Case Study: Alcoholics Alana Club Recovery

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and reflect on my experience attending an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting. Alcoholic anonymous (AA) was created to help individuals effected by Alcohol collaborate and support each other during their time of need. All AA meetings are structured differently. However, there are only two types of meetings: opened and closed meetings. During my experience, I attended an open meeting where anyone can come regardless of a diagnosed alcohol problem or the level of experience one had with participating in such meetings.

For this reflection assignment I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The AA meeting I attended was at St. Joe’s Education Center in Ypsilanti at 7:30 pm. As far as the demographics of the group: The number in attendance was about 60 people I would say, it was very packed surprisingly to me. I did not expect it to be that many people there. When I think of an AA meeting I think of a small meeting with maybe 20 people that are a close group not around 60. Also the age range was surprising, I was expecting to see all older adults but the age range was actually a very wide range. I would say from early twenties on up to late sixties. Male to females range was about equal, there were slightly more males in attendance at the meeting, which

Chapter 10 is about the Folk Psychotherapy of Alcoholics Anonymous ( AA) by L A. Alibrandi. The focus of the Chapter is “detailed examination of the relationship between the sponsor and the new comer. A.A. sponsors help others to achieve and maintain sobriety. I like the statement of an AA member “Drunks get sober every morning, or every time they go to jail or a hospital, but in A.A we learn how to stay sober.” (Zimberg, S, et al pg. 165).

Alcoholism is a chronic brain disease that affects all walks of life and does not have any bounders (Gossop, Stewart, & Marsden, 2008). I choose to attend an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting since this disease is prevalent among adolescents and adults. The meeting was held in the first-floor forum at Pilgrim Congressional Church in Queens New York. The goals of the AA meeting were stated explicitly by the leader conducting the meeting. The mission of the organization is to maintain sobriety by helping alcoholics achieve recovery. The organization provides clients with relevant materials such as pamphlets and flyers and states that all information shared in the meeting will remain confidential and will not be shared with anyone. The statement of anonymity was read to the members at the beginning of the session to ensure confidentiality.

The community group I visited was Beaches Unity Group, which was located at 322 Penman Road. This was an Alcoholics Anonymous group that provided open discussion for people who were both struggling with alcohol abuse, as well as addiction. It gave the participants an opportunity to introduce themselves, and tell their background story. There where also opportunities to offer advice to the other members. I decided to sit in an AA group because there is history of alcoholism in my family, and so I was curious to hear the stories of other people, and how they are coping with their disorder. I chose this particular group because it was an open meeting and they welcomed anyone. The man running the group, was a member himself, and was very welcoming.

Many people who have never had an addiction may not understand the difficulty of becoming better, and that is because we have never been in circumstances where our life depended upon a substance (Berry & Ramnath, 2013). However, for people who have had a substance addiction, the difficulty to becoming better is harder because they need to regain control over their thoughts and lives. According to the alcoholic anonymous recovery program, a twelve-step meeting is a very efficient program that helps people regain control over their thoughts and their lives. One vital part of this program is the twelve traditions and twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although the overall goal of this meeting is for members to stay sober while

I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at a church in Henderson. Going to the recovery meeting was a very interesting experience. I have heard good things about Alcoholics Anonymous because my mom used to be an alcoholic. She has been sober for more than 15 years now and has said that Alcoholics Anonymous was very helpful step in her recovery. The meeting was different than I expected. I expected a small group of people sitting in a circle and telling their stories and it was very different from that. It was an extremely positive place. There were people ranging in ages and people ranging on length of sobriety. Some people there have been sober for over 25 years and some people had less than a week

AA meetings are for people who are struggling with alcoholism which means they have an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. I believe that these meetings are not helpful and in some cases cause harm the people who are trying to change and no longer alcoholics or drug addicts. These meetings do not have high success rates in fact they have very low rates. They have a 12 percent success rate for people who are sober for ten years and these meetings also have a very high depression and suicide rates because of their 12 step program. The AA meetings limit their success target only alcoholics as its main priority and unless you have a problem with alcohol you cannot be a member of the AA. I believe that if you have any type of addiction you deserve the help you need especially if you are looking for a change and want to better yourself. These AA

