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Alcoholic Anonymous Meeting

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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. Before I go into detail about my experience attending an opened AA meeting, I want to first identify the difference in an opened meeting verses a closed meeting. An opened AA meeting is just as …show more content…

Days leading up to my visit, I begin to think of all the biases I had about AA meetings. I thought of the fear of possibly sitting next to hardcore alcoholics, I thought of my possibility of being attacked for not coming in there with a problem, and then I thought of all the reasons why AA meetings wouldn’t work. As I completed my experience, I soon learned that this is the same biases clients have when being educated on AA meetings and prepared to attend …show more content…

For me, I chose a family nickname that no one would be able to recognize me by. In the beginning the leader reviewed rules for the meeting, disclosures, and explained what we should expect from the meeting. From my surprise, the leader as well as the group members were very polite and supportive of everyone. As the meeting continued, everyone was encouraged to share thoughts, feelings, and any story they may have for coming to the meeting. Individuals who were scared to share were also encouraged, but were not frowned upon if they did not share. To my surprise, the leader did well with positive affirmations and allowing those who were silent to feel they were just as important to the group as those who were more

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