AL-ANON Family Group meetings welcome anyone who believes that their life has been affected by the drinking habits of someone in either the past or the present.  This belief is the basic "qualification" for participation in AL-ANON meetings.  In a typical AL-ANON meeting, participants share and listen to the experiences, strengths and hopes of one another on a confidential and anonymous basis.  By default, AL-ANON meetings are "closed" in the sense that only people who are qualified for participation and who are willing to participate confidentially and anonymously are invited. 

However, an AL-ANON meeting may choose to be an "OPEN MEETING" by the consent of its participants.  An open AL-ANON meeting is one that allows public attendance by people who are not qualified for participation in closed AL-ANON meetings but who are interested in learning about AL-ANON Family Groups and about living with people who have drinking problems.  People who typically come to open AL-ANON meetings may include doctors, mental health professionals, students, librarians, human resource administrators and civil servants, as well as people from all walks of life who want information.

People who would like to attend an open AL-ANON meeting are encouraged to seek out meetings that are already open to the public  The meeting schedule on this web site lists several in the State of Connecticut that have already chosen to operate as open AL-ANON meetings.  Closed meetings may choose to make one or more of their meetings open to the public, but this should be arranged carefully in advance so that the people participating in that meeting can discuss whether to do so in private.

Members of the public attending open AL-ANON meetings are requested to abide by the principles that guide participation in all AL-ANON Family Group meetings, most especially the principles of confidentiality and anonymity that protect its active participants. Maintaining these fundamental principles  is essential to the success of AL-ANON Family Groups.