oneday66

Ive been wanting to go to an open NA meeting to gain some perspective on my estranged AH...(cant talk to him rationally as he's actively using) Has anybody gone yo one and was it helpful or not helpful in terms of your own personal healing? Thank you for sharing...

LifeRecovery

After about six months of attending Al-anon I started going to a couple of open AA meetings.

For me it has been helpful but I think I needed the time to get my own program in Al-anon before I was ready to attend.

I was very welcomed and supported by the way. Actually a number of people on the AA side have commented that they should consider attending Al-anon by the way.

It helped humanize the disease of addiction for me...and for that I will be forever grateful.

Ann

I went to several whenever my son would invite me, and always felt welcome, but I think I may have felt a little intrusive if I had gone alone. It did help me understand addiction somewhat but it really wasn't helpful to me, my own meetings were by far much better for me to find my balance.

I think when I first went, I went to try to figure out how to "fix" my son and in hindsight that embarrasses me because I think I was more transparent than I thought.

That's just how it was for me. Why not try one and see how it works for you? And maybe try Al-anon, Nar-anon or CoDA, my guess is you will feel more at home there.

Hugs

TMZ

Yes I have attended several both NA & AA {1AS of each}
I have also attended a convention for NA with hundreds of recovering addicts. (posted earlier this month on that visit)

I found it very helpful to see it from there side. But I have been attending my own Al-anon, and lately Nar-anon family group for some time. I do highly recommend everyone attend one. It is good to see it from there side and also to see that they can recover. It gives so much hope.


The program works when you wok it !!!
Please go.

outtolunch

Back when, I used to drag my a daughter to AA meets. She had no interest in the program and was not mature enough to see that she had much in common with everyone despite that her doc was heroin and being 30 years younger than the rest.

While I spent a lifetime working with several highly functioning alcoholics, I never appreciated just how bad alcoholism really is, until I heard the stories. It was a real eye opener and I left thinking; " alcohol is a legal drug ".

Babs

There are lots of AA and NA speaker tapes available for download (many for free.) I found those more helpful than the meetings.

Babs