In my experience of observing Alcoholics Anonymous group, it was a great experience. In my experience, I notice a lot of things in the Alcoholic Anonymous group. The first thing I notice while observing the group session is they have Alcoholics Anonymous bible that read a section every session. They read the same passage that discuss that how important it is to keep all information that is said in the group confidential. They were vey clear with that information. In my first session, the group started with a silent prayer, and read Alcoholic announcement. Next, the reader introduced the group leader. The group leader stated that goals that needs to be accomplish in this group which is stay sober day by day. The group leader also discuss in the group session about alcoholism. The group leader stated that alcoholism is a disease, and alcoholism progress and a chronic disorder. It affects the individual physical and mentally. Alcoholism is incurable and fatal. The group leader was very humorous and stated that many people who are nonalcoholic called alcoholics weak, crazy, and a sinner.

An AA meeting may take one of several forms, typically at any meeting you will find alcoholics talking about what drinking did to their lives and personalities. Individuals might also divulge what actions they took to help themselves, and how they are living their lives today. A.A. groups have both open and closed meetings. Closed meetings are for A.A. members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and desire to stop drinking. Open meetings are available to anyone interested in the Alcoholics Anonymous program. This includes anyone who suffers from alcohol addiction, and proactive individuals who just want to get involved.

For my community service assignment, I assisted the local Narcotics Anonymous chapter in cleaning out one of their many daily meeting places. Narcotics Anonymous is a global non-profit organization which overviews an extensive drug abuse recovery program which utilizes strict tenets in an overarching support-group style program to facilitate recovery from drug abuse. Narcotics Anonymous has no official leaders and little overall structure, aside from a collection of basic agreed upon texts that are distributed to chapters worldwide, which lay out the basic tenets of the NA program in full for members to follow. Instead, there is one central Narcotics Anonymous organization that organizes annual conventions, distributes organization texts,

Resting on the border of Palm Beach and Broward Counties is the nondescript community of Deerfield Beach, Florida (FL). This quiet community has plenty of beach access as well as several large planned residential communities. It also has its fair share of issues related to drug abuse and addiction.

I used to belong to a group called Alcoholics Anonymous. Some might say it was a stimulation I sought that led me there. Stimulation's that share qualities is a way I identify generalities to help me make sense of the world (Bodenhausen, Kang, & Peery, 2011). That sounds like a positive way to say I enjoy alcoholic treats. The group Alcoholics Anonymous defines itself with a set of twelve questions, if one answers these questions in a certain manner they might want to find a group and join (Is A.A. for, 1973). Alcoholism can cause a problem for some people and the group is meant to have a place for them to go to get help, companionship, and a place to make sense of the world.

As I spoon JIF creamy peanut butter and Breyers coffee ice cream into my mouth I contemplate my AA meeting. I purchased the Alcoholics Anonymous book a few months ago when you told me about the group therapy opportunity. The book is a little bit boring or maybe it’s too long and I get discouraged. Anyways, I was extremely excited to go to my first AA meeting. I live in Coral Springs so the AA meeting that was closest to my house was at First United Methodist Church, I HATE churches and I was completely turned off by the idea of walking into one. The meeting was at 7 o’clock, I got there at 6:41pm and walked through the holy doors of Jesus Christ. There was only one man named Phil inside, he was juggling a coffee pot and Publix chocolate chip cookies. I asked him if this is where the meeting was and he said yeah but you’re early. In his mind, he was sniffing out the nonalcoholic vibe I was giving, if it was really my first time coming to AA and if I was really an alcoholic then I would not come to the meeting 20 minutes early. I blew it, he knows. I didn’t want to tell anybody that I wasn’t an alcoholic because what if I wanted to come again? Then what? It’s weird enough if somebody isn’t an alcoholic and goes to AA but then that person just keeps coming

I used Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques with some of my clients. I was not trained in this therapy but was familiar with the idea of being in the here-and-now. This technique worked for my schizophrenic client by keeping her focused on what was happening each day by writing in a journal and distracting her from what she thought had been happening in her past. I was able to use Art Therapy with the client I had with PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts.