A Different Kind of Service
Meetings provide the framework for all 12-Step programs, offering peer support in recovery through shared experience, strength, and hope. From the inception of these programs, most 12-Step meetings have been in-person gatherings, whether large or small, with an emphasis on anonymity. One pandemic in a technological age has changed all that. We are now “Zooming” to meetings and learning as we go.
At the start of the pandemic, when Zoom was spontaneously selected as the video-conferencing platform through which Al-Anon members in Marin would continue gathering for meetings, a few of these individuals began researching and exploring Zoom as an Al-Anon tool. In response to a rash of nefarious and traumatizing raids by hackers, infiltrators, and disruptors, these individuals pooled their research, consulted Al-Anon’s Traditions and Concepts, and developed a set of recommended Zoom settings and guidelines for Al-Anon and Alateen meetings in Marin.
When other 12-Step programs in Northern California expressed an interest in this research, a written Guide was released under the title “Recommended Procedures for Virtual 12-Step Meetings Using Zoom.” Now in its third incarnation, updated sections of this Guide are provided as a feature of this website and can be accessed through the Virtual Meetings Guide sidebar menu.
Those of us who host virtual Al-Anon meetings do so because of our immense gratitude to this program and our desire to keep Al-Anon meetings going during these challenging times of masking and social distancing. This work is some of the most difficult and unprecedented Al-Anon service ever because it combines highly complex computer technology with the psychic welfare of our members.
Hosting or co-hosting a virtual Al-Anon meeting is a wonderful opportunity for us to work the Al-Anon program — particularly its Traditions and Concepts — through this new field of service. Still, it is likely to prevent us from participating in the meeting spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. To work the fullness of the Al-Anon program and practice our own self-care, we can attend Al-Anon meetings where we do not hold these service positions and participate in those meetings by reading and sharing.
All hosts and co-hosts are encouraged to operate only within the scope of authority granted to them by their group or safety committee. Each Al-Anon Family Group is autonomous — take what you like from this Virtual Meetings Guide and leave the rest.