A Nar-Anon family group is primarily for you who know or have known a feeling of desperation concerning the addiction problem of someone very near to you. We have traveled that unhappy road too, and found the answer with serenity and peace of mind. When you come into the family group you are no longer alone but among true friends who understand your problems as few others could. We will respect your confidence and anonymity as we know you will respect ours. We hope to give you the assurance that no situation is too difficult and no unhappiness is too great to overcome.
Our program, which is not a religious one but a spiritual way of life is based on the 12 suggested steps of Narcotics Anonymous. We have found that the working of these steps will bring the solution to practically any problem. We urge you to take this program and its 12 steps seriously. It has been helpful to us as the NA program is to the addict. We only ask for the wisdom and courage to see ourselves as we really are, to do something about ourselves with the help of a higher power of our choosing, and for the grace to release our addicts with love and cease trying to change them.
Keep an open mind and attend as many meetings as possible. Feel free to ask questions and to enter into the discussions. You will soon make new friends and feel very much a part of the group.
With the understanding that addiction is a disease and the realization that we are powerless over it as well as over over people's lives, we are ready to do something useful and constructive with our own. Then, and only then can we be of any help to others.
We have learned that addiction is an illness -- not a moral issue. It is a two-fold disease: A physical allergy coupled with an obsession of the mind. It can be arrested but never cured. It is similar in nature to diabetes in this respect. Only complete abstinence, from the use of drugs or alcohol in any form including medicine, can arrest this disease. We can no more prevent the addict's use of drugs than we can stop the tubercular's coughing. No one, not even the doctor, nor the clergy, nor the family can do this for him or her. We have found that compulsive use of drugs does not indicate lack of affection for the family. It is not a matter of love but of illness. The addict has lost the power of choice in the matter of drugs. Even when he knows what will happen when he takes the first drink, pill or fix he will do so. This is the "insanity" we speak of in regard to this illness. When we fully understand and accept that addiction is a disease, that it is both mental and physical, and that we are powerless over it, we become ready to learn a better way to live.
We admitted we were powerless over the Addict -- that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people whenever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Twelve Traditions of Nar-Anon:
Our group experience suggests that the unity of the Nar-Anon Family Groups depends upon our adherence to these traditions.
Our common welfare should come first: personal progress for the greatest number depends on unity.
For our group purposes there is but one authority -- a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants -- they do not govern.
The only requirements for membership are that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. The relatives of addicts, when gathered together for mutual aid, may call themselves a Nar-Anon Family Group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
Each group should be autonomous, except in matters affecting other Nar-Anon Family Groups, or N.A. as a whole.
Each Nar-Anon Family Group has but one purpose: to help families of addicts. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of N.A. ourselves, by encouraging and understanding our addicted relatives, and by welcoming and giving comfort to families of addicts.
Our Family groups ought never endorse, finance or lend our name to any outside enterprise, least problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary spiritual aim; but although a separate entity, we should always cooperate with Narcotics Anonymous.
Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
Nar-Anon Twelfth Step work should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
Our groups, as such ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
The Nar-Anon Family Groups have no opinion on outside issues; hence our name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all N.A. members
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles above personalities.