Getting Involved in Support Group Meetings




When I started getting involved with a weekly support group things began to change. The alcoholic did not change, but I began doing things differently. By attending meetings regularly, I learned how to set boundaries, how to love the alcoholic unconditionally and how to regain my sanity. This is not something that happened overnight.

Get this one point!

You will benefit from joining a group. Don’t delay any longer, pick up the phone and call an organization in your area.

I highly recommend
the Al-anon program. Call the Hotline Now!
People Helping Each Other With Alcoholism
I did not realize how much I needed to be around people who were dealing with alcoholism like I was. In my weekly meeting, I began to develop friendships that would last a lifetime. I did not realize how lonely I was until I started identifying with the people who were frustrated with an alcoholic just like I was.

Some people have been participating in groups like this for decades. The wisdom that they have to share is literally priceless. With great joy, they share their experience, strength and hope with those of us who are devastated by the problem drinker’s actions.

What we must understand is that there are common characteristics in everyone, rather male or female, who have the disease of alcoholism. We think that we are the only person who is dealing with this horrible problem, when in reality our story is not much different than millions of others.

Benefits of Support Group Meetings

Therapy Group Holding HandsThere are great benefits to getting involved with a support group that can help you deal with someone who suffers from alcoholism in your life. Coping with a person who has a drinking problem on your own is impossible. I found the help I needed by attending Al-anon family support groups.

  • You will start to learn about the disease of alcoholism and begin to accept many of the characteristics of the person suffering with the disease.
  • You will learn that you cannot make them quit drinking.
  • You will learn that you did not cause the alcoholic to drink.
  • Great friendships will begin to develop.
  • After a while, life will be a lot more enjoyable because the constant obsession of what they are doing will begin to lift.
  • An understanding that unacceptable behavior is not acceptable will begin to happen.
  • Lying is one of the characteristic of alcoholism, you will be equipped to handle the constant lies.
  • You will learn that you cannot cure them.
  • You will get wisdom on how to set boundaries.
  • A new-found hope will begin to emerge inside you!
  • Caring for the alcoholic will become less important.

Those are only a few of the things that will start to occur in your life. In support group meetings, designed to help friends, co-workers, family members, or bosses cope with the disease of alcoholism in someone they are close to, a new freedom and happiness will be discovered. This new discovery takes place over a period of time. So, it’s important to make a commitment to go to the meetings on a regular basis. This will help you tremendously if you are exhausted tired from living with alcoholism.

It’s suggested that you try at least six meetings. After that they will refund your misery, if you choose to not continue attending.

In the community where I live, there are meetings every day and sometimes three or four of them at different times in one day.

Support group programs for family members of alcoholics generally have books that are very beneficial to understanding what you are up against. Through reading daily literature, attending weekly meetings and participating in phone conversations with friends from the program, you will start experiencing more peace and serenity in your life.

I am encouraging you to find a support group in your area today.

Don’t wait another minute.

There are people who understand what you are going through and they want to help you.

Alcoholism is a devastating illness to combat on your own. If you think for a moment, you have tried everything that you know to do to get the alcoholic to stop drinking. I would guess that you have just about driven yourself nuts in the process and they still have a drinking problem.

Nothing you do or say is going to make an alcoholic stop drinking!

This is why it’s important to get involved, the things that you and I have been doing are not working. So, we must learn a new way, a different approach and get a few tools to help us survive the disease of alcoholism in a spouse, friend, co-worker or family member.

How Important Are Support Group Meetings?

Alcoholism is so cunning that no one should ever entertain the thought that they can deal with an active alcoholic without attending support group meetings. There’s no way to overcome the behaviors of a addict without getting help from individuals who know what you are going through. People who attend support group meetings have the necessary tools that you will need to combat alcoholism. Self help is not the answer to learning how to cope with an active alcoholic.

You must and I mean must attend support meetings for dealing with an alcoholic on a regular basis. Many people when they first start out getting help will attend two to six meetings per day. In the city where I live in South West Florida there are meetings being held all over our city for alcoholic’s to get help and their friends and family members as well.

