Service Sponsorship
In addition to a regular Sponsor who knows our whole story and guides us through the Twelve Steps, most of us can benefit tremendously by working with a Service Sponsor. When we accept a new service position, we can usually rely on the person who is leaving that position to help us through the transition, to train us in how to handle the details, and to serve as a source of information and experience. This is a temporary Service Sponsor.
A more permanent Service Sponsor can help us study the Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts of Service and prepare us for, and guide us through, the expansion of our service at the Group level to the District and/or Area levels. This expansion of service can deepen our programs and can aid us in applying the Al-Anon principles in all our affairs. Some of us ask our regular Sponsors to perform double-duty as Service Sponsors, particularly when these “regular” Sponsors have studied the Traditions and Concepts with their own Sponsors and hold, or have held, District and/or Area service positions. Others seek a separate Service Sponsor as an addition to their Al-Anon support, recovery, and serenity team.
The Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual is an essential tool when serving as, or working with, a Service Sponsor. This spiralbound reference combines Al-Anon and Alateen Groups At Work, the Digest of Al-Anon and Alateen Policies, and the World Service Handbook. It also contains explanatory text about Al-Anon’s Twelve Concepts of Service. In addition to purchasing a hard copy of the Service Manual, you can download a free copy by clicking on the first button below. Other Conference Approved Literature (CAL) is also available as valued resources when studying or researching the Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts of Service.
Please note that, by clicking on one of the three buttons above, a new browser tab will open and you will be guided to a webpage at www.al-anon.org. Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. is solely responsible for the content of the site you will be visiting.