›› Alcoholics Meetings
My husband and I
recently relocated to a different city within the state we live
in. My husband has attended alcoholics meetings on and off
for several years. The alcoholics meetings can be of great
support; however it is important to find the one that will meet your
particular needs. If you attend the meetings out of
convenience of time or location you will probably not get your needs
met. We found that in our new community they had several different
meeting times through out the week. My husband went to one
meeting on a Monday night, but found that most of the people that
attended were much younger than him. He did not feel that he would gain
the support that he needed from this particular group. After the
meeting he found a poster advertising that on Tuesday’s a
group of men over 50 met at the same location. He attended
that meeting and instantly found the support and understanding that he
had experienced in the alcoholics meetings in our former community.
There are multiple directories that list alcoholics meetings.
There are also many ways of accessing the directories. Local
newspapers, area churches and visitor information centers are just a
few places to look for the listings. Many alcoholics meetings
are listed on the websites of cities and communities. This
will usually give the meeting times, locations and type of group.
Alcoholics meetings are held in most communities. In the
larger communities and cities the alcoholics meetings are often broken
up into specialty or sub groups, for example meetings for men, women,
smoker’s non-smokers, gays or lesbians. There are a
great number of subgroups for the alcoholics meetings, so if you have a
specific interest area or need, you should be able to find the right
meeting.
Most communities also offer alcoholics meetings for adult children of
alcoholics as well as for significant others that may be
co-dependent. In smaller communities the groups may seem very
tight knit and closed to new comers, however most meetings for
alcoholics are open for new members at all times. Because
alcoholics meetings tend to follow a similar agenda and beliefs it is
possible to attend meetings in communities that you are
visiting. Often times being away from home on vacation or at
business meetings may be a time that is particularly difficult for the
alcoholic to maintain sobriety, but most likely a meeting will be
taking place in the community that you find yourself in.
Alcoholics meetings are not limited only to the United
States. Several countries hold meetings on a regular basis,
so accessing alcoholic meetings when traveling abroad is a viable
option. This is a great way of not only gaining the support
you need while traveling, but also a way to establish relationships
throughout the world.
Whether you are new to recovery, or have many years of sobriety,
attendance at alcoholics meetings is a way of gaining support, giving
support, and developing long term relationships with others that know
what you are going through and want to reach out and help.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
