Originally Posted by
StarCat 
I heard someone (a "double winner" - someone who attends both Al-Anon and AA) once refer to Al-Anon as the doorway to AA. This individual started attending Al-Anon meetings with an alcoholic spouse and family of origin, only to realize once he started actively working on the program that he needed to be in AA as well.
I have also seen this experience (I attend a variety of Open AA meetings to learn). Many of the people in the AA rooms share that Al-anon was their first stop into a 12 step program, and when they were able to dig a little deeper for themselves they realized they needed both sides.