Nonprofessional Strength

Last month someone at my meeting was suggesting we should have professional therapists lead our meetings to make sure people get proper help. It sounded good - wouldn't professionals make the program better? Then our longtime treasurer said: That's not who we are. Our strength comes from being nonprofessional, from sharing personal experience as peers.

Sharing our nonprofessional personal experiences with each other provides our groups with a source of strength that grows as we grow. Nonprofessional. Not trained therapists. Not credentialed counselors. Just people who've lived with alcoholism sharing what that was like and what helps. This is the source of our strength. When someone shares about their catastrophic thinking I don't need a therapist's analysis. I need to hear from someone who has catastrophic thinking and found tools that help.

Our nonprofessional status creates equality and identification. The person sharing at a meeting isn't an expert speaking from above. They're a peer sharing from beside. I don't relate to them because of their credentials. I relate because they've lived what I'm living. That shared personal experience provides strength professional advice never could. We grow together as peers. Our collective experience strengthens as each of us adds our honest story to it. That's the source of strength that keeps Al-Anon working.

At my next meeting, I can share from my personal experience rather than giving advice or explaining concepts. Instead of 'people should...' I can say 'when I struggled with this, here's what helped me.' My nonprofessional honest experience helps someone more than any expert advice I could offer.