Opening and Closing Statements

Most LifeRing meetings begin with the reading of an "Opening Statement." It serves, as the book "How Was Your Week" says, as "the spoken ritual that launches the meeting" It is intended to give, as briefly as possible, information about LifeRing's approach to recovery and how our meetings are conducted. It gives both a bit of guidance to brand new people who may have no idea what to expect at our meetings, and sets a tone for those who are already familiar with LifeRing. The original opening statement, from "How Was Your Week," is still the most popular version but meetings and their convenors are free to try their hands at variations. Here are several.

Examples of Opening Statements often do not include other important parts of the meeting format the convenor will want to add, such as announcements, meeting member introductions, a treasury report, guidelines for crosstalk, and a donation request. The convenor may also wish to be sure their Opening Statement includes a statement about confidentiality and/or anonymity; most of the Opening Statements here include a confidentiality statement.

The expanded version of the How Was Your Week Opening Statement presented below is a model for adding these elements, which can be applied to other Opening Statements.