Let's travel together on our road to recovery! 

(#1.) Welcome to the "Reaching for Personal Freedom" book study Group. Hi, my name is ______, a grateful member of Al-anon and your chair person for this meeting. Press *6 to mute and unmute on this line.

(#2.) Serenity Prayer: Found in the Al-Anon Service Manual page 10. May we open this meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.  Please, press *6 to unmute *6 to mute back up afterwards.  Please repeat after me. "God, grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  

(#3.) Suggested Al-anon/Alateen Welcome; found in Al-anon/Alateen service manual page 10; or How Al-anon Works page 8.

We welcome you to the "Reaching For Personal Freedom" Al-anon Family Groups and hope you will find in this fellowship the help and friendship we have been privileged to enjoy. We who live, or have lived, with the problem of alcoholism understand as perhaps few others can. We, too, were lonely and frustrated, but in Al-anon we discover that no situation is really hopeless and that it is possible for us to find contentment, and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not. We urge you to try our program. It has helped many of us to find solutions that lead to serenity. So much depends on our own attitudes, and as we learn to place our problem in it's true perspective, we find that it loses it's power to dominate our thoughts and our lives. The family situation is bound to improve as we apply the Al-anon ideas. Without such spiritual help, living with an alcoholic is too much for most of us. Our thinking becomes distorted by trying to force solutions, and we become irritable and unreasonable without knowing it. The Al-anon program is based on the twelve steps (adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous), which we try, little by little, one day at a time, to apply to our lives, along with our slogans, and the serenity prayer. The loving interchange of help among members and daily reading of Al-anon literature thus makes us ready to receive the priceless gift of serenity.  

(#4.) Introductions: A special welcome to all newcomers. Let's go around the globe and introduce ourselves by our first name and where we are from; I'll start us off! Hi, my name is ______, and I'm from _______. *6 to unmute and mute.

(#5.) Al-anon/Alateen-Related Announcements, Reports: 7th. Tradition.  Al-anon is fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. Although we have minimal expenses related to this conference call line; we ask that you send your contributions to (WSO), and state that it is from the "Reaching For Personal Freedom Group."  Please specify which night you are donating for, or give at face-to-face meetings.  Our W.S.O. I.D. number is: #30626992.

(#6.) Go to alanon.org for the schedule of all the alanon telephone meetings. Share this information with a family member, a friend, or even a stranger; anyone who may be affected by someone else's drinking.  Please share this number with others,  667-770-1523 the pin number is 507988#, and *6 mute and unmute.  We are here every night at 12a.m. EST.

(#7.) We do not comment on others shares, or give advice, instead we keep the focus on ourselves when we share our own experience, strength, and hope.  We also keep it Al-anon to avoid dilution of the program, and we do not use profanity either.

(#8.) Our business meetings are held at 11:30p.m. on the last day of the quarterly months of the year, the last day of March, June, September, and December.

(#9.) We offer an open invitation to anyone to who would like to step up to fill a service position; such as: a speaker seeker, a book reader, or a chairperson, as well as an after-meeting chairperson. Our format can be found at alanonphonemeetings5.org  Just read to lead at least every other week; that's only two to three times per month!  

(#10.) We will give out information of how to get the book for this meeting; and read our schedule at the end of the meeting.

(#11.) Do we have any other Al-anon related announcements? Please press *6 to un-mute.

(#12.) ( Sat. Chair Person skip this section.)  This meeting is slightly different from most meetings. We read a section of the book, then read some of the questions.

There will be a 1 to 2 minute pause between each question for members to write their answers. Then we will take turns reading our answers.

(#13.) (Sat. Chair Person skip this section.)  Does anyone have the "Reaching For Personal Freedom" book, and would you like to be of service and read the Preface on page 7, and another to read the personal stories and questions tonight? Please repeat the questions 3 times. Each time read it a little slower please, to allow those who may not have the book an opportunity to write the questions down. Also, pause for 1-2 minutes between each question to allow time to write our answers. Thank you to the readers for your service. At the end of the meeting we may give out the questions for the next meeting; or when all participation ceases if we choose to. Generally we time ourselves; or we may say a gentle "time" at the end of 3-5 minutes when someone shares; and the participant may respond with "Thank you" or "I'll wrap up."

