What is your experience with studying the Al‑Anon/Alateen Service Manual?
The Al‑Anon/Alateen Service Manual (P‑24/27) provides a clear and concise picture of the Al‑Anon fellowship and its purpose and functions and illustrates principles to help resolve group challenges and foster unity.
May’s blog topic asks: “What is your experience with studying the Al‑Anon/Alateen Service Manual?”
You may also reflect on Al‑Anon’s three Legacies, featuring Step Five, Tradition Five, and Concept Five, and how they shape your recovery, group life, or service.
Sharings on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
New topics are being added each month!
Strangely enough the Service Manual was almost one of the first experience I had in connecting with the program when I arrived in Al-Anon. I came in March and was elected Group Representative/District Representative (GR/DR) in September of the same year. Before the election I was interested in the service part of the program as it answered my need to know and probably the illusion of control. When I started my term as GR/DR, I felt that being familiar with the Manual was not only a suggestion, but a must. Unfortunately, I took it to extreme and almost made myself… Read more »
When I first entered Al-Anon It was suggested I get a manual this was more than 35 years ago. At that time if we had a group problem, we looked in the manual. Now I have been on a zoom manual study for a couple of years. I have found so many answers to our protocol. I wish more groups would look at Al-anon as a whole and read Tradition Four. I continue to learn many answers are in the manual.
My experience with the Service Manual occurred several years ago, when there was some controversy in my District while I was serving as the Group Representative for my home group. Some members at the District table wanted to shut down a group they disapproved of. This was upsetting to me for a couple of reasons: First, I was fairly certain that something about this was written somewhere in the Service Manual. Second, I didn’t agree to serve as a Group Representative in order to exercise authority, power, or judgment over other members of Al-Anon. I didn’t come into service to… Read more »
Early in the pandemic, one of our members started an online study group that our Area agreed to host. We began studying our Area handbook of procedures, then moved on to the 2018-2021 Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual and later we studied the World Service Conference summaries. This meeting has been going strong for six years, and now we are studying the 2026-2029 Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual. You’d think I would know it by heart at this point, but every time we meet and discuss what we are reading, someone asks a question and I end up learning something new or hear a… Read more »
My experience with studying the service manual is that it is eye-opening and enriching. It is eye-opening in that it tells me about aspects of our worldwide fellowship that I was not aware of. There is so much involved in carrying the message – so many activities and services at the various levels of the service structure that I was ignorant of. It is deeply enriching for my recovery in helping me to interpret and understand the principles of our program. The sections on sharing in meetings, rotation of service, group announcements, anonymity, group finances, beginner’s meetings, registering with the… Read more »
I used to only pick up my service manual when I had a specific question or a problem to solve. Once I found what I was looking for I would put it away again until next time. Then I used it a couple of times to chair an Al-Anon meeting at area assembly. It was so useful. I started to look at it differently. It was more than a resource book. Finally, I decided to sit down and read it like a book. This was challenging. After failed, but well-intended attempts, I committed to only read one page a day.… Read more »