Size of Meetings?
 

I go to Alanon- no Naranon in my town. My two "regular" meetings always have about 30-35 people. I was just wondering if this was the norm. Thanks!

I think it really varies. I've been to one meeting where there were 3 of us (it was only a few months old) another with about 8-10, and my home Naranon group was at about 16 when I started 3 years ago and has grown to 25-35. There is another Naranon group nearby that is struggling a bit because they have grown to over 40 each meeting...a little too big to allow everyone who wants it to have time to share.

I agree with greet...it varies. The Alanon meetings I attended were large. The Naranon meetings...not so large, my home group can be anywhere from 4 to 20. I undertand that there is a Naranon meeting about 40 minutes from me that is always very large.

I live in a small town (pop. about 3,000). We usually have about 8-12 people come to our group. We have the core group that comes every week, rain or shine. And then we get the occasional newcomer that may come to a couple of meetings and then not come back. It amazes me because I know that our town is full of alcohol and drug problems but I guess it took me a long time to find Al-anon:) I am sure glad that I did. Hugs, Marle

Depends on where I am and what time of year it is. My current home group has about 12 regulars, and we've been as large as 35 and small as 6. My home group in Dallas had about 25-40 regularly. I know of a group here that only has 3, and sometimes only 1 or 2. They struggle with whether to continue the meeting or to let it go for awhile.

My CoDA fellowship in Toronto had about 30 members each meeting. We all joined in the opening and then broke into sharing groups of about 6 people each, so we each had time to share what we wanted. We would join as a large group again for the closing.

This worked very well and gave each person time for their individual sharing yet brought us together as a group too.

Hugs

When I went to groups, the Nar-Anon group was VERY small, sometimes only 3 people, never more than 8, only ran once a week, and the woman who ran it just loved to hear herself talk. Lots of Al-anon groups, some of the HUGE.

I am not a group person in general, and while my husband was using, I was way too cranky to be around people who annoyed me (which was everyone, at that time). SR saved me.

Im on a different continent from all of you, but at my Nar Alon group we are 10-12 people...

When we still had Alanon here where I live back in the mid-late 80's, it was always a small group of anywhere from 3-6.

Thanks for the replies! One of my concerns is that I rarely get a chance to share in the groups. Being a little shy and reserved, I dont just "jump in" the way others do.
Otherwise, I find both groups to be so helpful, I cant imagine NOT going.

My NarAnon group is usually 6-14, there is only one other NarAnon group where I live, I've never been to that meeting.

My AlAnon group is usually 12-25. We have a standard format of readings, speaker, and then we break into small groups of 3-5 for personal sharing for about 25-30 minutes.