Concepts

Concepts

These are guidelines of service in Al-Anon, which mean ‘action’.

1. The ultimate responsibility and authority for Al-Anon world services belongs to the Al-Anon groups.
2. The Al-Anon Family Groups have delegated complete administrative and operational authority to their Conference and its service arms.
3. The right of decision makes effective leadership possible.
4. Participation is the key to harmony.
5. The rights of appeal and petition protect minorities and insure that they be heard.
6. The Conference acknowledges the primary administrative responsibility of the Trustees.
7. The Trustees have legal rights while the rights of the Conference are traditional.
8. The Board of Trustees delegates full authority for routine management of Al-Anon Headquarters to its executive committees.
9. Good personal leadership at all service levels is a necessity. In the field of world service the Board of Trustees assumes the primary leadership.
10. Service responsibility is balanced by carefully defined service authority and double-headed management is avoided.
11. The World Service Office is composed of selected committees, executives and staff members.
12. The spiritual foundation for Al-Anon’s world services is contained in the General Warranties of the Conference, Article 12 of the Charter.

General Warranties of the Conference

In all proceedings the World Service Conference of Al-Anon shall observe the spirit of the Traditions:

1. that only sufficient operating funds, including an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle;
2. that no Conference member shall be placed in unqualified authority over other members;
3. that all decisions be reached by discussion vote and whenever possible by unanimity;
4. that no Conference action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy;
5. that though the Conference serves Al-Anon it shall never perform any act of government; and that like the fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups which it serves, it shall always remain democratic in thought and action.

© Al-Anon’s General Warranties of the Conference, copyright 1996 by Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc.

Service

Service forms an integral component of Al-Anon.

Al-Anon members strive to do as well as to be.  Anything done to help a relative or friend of an alcoholic is service: a telephone call to a despairing member or sponsoring a newcomer, telling or lending an ear meetings, forming and supporting groups, arranging for public information, distributing literature, and financially supporting groups, local services and the Al-Anon World Service Office through voluntary donations.

Carrying the message, as suggested in the 12th Step of Al-Anon’s Twelve Steps, is Al-Anon’s third legacy, guided by our Twelve Concepts of Service.*

Service can help you to grow. You can see that you are recovering from the effects of someone’s drinking by how you can help other people in a healthy way.

Service can be loads of fun!  Meeting new people, offering help to others make us spiritually strong and positive.

Service can be rewarding. You can make new relationships, broaden existing relationships, develop new skills and discover things about yourself and the Al-Anon that you may have never known before. 

“God grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”