ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS (AAC)
Alcoholism is a family disease. Every alcoholic affects at leat four other people, including children, siblings, parents, spouses, partners, friends, and co-workers. Many people who were exposed to alcoholism in childhood find difficulties with relationships in their adult life. There are often problems with handling fear, anger, guilt, shame, and self-esteem issues.
If you grew up affected by someone else's drinking, Al-Anon is a safe place to bring your concerns, your questions, and your desire to lead a better life. Whatever your problems, there are those in Al-Anon who have had them too. Together, we learn to face the past, to let go of it, and to lead happy, productive lives in the present.
Some Al-Anon meetings are designated as "Al-Anon's Adult Children" meetings and focus on the effects of having grown up with alcoholism-however, every Al-Anon group is open to all families and friends of alcoholics, and offers help and support to all people affected by someone else's drinking, whatever their relationship to the alcoholic.
There are no "experts" or professional counselors in Al-Anon. In informal discussion groups and by sharing one-on-one, members learn to face their fears, to feel their feelings, to share them with others, and together recover from the scars of the past.
In Al-Anon we learn to be kind to ourselves, and give ourselves the time we need to recover. We carry a lifetime of baggage into our meetings, and it takes time to recover from the effects of the past. We learn that alcoholism truly is a disease, that we didn't cause it, can't cure it, and can't control it.
(credit: Al-Anon pamphlet "Al-Anon Is For Adult Children of Alcoholics" S-69 )