The vitality of Al‑Anon Family Groups depends upon reaching and serving as many people as possible to provide hope, help, and recovery for those suffering from the family disease of alcoholism. Technology makes it possible for the World Service Office (WSO) to expand our reach in the services we provide, thereby increasing our capacity to serve our members.
One of the ways we have improved our technology has been to enhance the meeting search on our website so newcomers and members alike can more accurately locate meetings happening in the moment. Along with that, we have updated our database so that electronic meetings can be registered in the same manner as in-person meetings. Our ongoing investment in the Al‑Anon Family Groups Mobile App allows members to attend meetings via their electronic devices.
Additionally, the WSO has a responsibility to protect Al‑Anon’s information, and technology helps us do that. We have invested in enhanced cybersecurity measures to better protect our networks and data and to help reduce the risk of hacking. We are expanding our use of cloud-based technology, which offers strong data protection, decreasing the risk of losing important documents and databases. Investing in technology enables the WSO, as the information clearinghouse for the Al‑Anon fellowship, to expand our public outreach services, better communicate with our members, and protect Al‑Anon’s assets to ensure Al-Anon Family Groups remain available to offer hope and help to families of alcoholics.
The Forum, June 2023
Please feel free to reprint these articles on your service structure website or newsletter, along with this credit line: Reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA.
I applaud this investment, particularly post pandemic. I also find it interesting that the above article does not mention the Al-Anon Declaration, in particular, outreach is to me the ¨anyone” portion of the declaration, and technology is now the fuel for the ¨anywhere¨. It would be interesting for this to be a topic embraced by the Conference as well, as areas try to figure out how to evolve technology to reach “anywhere”…
The evolution in “message carrying” for Al-Anon might be said to have begun in the early 2000s at the last International Convention where for the first time, Al-Anon interviewed members and put together a collection of YouTube videos and began to post on social media platforms simultaneously with first time use of a native app conference goers used to both get meeting info and to, of course, “fellowship” with each other. So successful was the “fellowship” feature, that evolved into the native app Al-Anon has today which exploded, as would be expected, when COVID hit the world a few years… Read more »
There are many roads by which we may reach families of alcoholics. This vehicle, the mobile app, positions Al-Anon Family Groups in the technology fast lane of the early 21st century. Thank you, WSO, for using technology safely and providing expanded opportunities for recovery.