(#14.) (Sat. Chair Person introduce speaker, remind them to give topic and phone number at the end of their share.)

(Read this at 1-2 minutes after all stories and questions are given out, or after Saturday's 15 min. open talk.)  Anonymity Statement: Anonymity is an important principle of the Al-anon program. Everything that is said here, in the group meeting, and member to member, must be held in confidence. Only in this way can we feel free to say what is in our minds and hearts, for this is how we help one another in Al-anon.

(#15.) Now the sharing part of the meeting: Members, please state your name, share what you wrote, take 3-5 minutes share time, please time yourself in this meeting. You have the option to share your thoughts on topic, or off topic; we just encourage participation.  We don't read other conference approved literature during the book study meeting, only in the after meeting please.  Concept 4 states that, "participation is the key to harmony".  So who would like to get us started by pressing *6 to un-mute.  Please feel free to come on in. (Please repeat the topic frequently for those who may come in late.)

(#16.) (At approximately 5-10 minutes before the top of the hour we begin the closing.) Please stick around for the after- meeting, directly following the close of this meeting.  Thanks to all who served the group, those who shared, and those who chose to listen. To obtain a copy of the "Reaching For Personal Freedom" book we suggest that you go to your face-to-face meeting and ask for it; call Al-anon (WSO) at 757-563-1600, or go to the web at www.al-anon.alateen.org and then click alanon store. Type (p-92), or "Reaching For Personal Freedom" in the search bar.  Again, please stick around for the after- meeting, for more sharing, questions, and reading of alanon literature.

(#17.) Telephone Requests & Outreach Call Requests: In order to build your support network you may call out the names of people who shared their experience, strength, and hope; if you would like to get numbers from them. At this time we will get those numbers. Please consider only two request from each person, otherwise we just leave our own number for outreach calls. Chairpersons may want to exchange phone numbers with one another in case you need to temporarily switch nights to cover for one another for any reasons. We do not have one on one conversations on the line, instead we call each other to talk things out.

(#18.) The Suggested Al-anon/Alateen Closing; in the Al-anon/Alateen service manual page 22, and How A-anon Works book page 380 or 396 in the new edition.  In closing I would like to say the opinions expressed here were strictly those of the person who gave them. Take what you like and leave the rest. The things you heard were spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential. Keep them within the walls of this room and the confines of your mind. A few special words to those of you who haven't been with us long: whatever your problems, there are those among us who have them, too. If you try to keep an open mind, you will find it will help. You will come to realize that there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened. We aren't perfect. The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have in our hearts for you. After a while, you'll discover that though you may not like all of us, you'll love us in a very special way---the same way we already love you. Talk to each other, reason things out with someone else, but let there be no gossip or criticism of one another. Instead, let the understanding, love, and peace of the program grow in you day at a time. 

(#19.) Serenity Prayer; found in the Alanon/Alateen service manual page 10. May we close this meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer. Please press *6 to unmute and *6 to mute back up afterwards. Please repeat after me. "God, grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

(#20.) Meeting Schedule: (1st & 2nd day of the week  Sundays & Mondays---Step of the Month) (3rd & 4th day of the week Tuesdays & Wednesdays---Tradition of the Month) (5th & 6th day of the week Thursdays & Fridays---Concept of the Month) (7th day of the week Saturdays  15 minute speaker---topic of their choice).

(#21.) Saturday's Condensed Version Format: On Saturday's midnight meeting, we will do the serenity prayer, the Al-anon welcome, and then the Al-anon closing and serenity prayer at the end of the meeting. We will ask if a speaker is available for 15 minutes. (5 minutes on how it used to be, 5 minutes on what happened to get you in the program, and 5 minutes on how it is now within the program). Then the chair says time, and asks for a topic from the speaker to open up for shares; and to leave their phone number for out-reach calls if they choose to. If no speaker steps up; we ask volunteers to participate in the readings of the daily readers; or other small readings like the forum magazine for instance on the step, tradition, and concept of the month, and we will do this for the purpose of a review on the three legacies of the program. Thank you to everyone for being here, and allowing me to be of service. Would someone like to chair the after-meeting for approximately one hour, or as long as there is participation please?  If not H.P. will!  Share time is 3-5 minutes in order to allow others share time as well, please.