The thirty (30), or so, Al-Anon and Alateen meetings (in both English and Spanish) in the Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley areas make-up District 8. District 8 is part of Southern California World Service (SCWS) also know as Area 4.

"Take Back to Meeting" for September 2023

Expanded Online Version.

New Announcements:

• Please welcome Lisa as the District's new Speaker Meeting Coordiator. Lisa has been active in Al Anon and has held service positions at the meeting level. Thank you Lisa! Most GR's have taken a group conscience on whether or not the Speaker Meetings should stay on zoom or go back to in person. The majority of members would like the meetings to stay on zoom.

• The District's new Alateen Liaison, Nancy P. has started to work with 3 of our local schools with the hopes of reintroducing Alateen. Two AMAIS trained Al Anon members must be in attendance at each Alateen meeting in a 'chaparone' position. Please contact Nancy at 972-898-8133 if you are interested in this valuable service position.
  
  Currently the District has no members certified to participate with Alateen. If a member was previously certified, you must recertify annually to continue to be an AMIAS (Al-Anon Member In Alateen Service). Additional information about being of service to Alateen can be found at https://www.scws-al-anon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2019_AMIAS_Handout.pdf
  
  To become an AMIAS you must:
  • Have at least 2 years of regular Al-Anon participation
  • Attend at least one Al-Anon meeting a week
  • Be at least 25 years old
  • Be able to pass the Southern California World Service (SCWS) background check
  • Attend a 90-minute initial training session
  • (offered online every month by webinar)
  • Be willing to step down immediately if any controversy interferes with your purpose of serving Alateen members
• Removing a participant from a Zoom meeting. Members have requested that a protocol be developed on how to remove participants from zoom. Depending on the circumstances warranting removal, the following steps are offered so that each group can make their own group conscience on protocol. How to remove a participant from a Zoom meeting (must be done by Host)
  1. Click on Participants in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  2. Hover over the name of the participant who is going to be removed
  3. Either Click 'Put in Waiting Room' or 'Remove'
  4. If "Put in Waiting room" is chosen for a participant that the host/group does not want at the meeting, do not RE admit.
  5. The participant will be removed from participating in the meeting and will not be able to join again unless the host re admits the participant. "Removing" a participant will not let the participant join that meeting until such a time that a new zoom meeting reconvenes.

Ongoing

• If you are a member who holds a service position within the District and would like your personal phone number currently shown on the meeting directory changed to a google phone number (to maintain anonymity), please contact Mala once you have made that change. If you would like a google email instead of or in addition to a phone number, please contact Scott.
• Newcomer packets are available in both English and Spanish. Please contact Jeanne if your group needs to purchase these packets.

District Opportunities and Open District Service Positions:

Institutions Service at 5 Bath 30 minute Informational Meeting - Al -Anon informational meetings are being held on the first two Mondays (4:30 pm and 8 pm respectively) of the month at 5 Bath. The meetings are approximately 30 minutes and introduce a small group of people to Al-Anon and how Al-Anon can be of value in their lives. Contact John at (805) 705-1055 if you are interested in assisting with one of these meetings. It requires about 30 minutes of your time and is a wonderful service opportunity.

Public Outreach Coordinator - Help to carry the message of hope through local media and to professionals within our community. Please contact Alejandra if you are interested or have any questions.

District Treasurer - If anyone is interested in this three year service position, please contact Linda at lhllt@cox.net. Excel spreadsheets are in place and the District is moving to auto bill pay through our Al-Anon bank account.

Al -Anon Events

• November 18, 2023, 9 am - 4 pm Southern California World Service Area Assembly meeting.

Website Change Requests

Website updates can take 7 to 14 days to implement, so please provide at least 7 to 14 day lead time on meeting change requests.