Since I'm from the other side of the fence not lots to add. However hubbie who is very active in Al-Anon tells me a lot how his meetings are run. I will let him speak directly to this issue but I think the comradery he gets is a large part of the value. That said I may be speaking out of turn but I do think meetings in the states people can periodically give input into changing certain parts of the meeting aka not saying the lords prayer, etc. Do they allow this type of input in your meetings? You may want to ask. I don't blame you at all for not being thankful for alcoholism. I'm not grateful for it and I'm the alcoholic. I am choosing to look at it as a useful agent for change in destructive patterns in my life which predated the addiction but that's about it.