Al-Anon

Al-Anon is presented through Audrey Griffin’s participation in meetings for parents whose children have substance-abuse problems. In her account, it offers a setting in which she begins to acknowledge the effects of Kyle Griffin’s addiction on her own life, and a spiritual practice distinct from the churchgoing that had previously been familiar to her.

Focus and Practice

Audrey says she started attending Al-Anon meetings after Kyle returned from a week in a Utah wilderness rehabilitation program. She had been frightened that he might not manage the experience, and that his actions could endanger other children. The meetings she chose specifically addressed parents of children with substance-abuse problems, placing her own family’s crisis within a community organized around that shared concern.

Audrey Griffin’s Experience

Audrey describes the program’s effect as an acceptance that her life had become unmanageable. She contrasts its deep spirituality with her earlier experience of regularly attending church: the meetings introduced a spiritual dimension she had not experienced in the same way before. Her account frames participation not as a resolution of Kyle’s addiction or a guarantee about the family’s future, but as a change in how she understands and faces her circumstances.

Place in the Narrative

Audrey writes about Al-Anon in a letter to Soo-Lin Lee-Segal while away from Seattle and uncertain whether she is ready to return. Kyle is in treatment, and Audrey says she is not sure who she has become; she places her trust in God for guidance. Al-Anon thus marks a turn toward acknowledging her own limits amid her efforts to care for her son, without implying that her family’s difficulties have been settled.