There is no excuse for not getting the help that you need if you are addicted to alcohol or you’re dealing with an active problem drinker.

Here’s what to expect when you start attending a support group for family members, friends and co-workers of problem drinkers.

1) You will be welcomed with open arms and smiling faces. These folks have learned how to live their lives and are happy in spite of the active alcoholism that they deal with on a daily basis.

2) The people in the support groups have exactly what you need to get a grip on your life again. If you make a commitment to attend regularly your life will change for the better.

3) They will not tell you how to get the alcoholic to stop drinking. They will teach you how to enjoy your life even though the alcoholic continues to drink.

4) The folks who are there to help you will offer their phone numbers and you can call them anytime when there is a crisis that you are having difficulty dealing with.

5) There will be suggested literature for you to purchase that will help you learn how to cope with the active spouse, friend or child in your life who is causing problems because of their daily consumption of alcohol.

6) It will be suggested that you continue to come back for at least six weeks. Just attending one support group meeting will not be nearly enough for you to get what you need to change the situation that you are living in.

Support groups can be a great way to make life-long friends who you can interact with on more occasions than just attending meetings. There will be movies to go to, plays to see and barbeques to attend with your new friends. We all frequent places like Chilies, Starbucks and Applebees for having a meeting after a meeting. It’s a great way to get to know the people in your support groups better.

Finding a support group meeting in my opinion is the most important part for you to begin to live your life in a normal way again. Alcoholism is horrible and can greatly affect our lives in negative ways. People who attend support groups will help you if you open yourself up to being helped. The beauty of being a part of these groups is that everything remains confidential.
group of addicts

12 comments to Getting Involved in Support Group Meetings

  • I live in Start Louisiana and I don’t know where to start. I can’t afford to pay for group meetings. I really need some help. I have 3 children and we all know when its that time, so we try to avoid him. I really need a support group for me and dont know where or how to find one

  • Bruce Bryan

    JC: I would like to find a support group for myself. I have a girlfriend (in limbo) and a very good friend who are both alcoholics. I’m in search of a support besides Al-Anon. The Al-Anon groups I have been to are not much help. Does anyone know of other groups in the metro Detroit area?

  • Debbi

    Bruce:

    Don’t know if this will help but I actually found help sitting in on open AA meetings and listening to stories of recovering A’s and I also attended abuse support groups if any in your area. Hope you find something.

  • D Light

    Alanon changed my perspective, then my thinking, then my choices which changed my behavior to positively affect my life. I had to do a lot of reading to get a grip on this and understand my role in picture. Online meeting available but a good support group was better for me. 4th step questions helpful but yet to find a sponsor. Maybe some day?

  • […] had been attending alcoholism support group meetings for a couple of months and had started to develop a few good friendships. Tom was one of the guys I […]

  • […] getting used to. It’s in our very nature to want to care of  people and fix their problems. In alcoholism support groups we are referred to as care-takers. We are good at fixing everything and everybody that is […]

  • […] tabs on them that this would help the alcoholic in my life. It wasn’t until I began attending alcoholism support group meetings that I realized nothing I had been doing was making them quit […]

  • […] of the things I learned early on in the alcoholism support group meetings is that I needed to be in good emotional condition when being around the alcoholic. There are good […]

  • […] Support group meetings on living with alcoholics teach people how to NOT ride the roller coaster of emotions that are associated with these types of relationships. The goal is to get us to just mind our own business because when we focus on others that’s when we lose our peace. […]

  • […] people who participate in support group meetings, in the AA program, confess that they were different from the other kids. While many of their […]

  • […] not them. In this case, she was the one displaying insane behavior. I learned this while attending alcoholism support meetings. Could you act as if nothing ever […]

  • […] acting out in anger or being irrational. You can learn how to set boundaries with them by attending support group meetings for friends and family members of alcoholics. You can learn how to do this in love […]

Leave a Reply