Janesville Al-Anon | Wisconsin Al-Anon | Rock County Al-Anon

Al-Anon Recovery Groups in; Beloit, Fort Atkinson, and Janesville

Friends and families of alcoholics find understanding and support at Al-Anon meetings!

What Al-Anon Is

The best description of Al-Anon comes from its own “Preamble to the Twelve Steps” which states in part:

The Al-Anon Family Groups 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.

Al-Anon is simply a group of people coming together to share their own experiences to help other people who are dealing with alcoholism in a friend or relative. Al-Anon is not a religious organization and it does not cost anything to attend. Al-Anon does not try to cure the alcoholic but instead focuses on helping those affected by alcoholics learn to take care of themselves.

How Al-Anon Works

Al-Anon works by attending meetings. Meetings are usually small having somewhere between five and fifteen people at any given time. They meet mostly in public places such as church basements, public libraries or anywhere else that is easily accessible to all. They can occur at any time of the day and typically last about one hour. During that hour, members share their own thoughts and feelings on the topic provided. Typically, when one person is sharing all other members listen and allow that person to speak without interruption. In Al-Anon, we believe that by hearing how other people cope with difficult situations in their lives, it helps us in similar situations. We also believe that sharing our own experiences with others helps to relieve us of the struggles that come from coping with someone else’s drinking.

Organization of Al-Anon

After the individual members, the most fundamental part of Al-Anon is the group. Every group in Al-Anon is independent and autonomous. This means that each group conducts it’s meeting in whatever manner it feels is best for its members. Each group sets its own guidelines for how it will run its meeting. There is no central authority that tells it what to do or how to run. Because of this, it is important to attend several different meetings when deciding whether Al-Anon is right for you since every meeting can have a different feeling and you may be more comfortable in one and less so in another.

Groups are organized into Districts that typically follow state or county boundaries. This particular website is the site for District 25 which covers all of Rock County, Wisconsin and the city of Fort Atkinson. The purpose of the District is to provide support to and share information among its various groups.

Each Al-Anon District belongs to an Area. Our District, District 25 belongs to Area 61 of Al-Anon that includes all of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Similar to the District, the Area provides support and helps share information among the various Districts that compose it.

Finally, each area is organized into the WSO, or World Service Organization. The WSO has a headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia and it serves to coordinate the Al-Anon activities of all the Areas in the world. They maintain a database of all registered groups, produce publications of Al-Anon material that groups and members can purchase, and provide guidance and support to any member, group, district or area that requests it.

South Central Wisconsin Al-Anon

Al-Anon in South Central Wisconsin

Al-Anon