Famílias Anónimas (FA) makes headway in Algarve Portugal - appears to be a spinoff of Alanon and Bill Wilson inspired AA & NA

Famílias Anónimas (FA) is making headway in Algarve in the southernmost region of mainland Portugal. Based on the modified 12 Steps of the US based Bill Wilson inspired Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Famílias Anónimas is also strikingly familiar to Alanon which is based out of Virginia in the US and was started by Lois Wilson to boost the number of prospects funneled into her adulterous husbands cult of AA and provide the necessary funds to maintain the family compound of Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills New York. The US version of Families Anonymous appears to be based out of Virginia, just like Alanon.

Algarve with a population of approximately 450,484 per the Portugal 2011 census, now have a place for families of Alcoholics and Addicts to go and complain to each other about their cheating and drinking or drugging spouses and get them into Rehab.....

Families Anonymous

Written by Natasha Donn, Algarve 123
Edition 729, ( 17 May 2012)

{snip}..........

“I have nothing but admiration for the work of FA in Portugal. I am enormously proud of them because in the context of this matriarchal society they represent nothing short of a social revolution! It’s a huge step, after all, for a Portuguese woman to leave her husband at home in the evening and go out to a group that is giving her the kind of support that she cannot find at home!”

Equally, it is a huge step for a father to seek help from a group for his son; a wife for her husband, and the scenarios go on…

“Socially, the FA are cutting through lots and lots of barriers. It is an incredibly powerful group for Portugal”, said the counsellor.

The Algarve groups, which converse solely in Portuguese, meet on Mondays in Quarteira at 9pm at the Salão Parochial of Igreja Nossa Sra de Conceição, and on Tuesdays in Portimão, at the Centro Paroquial at 8.30pm. Both groups are more than keen to accept new members. “It is always difficult for people to accept that they need help - very often they only do when they’re truly at the end of their tethers - but when they finally admit that they can no longer cope without help and turn up, we’re delighted to see them”, explained an FA organiser.

12-step Fellowship

Though meetings are often held in church halls, Famílias Anónimas is not a religious structure in any way, and is open to people of all beliefs. The fellowship, which uses the 12-step programme similar to that adopted by Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, declares itself to be for “families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behaviour of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol or related behavioural problems”.

There are no charges for meetings, no subscription fees, no demands whatsoever, other than the desire that once people have joined, they continue to show up – completely anonymously. “You have nothing to lose but your anger and pain”, says the literature – and, if Rebecca’s story is anything to go by, there is everything to gain.

Would she have survived without FA, we ask?

“Who knows,” she looks up from her cup of coffee. “There were times I wasn’t sure if I could survive…”

For further information on FA’s groups in the Algarve call: 917 509 913 (Quarteira), or 961 140 835 (Portimão).

Read the Entire article: http://algarvedailynews.com/features/health-a-beauty/7175-families-anony...

The Portuguese version of Families Anonymous website: http://www.familiasanonimas-pt.org/

English version of FA for finding meeting locations in Italy, Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the UK: http://familiesanonymous.org/

Families Anonymous in Virginia (US based): http://www.familiesanonymousva.com/

Just how many different variations of Bill Wilson worship does the world need?