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I've never been to one, but it's supposed to be confidential. And yeah, it's a support group.

[Shpepper]

Just go and sit in the first couple times if that's all you are comfortable doing. Each group is different and you will find that you are more comfortable at some than at others. You can ask for a meeting schedule and go to any meeting that is designated as open. I think all Al-Anon meetings are open meetings. So you should be able to go to any of them. PM me if you have more questions. I can even help find more meetings that might work better for you.

[trailerparkmedic]

It is confidential and it is both a support group and a good place to vent. I went to several different AA meetings in different parts of the city for an assignment and noticed that each of them had a different vibe because of the different people at each one. If you don't like the first meeting, try another somewhere else to see if it's the people that you don't like.

There's also an Al-Anon website that I found helpful before when my schedule was crazy. There are message boards as well as virtual meetings (everyone meets in a chat room).

[criddle]

I've been. Yes it was a confidential, safe place to vent. I rarely spoke but was glad to know that I wasn't alone. I'd still be going except I have a scheduling conflict.

Feel free to send me a message off board if you have any questions.

[taxguykarl]

My wife had been to meetings at several different sites about her ex. She mentioned that it takes a couple months of meetings to help bring about a solution.

[Thatgirl71]

My sister goes to al-anon, her soon to be ex-husband is an alcoholic and put her through hell. She likes it because she can go and vent to people who understand what she went through and is still going through when dealing with the stbx.

[blas]

It's kind of hard to schedule for me right now, but in having a week off of work, I'd be able to try a couple of different places. I see they are all at churches.

I'm wondering if I should call and ask how many people show up every week to these meetings.

[Shpepper]

You could try calling. You can also try calling a helpline number that should be available. You can try looking at a website for your area to see if they have a phone number or not. You can also try the location where the meetings are held and see if they know. most of the time meetings are held at churches because it costs next to nothing for the use of the room if it is for a meeting. I can't give specific websites to look at as I am nut sure where you are exactly. but you can just google your area and al-anon, and there should be more info. I have also heard that some places host virtual meetings. I did find this. It might work better for you with scheduling difficulties. www.ola-is.org this is al-anon online. Check them out and see what they can do for you.