Teen Anon Group Leaders

About Teen-Anon

Why another 12-Step Fellowship Like Teen-Anon?

Before coming to reality about their own or someone else's lcoholism or other drug abuse, teens have found their lives and that of their family and friends unmanageable. They could not not live and enjoy life as other people do. We had to have something different and thought they had found it in drugs or in abusive relationships at home or in school. We placed substance abuse or not dealing in a healthy way with addicted people ahead of our own welfare or that of our families, our school work, our values, our own feelings of self-worth or pain we were afraid to feel or our need to have open, honest, loving relationships in the past, present and future. We had to have drugs at all costs or feel a false sense of power in taking care of or living in shame about someone else's drug abuse or alcoholism and disrespectful behavior.

We did many people harm, but most of all we harmed ourselves. Through our inability and fear to accept personal responsibilities, we were actually creating our own problems. We seemed to be incapable of facing life on its own terms.

Most of us realized that in our addiction to drugs and alcohol or to those who abuse them, we were slowly committing suicide, but addiction is such a cunning enemy of life that we had lost the power to do anything about it. Many of us ended up in jevenile detention or jail, or lived with continually painful, injust, abusive and frightening situations with our friends or within our families or sought help through medicine, religion and psychiatry. None of these methods, by themselves alone, was sufficient for us. Our disease of addiction or co-dependency always resurfaced or continued to progress until in desperation, we sought help from each other in 12-Step recovery, based on the program created 60 years ago originally for Alcoholics Anonymous.

After coming to AA, NA, CA, Alateen, Nar-Anon we realized we were hurting people with a disease that was physical, behavioral, spiritual. We suffered from a disease from which there can be a hopeful, joyful recovery if we admit that we are powerless by ourselves, turn our will over to a Higher Power, which many of us call God, take a continual and really good look at our values and behavior, get experience, strength and hope from other teens who have gone through what we have, admit our wrongs to ourselves and to God and to other teens, stay clean and sober or detach emotionally with love from those who aren't and give away to others what good we learn and hope we find.

Teen-Anon is a behavioral and spiritual program that is just beginning, just for teens 12-19, supervised by caring, experienced, recovering adults. But it is based on a 12-step program that has worked better than anything else for millions of others.

Meanwhile, check out our Teensurfer Drug and Alcohol Resource site or send $1 and a self-addressed envelope to the address below for a booklet on either kicking drugs/alcohol or helping someone who abuses drugs or alcohol (just tell us which you want!)

The envelope you get back WILL NOT say anything about drugs!

Whether you think you may have a problem with alcohol or other drugs or are in pain and confused by loving someone who does have a problem, now is the time to find out what YOU can do and turn despair in your life into hope! You are not alone!

TEEN-ANON Groups

Teen-Anon, 1550 N.E. 137, Portland, OR 97230. (please EMAIL us FIRST)

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TEEN-ANON is affiliated with Streetcats Foundation for Youth and National Childrens Coalition