Hi. I'm a double winner-I'm both Al-Anon and AA. Many of us turn to alcohol and
drugs (or other destructive behavior) in response to Al-Anon issues; I became an
alcoholic myself, and I picked up a four-year chip last month.

In AA today, many young people are getting and staying sober. In fact, the theme
of this year's International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous
is Raise the Bottom. We want to raise the bottom we all have to hit to hit young
people sooner; many of the young people we see in AA today started drinking at
12 or 13, and we don't want these kids to have to go as far down as some of us
older people did.

The Sunday speaker at this year's ICYPAA is Kerri H. of Washington. She used to
attend meetings at the Strange Camels group of AA in Slidell LA, one of the
groups I go to. If you follow this link
http://www.onlinealano.org/html/library.html and scroll down the list, you will
find Kerri H. from a previous conference she spoke at. She got sober at 16 and
has stayed sober; her story is quite inspirational. (You can download these
speaker files to your computer and save it to listen to or to burn a CD from).

Be aware that some young people struggle before they finally make it. It's hard
for them to accept that they have a problem, but if they do make it, they are
some of the most solid AA;'s I know. I was at one young man's first meeting
about three years ago. He went in and out for that time before finally getting
hold of the program five months ago; he celebrated five months of continuous
QUALITY sobriety yesterday.

The counselor or a treatment center might be a resource to help him find out he
has a problem, if he does, before it gets too bad. Or, you could try getting him
to go to some AA meetings on his own. Treatment facilities are going to send
their clients to us anyway.

Finally, don't forget that Al-Anon is there to help YOU; you don't have to go
through this by yourself.

clm801s <clm801s@...> wrote:
Hi - I am brand new to this group, though not to Alanon. My ex-
husband, who is now recovering for some time, prompted me to get
involved in Alanon almost 20 years ago. We have a 14 year old son, who
has, unfortunately, recently shown some scary behavior - he's gotten
drunk twice in the last couple of months. I know that for teenagers
now that's not so unusual, however, his particular reason for drinking
had to do with numbing emotional pain, not partying. in both cases it
involved disappointment about a girl - but the intensity of his
feelings and his behavior (he got drunk and in the first instance also
cut himself inentionally) was a huge red flag. He goes to a counselor,
but I am obviously terribly concerned about his abuse of alcohol at
such a young age. Do any of you know if there are meetings or
resources specifically relating to teenage drinkers? I'd appreciate
any help you could provide. I live in Chicago.
thanks so much. Carol




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Yours in love and service,

Dennis T.
Slidell, LA

When I focus on what's good today, I have a good day, and when I focus on what's
bad, I have a bad day. If I focus on the problem, the problem increases; if I
focus on the answer, the answer increases.




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