Focus – Page 2 – "CAL Chat" Blog ~My journey in Al-Anon~

CAL – Anonymity (Item # P-65)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This pamphlet came out in 1991 & was included in a media kit for outreach purposes. It mentions confidentiality & I started thinking of how that was different than anonymity. Confidentiality implies trust (confidence) & indicates intimacy. It’s how we relate to one another on a personal, private level. It’s our…

CAL – Alateen’s 4th Step Inventory (Item # P-64)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This 4th Step workbook focuses on 6 key areas: Attitudes, Self-Esteem, Love, Responsibility, Feelings, & Relationships. Each section has 4-5 sharings, 2 cartoons, 8 questions, & best of all, pages to draw! I can’t remember the last time I drew what my feelings looked like… (I probably used a lot of…

CAL – Discovering Choices (Item # B-30)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This book almost didn’t happen. Originally, it was only supposed to be a revision to “The Dilemma of the Alcoholic Marriage” (item # B-4), but the revisions were becoming too extensive & the focus on just marital relationships was too narrow. So in 2001, concept approval was given to create this…

CAL – The Al-Anon Focus (Item # P-45)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Originally, in 1978, this pamphlet was called “Double Winners” but was given its current title 4 years later (with the added subtitle: “For Al-Anon/Alateen Members Who Are Also Recovering Alcoholics”) to avoid giving the impression that one member was more important than another. Although I sometimes still hear the term “Double…

CAL – Three Views of Al-Anon (Item # P-15)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. Ever since this pamphlet first came out in 1970, its original subtitle was: “from the Other Side of the Family” but around 2010, it was updated to be: “Alcoholics Speak to the Family.” The image of this “white-circle” design pamphlet with this new subtitle is one of the rarest & hardest…

CAL – Youth & the Alcoholic Parent (Item # P-21)

Last week I finished the Professional Packet (item # K-30). (What I learned about all the other items in that packet can be found in previous entries for the general Al-Anon Newcomer Packet (K-10).) …This week, I’m starting the very last packet, whew! WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This is the second pamphlet in the Alateen Newcomer Packet…

CAL – The Al-Anon Family Groups (Classic Edition) (Item # B-5)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. I knew this was Al-Anon’s first book that was printed in 1955 & that Lois Wilson intended this to be our “Big Book.” What I didn’t know is that the first draft was just going to be a pamphlet & now this re-issue from 2000 is actually several versions of this…

CAL – Al-Anon Spoken Here (Item # P-53)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This is the seventh pamphlet in the general Al-Anon Newcomer Packet (item # K-10) & is the only one marked “Service” on the front (instead of “Recovery”). I imagine that’s because this pamphlet is also used as outreach literature. 2. This pamphlet addresses 15 common Frequently Asked Questions – especially regarding…

CAL – A Guide for the Family of the Alcoholic (Item # P-7)

This is the sixth pamphlet in the general Al-Anon Newcomer Packet (item # K-10) & is one of the few examples of early “outside literature” being grandfathered into the CAL catalog. It was issued in 1962 & is primarily based on an article by a non-member: the former director of the Charlotte Council on Alcoholism. This pamphlet…