I’ve never seen anyone on here talk about Al-anon or ACOA (Adult children of alcoholics), only the AA program. Its possible I just never sought it out in the search bar.
Experiences? Thoughts?
My dad was an alcoholic growing up.
Its led to a lot of problems for me that it took until my adulthood to come to terms with or even just realize/learn.
I know already my personal struggle with alcohol, but i think for me it might be a better approach/at this stage to connect with people who have alcoholic family members like my dad was when i was growing up.
Thanks for your shared experiences if you have any.
I don’t have personal experience with these myself but I know Eric has a pretty active thread where he dives deep into Al Anon and AA, maybe that will have some helpful insights too:
No worries, it’s a diverse thread for sure but there are lots of participants there who had alcoholic fathers and parents, etc, for example this post:
There’s a bunch more too. If you search terms like ‘alcoholic dad’ ‘alcoholic parents’ or similar terms in the search box you’re sure to find dozens of hits, maybe hundreds. You are definitely not alone.
Hey Donut
C’mon over and check out that thread. I didn’t think it would be right to call it an Al-Anon thread or use that word. I wish my title was shorter. So many of us are affected by a loved one who drinks or drank. The thread is definitively open to the public forum on here. Seems like I’m hogging it lately.
8 months ago my life became unmanageable with my wife’s drinking. And I finally got my ass in a seat at a meeting. Hell I went to 4 meetings last week. And it felt great!
Lately my loved ones drinking has dominated my thoughts on the daily. But I do feel I’m getting better. I’m learning it’s going to take time.
I didn’t cause it
I can’t control it
I can’t cure it.
The 3 C’s of Al-Anon.
When we had our guest house we had a ACOA meetings in our Annex people came from far and wide and in my early sobriety i started dating and i went out with a couple of lovely girls who went to Al-anon i meet at AA dances , Is ACA the same as ACOA?
Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA or ACOA) founded circa 1973 is a fellowship of people who desire to recover from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. ACA membership has few formal requirements
@Bootz
I had a very similar experience with ACA years ago. I’m old, lol. Anyway, i went for a few years. Sadly, there wasn’t a lot of focus on solutions. @donut89@Matt
Thanks for your post. I was going to look for the thread today!!
What a coincidence!
Really interesting to read all of your responses. I think to me I just never sat back and considered the aspect of my dad being an alcoholic and how it effected my childhood and into my adulthood.
I think the better approach is for me to get some therapy which I am planning this year.
Thanks for the responses…
Hello! I attend ACOA DF online meetings weekly if I can… It’s at a really bad time some days due to being American based,I should be sleeping!
They are fairly helpful, I’ve got the big book and am working through it eventually. It’s super important for you to look at this from both angles: your traumatised and healing child of an alcoholic side, and also your addicted side.
Happy to talk with you in the thread mentioned above on this topic
