Tuesday Night Meeting Format

1. Open meeting with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.

2. Identify meeting: "This is an Adult Children of Alcoholics & Other Dysfunctional Families meeting. We meet to share how growing up in a dysfunctional home affected us, the coping strategies we developed to survive living in it and the ways in which these learned patterns called codependency affect our lives today. The solution is learning to reparent ourselves with love, humor and respect. Anyone who can handle what comes up at six meetings without retreating once again into denial, has begun an irreversible process of recovery. Everything in that person's life can become a part of the recovery process regardless of how chaotic it may look or feel. Many of us act out old dramas and defenses at least once again, as if to see whether they really are as unnecessary as we hope they are. Indeed, they are unnecessary--and typically we do slip back into denial and other obsessions--but we keep our program going anyway. We are survivors! ACoA/DF is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity or institution; does not engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause."

3. Introduce ourselves -- first names only.

4. Welcome newcomers.

5. Read The 12 Steps.

6. Read the ACOA/DF Characteristics.

7. Read Codependency - A Definition.

8. Ask for announcements.

9. Reading from The Language of Letting Go.

10. "Group Policy: No crosstalk please. We want to keep the focus on ourselves."

11. Just before the close of the meeting, explain: "We have no dues or fees but we do have expenses. A basket is being passed around. Donations are appreciated if you would like to contribute. Newcomers do not contribute at their first meeting."

12. Read Closing: "In closing, I would like to say that 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 here were spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential. Keep them within the walls of this room and the confines of your mind. I put my hand in yours and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness. No longer must we depend upon our own unsteady willpower. All that is needed now is a safe place where we can finally shed our defenses, our denial, and admit to ourselves and others how angry, hurt, maddened and wounded we have always felt. ADMIT IT, EXPERIENCE IT AND RELEASE IT. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours. As we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams."

13. Have someone read The Promises.

14. Explain that we close with The Lord's Prayer and the singing of The Greatest Love Of All.