Trusted Help Available 24/7.
Privacy Guaranteed.
What is Family Anonymous?
According to familyanonymous.org, Family Anonymous (or families anonymous) is a 12 step fellowship for the families and friends who have known the self-destructive behavior of someone close to them. The destructive behavior could include drugs, alcohol or related behavioral problems. Any concerned person who has someone like this in their life can go to their meetings.
Family Anonymous – Anonymity
At Family Anonymous the identities of participants are protected. Family anonymous has meetings just as any anonymous program does. Everyone who goes to family anonymous only knows each other by their first names. This is because anonymity is one of the most paramount features of the program. Anonymity is an underlying principle for family anonymous that is why anonymous is part of the name.
Why should I go to Family Anonymous?
Family Anonymous is a great place to let go of anger and pain due to the person in your life with destructive behavior. Family anonymous can offer peace and serenity for someone who has been suffering with a loved one who cannot get it together.
Family Anonymous was founded in 1971 by a group of parents in Southern California who were concerned about their children’s drug use. As of 2007 there are FA meetings in more than 20 countries and about 225 regular meetings in the United States.
What happens in Family Anonymous meetings?
The focus of Family Anonymous is on supporting the fellow members rather than trying to change the behavior of the friend or loved one who has been engaging in destructive behavior. At Family Anonymous, members…
- share their stories in order to help themselves heal and help others heal…
- discuss “tough love” and learn not to continue enabling the addicts or alcoholics in their lives by “rescuing” them all the time…
- review and work the 12 steps and 12 traditions…
Family Anonymous is therapeutic in that it helps the participants heal through story telling, information sharing, rationalizing and giving up guilt regarding the behavior of the destructive person. At FA, people can find a community of other people who’ve had similiar struggles, worries, pain and fears.
What’s the point of going to Family Anonymous?
Addicts and alcoholics or anyone engaging in destructive behavior, don’t realize the effect they have on the people who care about them most. So a lot of times these people are the ones who are deeply affected and they need a place to go get help. This is why there is Family Anonymous and also programs like Al-Anon which is also a 12 step fellowship for families or loved ones (specifically of alcoholics). The best thing 12 step programs such as Family Anonymous can do for the individuals who care about a destructive person is to teach them to take care of themselves, set boundaries, and keep their peace and serenity in the midst of chaos. Addicts and alcoholics and anyone engaging in destructive behavior are hard to handle, selfish, and hurtful and the best bet for everyone is for them to focus on what they need to do to make themselves better.
If your loved one is in need of addiction treatment, please give us a call at 800-951-6135.
Sources:
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/159667/2/Families-Anonymous-helps-family-members-of-drug-addicts
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_Anonymous