Welcome

Welcome to the   [Name of your Group]   Family Group of Dual Anon.  We open our meeting with a moment of silence, followed by the Serenity Prayer.

The Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

We are family and friends of people who experience a dual disorder of chemical dependency and emotional or psychiatric illness.  We believe that the dual disorder of one family member can have a significant impact on the lives of the other family members.

In Dual Anon, by sharing our experience, strength, and believable hope, we realize that we are not alone.  Together we find it is possible to heal and find a sense of well-being.  The Dual Anon program helps us discover solutions that lead to serenity.

Ours is a self-help program based on the Twelve Steps of Dual Anon.  As we apply these Twelve Step principles in our lives, we find our own personal recovery, learn new coping skills, and our lives begin to improve.  Without practicing these principles, living with the problems of another person’s dual disorder was too much for many of us.  We neglected ourselves, our thinking became distorted, we became desperate and tried to force solutions.

In Dual Anon, we find a new sense of freedom and inner peace.  In time, our problems lose their power to dominate out thoughts and our lives.  We learn to be understanding and compassionate without compromising ourselves.
We welcome and comfort families and friends who live with the effects of another person’s dual disorder.

Would someone read the Preamble of Dual Anon?

Preamble of Dual Anon

Dual Anon is a Twelve Step fellowship.  Our purpose is to help family and friends of people who experience a dual disorder of chemical dependency and an emotional or psychiatric illness.  We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of Dual Anon, by welcoming and giving comfort to one another, by sharing our experience, strength, and believable hope, and by giving compassion, encouragement, and understanding to people who experience a dual disorder.
Dual Anon is an independent, non-professional, self-help organization.  We have no professional affiliation; we do not provide counseling or other social services.  Dual Anon has no opinion regarding treatment methods, the use of medications, or other methods of managing chemical dependency or emotional or psychiatric illness.
Dual Anon is not allied with any other organization or institution, does not engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any cause.  Dual Anon has no opinion of the way other groups address recovery.  We do not criticize the efforts of others.  There are no dues for membership.  Dual Anon is self-supporting through our own donations.

Would someone read the Twelve Steps?

The Twelve Steps of Dual Anon

1. We admitted we were powerless over dual disorders of chemical dependency and emotional or psychiatric illness - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Higher Power of our understanding could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, to help us to rebuild our lives in a positive and caring way.
4. Made a searching and fearless personal inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our liabilities and our assets.
6. Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all our liabilities.
7. Humbly asked our Higher Power to remove these liabilities and to help us to strengthen our assets for recovery.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admitted it, while continuing to recognize our progress in recovery.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power, praying only for knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. 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.
    

Let’s introduce ourselves – first names only please.
Do we have any newcomers?  Glad you are here!

Tradition 7 reminds us that Dual Anon Family Groups are self-supporting through our own donations.  During the meeting, a basket will be passed.

Tonight’s Meeting
(Chairperson’s choice, or as scheduled by group decision.)

Newcomer Meeting – if newcomer present
Step Study
Discussion – Sharing
Topic
Etc.

Closing

Let’s close our meeting with the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

“Keep coming back, it works if you work it, and we’re worth it!”