Alateen in our Area (click here for meeting schedule)
We are seeking two sponsors for a new Alateen meeting to be held at Goleta Valley Junior High School on Thursdays from 11:55 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. This meeting will be starting in early September. If interested, please call Cheryl at 883-1874.
Selena (one of our Alateen sponsors) and I agree that sponsoring the Alateen meeting at the Daniel Bryant Center is more like sowing seeds in a field than tending a garden. Although we haven’t kept track of the numbers, I will guesstimate that in the two years we’ve been holding the meeting, 50 different teens and pre-teens have attended. Some stay for a few weeks, some attend sporadically, some we never see again. A perfect opportunity for the meeting sponsors to practice letting go and letting God.
Here’s a quote from A Guide to Alateen Sponsorship that might be of help to parents wondering how to encourage their teen/pre-teen to start coming to Alateen:
How do I get my child to go to Alateen?
I often describe Alateen as a food a child has never seen before. He/she doesn’t know if it’ll taste like spinach or a hot-fudge sundae until it’s been tried. Seldom does a child voice a desire to go to Alateen for the simple reason that most are unaware of its existence. Many young people are also awed and afraid of being in a new circumstance. When asked how they happened to attend their first meeting, most will say, ‘My parent said I had to go.’
Many parents have found it helpful to ask the prospective member to try Alateen for six weeks. If, at the end of that period the child decides Alateen is not for him/her, the parent agrees to respect that decision.
Once tried, the majority find that Alateens are not ‘weird’. They also find they are not alone in dealing with the disease of alcoholism. They learn that this is a program that focuses on them, not their parents, and they stay for themselves.
We had hoped that a new weekly meeting would be up and running at Goleta Valley Junior High for the last few weeks of the school year. Unfortunately, due to lack of time and upcoming end of school activities, it was decided to postpone the meeting until September. Anyone reading this with a student at Goleta Valley Jr. High, please check back with us or with the school in September or, of course, come to the meeting at the Daniel Bryant Center every Tuesday from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Newcomers are always welcome.
This month I completed my two-year commitment as sponsor and have moved on to the position of Alateen Co-ordinator at the district level. Laura J. has taken my position as co-sponsor with Selena at the Daniel Bryant Center meeting and will also be acting as a sponsor at the GVJH meeting. It is strongly suggested by Alanon that there always be two sponsors at every meeting, so we are looking for another Alanon member who is certified as an Alateen sponsor, or who is willing to be certified, to co-sponsor the upcoming meeting at GVJH. The meeting will take place once a week before school starts. Contact me if you’re interested.
Cheryl N.
805-883-1874
Tuesday
6:15 pm
Daniel Bryant Youth and
Family Treatment Center
25 W. Anapumu (between State and
Chapala)
Santa Barbara, California
Suite A (upstairs)
Ages 10-21.
(Meeting location is shown at the red star on the map)
