Chairing

Really... you can run the serenity prayer, pick a topic(s), and start the meeting, but if you want to do the full thing, this is how it goes here...

For some custom features we have click here: Meeting Tools

BUTTON! 👉 ACAOpening 👉

Welcome to the Adult Children of Alcoholics meeting. ACA is a 12-Step program, modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous. ACA is a spiritual program, designed to help adults raised in families where substance addiction, mental illness or "generalized" dysfunction was present. In these homes, the needs of children are considered secondary to the adults. Children whose dependency needs are not provided for rely on a set of coping mechanisms that aid them in surviving. However, many of us find that as adults these behaviors are no longer functional and are instead hindrances to our growth and maturity. We may have difficulty with our peers, authority figures, and personal relationships. In the program of Adult Children of Alcoholics, we strive to identify our behaviors and their root causes and to learn new skills for reparenting ourselves. We meet with each other in a mutually respectful, safe environment and acknowledge our common experiences. We discover how childhood affected us in the past and influences us in the present (The Problem). We take positive action (The Solution). By practicing the 12 Steps, focusing on and accepting a loving Higher Power of our understanding, we find freedom from the past and a way to improve our lives today. ACA is an anonymous fellowship. Everything that is said here, in the group meeting and member-to-member, must be held in confidence. Only in this way can we feel free to say what is on our minds and in our hearts, for this is how we help one another. This meeting is open to any adult who comes from family where alcoholism or other dysfunctions were present. However, to provide a safe environment for sharing, this meeting is "CLOSED" to students, therapists, doctors, etc., unless they are here for their own recovery as an adult child of a dysfunctional home. Do we have any newcomers at this meeting? Please introduce yourself so we may welcome you.

PAUSE 👈 here to welcome newcomers if there are any!!

👉 CONTINUE 👉

A special welcome to our newcomers! Please carefully read the guidelines we use in online meetings: Every ACA is welcome here and is welcome to share with our fellowship. We suggest that newcomers read the guidelines carefully. We share (speak) on the topic one time during the meeting, depending on how many are in attendance. If there is time at the end of the meeting, people may want to share again. To be recognized by the meeting chairperson for sharing with the group, please type an exclamation point - ! - and you will be called upon to share, in the order of the requests. When you are finished sharing, please type - end - or - done - signaling to others that you have finished your share. Also, it is best to use short sentences when sharing to make it easier for reading. Please use "I - statements" when sharing. In ACA our focus is on ourselves, our self-learning, self-understanding, and the work we need to do on ourselves. Our group conscience requires that we keep the focus in this meeting on ACA issues. Please refrain from mentioning other 12-step program affiliations when sharing. We have a No Cross-Talk Policy at our meetings, meaning . . In ACA we keep the focus on our lives and our feelings. We don't publicly chat with one another during someone's share; we don't publicly ask questions or answer someone's questions when we share; we don't publicly comment positively or negatively on what someone has shared. A simple "thank you for sharing" is fine; please do not make detailed references to another person's share. This includes "hugs," smiley faces, etc. This is our group conscience. In ACA we accept what each person shares as true for them. We go to great lengths to avoid creating the climate of shame that enforced the three primary rules of a dysfunctional family: don't talk, don't trust, don't feel. When in doubt, please err on the side of creating safety. We share only our own experiences, strengths, and hopes; and we are thankful for the experience, strength, and hope shared by others in our fellowship. If you have a question during the meeting, you can private chat with the chairperson or another member by clicking on that person's name on the member list. A separate private chat window with that person will automatically open up. Once again. . . WELCOME EVERYONE!! Please join me in a moment of silence for all ACA's who don't know we are here, followed by the ACA Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, courage to change the one I can, and wisdom to know that one is me.~

Provide or ask for topics!!

Then...

TYPE AND COPY A MESSAGE FOR YOURSELF USING THE CURRENT TOPICS, such as: (example: feel free to use it!) Welcome to our ACA Meeting at recoverychats.com! Topics are: ENTER THE TOPIC(S). Type a ! to request to share and type done when finished. Who can share?

After someone types a ! ask them to please share.

(After share) Thank you for sharing!

PASTE your copied chairing message that lists the topics.

Repeat until the end of the hour or so, when you can use the ACAClosing text in the Button.

BUTTON! 👉 ACAClosing 👉

Sharing time is over now. Thanks to everyone who came together here today! It is our sincere hope that all have found something positive to take with them. It works when you work it, so please keep coming back. The things you have heard here were spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential. Keep them within the "walls" of this room, and the confines of your own mind. Please remember, the opinions expressed here are strictly those of the person who gave them: Take what you need and leave the rest. We will have open chat and questions after closing the meeting. Don't forget this site is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for open chat with other adult children of alcoholics. For the meeting schedule go to https://recoverychats.com/?acaprogram#meetings In keeping with our 7th Tradition, we have no dues or fees, but we do have expenses for the website. These include chat server hosting fees, domain name, and web server hosting. The link to the basket is https://donorbox.org/recoverychats Or contribute your time, that's just as important! Chair, greet people, hang out, be a kind supportive force in the chatroom, that's where you can help. We always need chairpeople! Please consider volunteering to chair! Are there any other announcements for the good of the fellowship?

PAUSE 👈 here if there are any announcements!

👉 CONTINUE 👉

For information and literature and meeting listings go to https://adultchildren.org/ Join hands (!!) if you like for our closing meditation: !!

👉 !!!NOTE!!! To select a different Prayer click to STOP BUTTON! here after the group joins together!!! 👈

👉 Pick your Prayer to run from the BUTTON!

Amen

👉 And then run 👉 MeetingCloser to finish up if you picked a custom prayer instead of leaving it on the default closing.

That's it!! Great job, you're an expert now!! Way to go!!