THE NAR-ANON FAMILY GROUPS
Thank you for visiting the Nar-Anon Mid-Atlantic Family Group website. Feel free to browse this site by using the top navigation bar, on desktop, or the collapsed menu icon on mobile. Hopefully the informaton contained on these pages will answer some of your questions. If you need additional information, please feel free to e-mail us by visiting our contact page. Our meetings are held in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas seven days a week. The only requirement to be a member and attend meetings is that there is a problem of drugs or addiction in a relative or friend.
Nar-Anon and Nar-Anon Mid-Atlantic Family Groups are not affiliated with any other organizations or outside entities. Again, thank you for visiting this site.
Note: If you are trying to reach Narcotics Anonymous, please click here or telephone (800) 992-0401. Although Nar-Anon is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, the website link and phone numbers are being provided as a public service.
1. We admitted we were powerless over the addict – that our lives had become unmanageable.
> >2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
> >3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
> >4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
> >5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
> >6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
> >7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
> >8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
> >9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.
> >10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
> >11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
> >12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
> >Copyright 2014 Nar-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Used with permission.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal progress for the greatest number depends on unity.
> >2. For our group purposes there is but one authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants - they do not govern.
> >3. The relatives of addicts, when gathered for mutual aid, may call themselves a Nar-Anon Family Group, provided that as a group, they have no other affiliation. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend.
> >4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other Nar-Anon Family Groups, or NA as a whole.
> >5. Each Nar-Anon Family Group has but one purpose; to help families of addicts. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of Nar-Anon, by encouraging and understanding our addicted relatives, and by welcoming and giving comfort to families of addicts.
> >6. Our Family Groups ought never to endorse, finance or lend our name to any outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary spiritual aim; but although a separate entity, we should always cooperate with Narcotics Anonymous.
> >7. Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
> >8. Nar-Anon Twelfth Step work should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
> >9. Our groups, as such ought never to be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
> >10. The Nar-Anon Family Groups have no opinion on outside issues; hence our name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
> >11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films, internet and other forms of mass media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all NA members.
> >12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles above personalities.
> >Copyright 2014 Nar-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Used with permission.
1. To fulfill our fellowship’s primary purpose, the Nar-Anon Family Groups have joined together to create a structure that develops, coordinates, and maintains services on behalf of Nar-Anon as a whole.
> >2. The final responsibility and authority for Nar-Anon services rests with the Nar-Anon Family Groups.
> >3. The Nar-Anon Family Groups delegate to the service structure the authority necessary to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to it.
> >4. Effective leadership is highly valued in Nar-Anon. Leadership qualities should be carefully considered when selecting trusted servants.
> >5. For each responsibility assigned to the service structure, a single point of decision and accountability should be clearly defined.
> >6. Group conscience is the spiritual means by which we invite a loving Higher Power to influence our decisions.
> >7. All members of a service body bear substantial responsibility for that body’s decisions and should be allowed to fully participate in its decision-making processes.
> >8. Regular, two-way communications are essential to the fulfillment of all these concepts and to the integrity and effectiveness of our services themselves.
> >9. All elements of our service structure have the responsibility to carefully consider all viewpoints in their decision-making processes.
> >10. Any member of a service body can petition that body for the redress of a personal grievance, without fear of reprisal.
> >11. Nar-Anon funds are used to further our primary purpose to carry the message, and must be managed responsibly.
> >12. In keeping with the spiritual nature of Nar-Anon, our structure should always be one of service, never of government.
> >Copyright 2014 Nar-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Used with permission.
1. Nar-Anon is for your recovery. We learn to focus on ourselves, not on the addict.
> >2. Nar-Anon is a spiritual program, not a religious one. We accept the idea that there is a higher power that is bigger and wiser than us, that we can turn to for help.
> >3. Nar-Anon welcomes and gives comfort to newcomers. Newcomers receive a special packet of materials and phone list at their first meeting.
> >4. Nar-Anon knows that drug addiction is a disease (the American Medical Association recognized drug addiction as a disease in 1955.) The disease is progressive and incurable. Nar-Anon helps relatives and friends of addicts whether or not the addict continues to use.
> >5. Nar-Anon knows we are not responsible for the drug addiction. We did not cause it, we cannot control it, and we cannot cure it. If we do not learn how to cope with drug addiction, we will contribute to the disease.
> >6. Nar-Anon members learn to detach from the addict but we continue to love them. We mind our own business.
> >7. Nar-Anon does not give advice. We share our experience, strength, and hope. Our common bond is that we all know someone whose drug abuse bothers us. Sooner or later we each hear our own story and learn to laugh again. We know it will get better.
> >8. Most Nar-Anon groups use Nar-Anon's daily reader, Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope (SESH). We cannot change the past or predict the future. We learn to live -- Just for Today.
> >9. The Nar-Anon program is based on its twelve steps, twelve traditions, twelve concepts, its slogans, and the serenity prayer.
> >10. Nar-Anon is a living program. We learn to change our attitudes. This cannot be done in a day or a week or a month. We keep coming back; we want to keep our own recoveries.
> >11. Nar-Anon provides a path to serenity and peace of mind even if the drug situation does not change.
> >12. Nar-Anon believes in sponsors. A sponsor is someone in a Nar-Anon group with whom a member identifies and develops rapport. We discuss personal problems with our sponsors between meetings.
7TH TRADITION
Tradition Seven reads “Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.”
The Guide to Local Services in the finance section states, “Group support of the fellowship is accomplished through regular donations to the area, region, and WSO. It is suggested that groups allocate a portion of their budget for these donations.”
Individuals may also donate in the following ways:
CHECK MADE OUT TO NAR-ANON MD/VA AND MAILED TO:
Nar-Anon Mid-Atlantic Region | 910 Country Club Drive, W. Purcellville, VA 20132
VENMO:
Nar-Anon Mid-Atlantic Region send to @Geneva-Payne-2
If donations are coming from your Group, please let us know the group number, name and state. Also, please email us so we can confirm receipt of your donation.
Concept Eleven reads “Nar-Anon funds are used to further our primary purpose to carry the message, and must be managed responsibly.” The Mid-Atlantic Region uses these contributions to fund events, expenses (such as this website), outreach, and literature.
Guide to Local Service (GLS) | Section 6: Region | Section 9: Finances
ORDER LITERATURE
If you would like to view or purchase Nar-Anon approved literature, please click here to order. This link will redirect you to World Service Nar-Anon Webstore.
