Sponsorship is one of the suggested tools of the program. It is a mutual and confidential relationship between two members. A sponsor is a special person with whom a member can discuss personal problems or questions, and one who willingly shares the experience, strength, and hope of the Al-Anon/Alateen program.
We first begin to attend meetings and we see and hear other people like us. We feel a little lost as we are told about the Al-Anon program and have no clue where to start. We have a lot of questions and we look for answers but we can take more then a few minutes during a meeting to share our problems, ask the equations or let someone know how we feel. It is however important that we DO share, ask, and tell. That’s where a sponsor can help. Sponsors help us think and encourage is to look to ourselves for answers, using the tools of the program. They share their own experience, strength and hope with us and remind us of the program principles. Sponsors make suggestions but they can’t solve our problems, make our choices for us nor they are responsible for the decisions we make.
Being a sponsor is also an important part of our recovery, as we are able to give back what we have learned from others. Members who sponsor, by helping and guiding them, also helps them in their own recovery and growth. Being a sponsor is working the twelfth step: Carrying the message and practicing the Al-Anon principles.
Sponsorship is not required, but experience shows that sponsorship is a valuable aid to personal understanding and the use of the Al-Anon program of recovery.
To get a sponsor, all one has to do is ask. Most sponsors do not volunteer to be sponsors, they wait to be asked. If the asked member feels ready and able to be a sponsor they will be usually very pleased to be asked. Sometimes members are not able to sponsor for personal reasons, and that’s OK to. Just ask someone else.
There is no time frame for getting a sponsor. Members ask someone to be their sponsor when they are ready. Sometimes it will be on a temporary or trial basis, sometimes members will have more then one sponsor.
* Sponsorship – What It’s All About. Reprinted in part with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc.
