Al-anon 12- step meeting

I attended an Al-anon 12 step meeting in the Memphis community on February 25 at 7 pm, the meeting lasted about one hour. Al-anon is a support group for family members of alcoholics, and I grew up with an alcoholic father so the dynamic of this group was interest to me. 

The role the facilitator played in this meeting was authoritarian as this was not an open discussion session and there was a guest speaker there to share her experience in how al-anon has been beneficial for her. The facilitator did however give a brief opportunity for other members of the group to share how the group has affected their lives. When no one shared the facilitator briefly talked about her past and what lead her to this support group. 

I attended the meeting with a classmate and she and I were by far the youngest one there, the meeting was held in a church and a potluck of food was provided. They were kind and offered food but we both admitted we expected there to be more people closer to our age since this group is geared toward adult children of alcoholics. Since we were new comers we were asked to introduce ourselves and a few members read through the 12-step process, one gave general rules of confidentiality of the group, and then we opened with brief a moment of silence followed by the serenity prayer. 

I did not find the session to be extremely therapeutic. The speaker was an elderly woman and although I related to some of the things she spoke about, we experienced extremely different childhoods due to the era we grew up in. I think it would be more therapeutic if it was more relatable. They stated multiple times throughout the session that it's recommended you attend at least 6 sessions for the process to be effective. We later found out that open share sessions are on Wednesday nights for opportunities to discuss and share. I believe it's important to give a few meetings a try as each group have their own dynamic that could better fit the needs of the member.