Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

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

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.

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.

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.

The NA meeting had a guest speaker named Adam, the most surprising thing about meeting were candor and humor evoked by the speaker. Adam acknowledged that he has been addicted to drugs for seventeen years, and this behavior started when he was in the 7th grade. Adam was genuinely outspoken and humorously shared being in and out of treatment facilities over 28 times costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The group really identified with the speakers story, and this was exhibited by laughter and comments from the crowd.

Elements of Yalom’s therapeutic factors were apparent over the course of the semester while experiencing and conducting our breakout groups. Yalom refers to 11 therapeutic factors in the practice of successful group therapy with them being: installation of hope, universality, imparting information, altruism, corrective recapitulation of primary family, development of socializing techniques, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis, existential factors. Below, will be a reflection of my experience in the group over the course of the semester.

counseling, where the co-leader can take a few minutes work on some better communication methods so that the client can learn some new and healthier methods to communicate. When the co-leader does not have a client to work with, the co-counselor can be part of the counseling process with the leader of the group.

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.

Although they have denied that any religious doctrine prevails in the organization. However, it difficult for me to agree with that statement since the meeting I was at seem to have a strong religious regimen from beginning to end. Besides, 12 step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous could contribute their success to the common goal the each member would like to reach: staying abstinence from alcohol no matter what urges. And the overall point of AA meetings would benefit someone who’s really to make a change in their life and being in control by alcohol. That person going into a AA meeting should keep in mind to they are not alone going in, the development of a caring relationship within the members, and that they will notice a height sense of spirituality. Although, someone who’s in denial won’t recognize they have a problem, also if there is someone enabling their addiction. And well, AA meeting keys to success would be the meeting are run in a social supporting setting that allows individuals to support each other’s efforts towards sobriety. And those members gains confident that they can maintain abstinence through any challenging social situations. At the end of my experience at an Alcohol Anonymous meeting, the information presented in class and the chapter 9 in the ‘‘Drug, Behavior, and Modern society’’ book didn’t drift off too far. The philosophy of AA stayed true to their famous twelve

I believe this because of what I observed during the meeting, everyone seemed very open and nonjudgmental. Also the younger people in the meeting seemed very eager to get well or stay well. At the end of the meeting they gave out coins to people that have been sober from 30 days all the way up until multiple years. Every time people went up to get their coin, they were given a standing ovation and gave so much support, you would see people’s faces just light up during that process of getting the coin. The other people in the room made them feel proud of themselves for staying sober for that long and not giving up. One guy David really stood out to me, on Tuesday he celebrated 12 years sober, when he went and got his medal and stated that he was 12 years sober the room immediately congratulated him and told him to keep up the good work. It made me feel like the people there treat each other like family not strangers, and help each other overcome obstacles. Also at the very end of the meeting, while walking out I noticed people talking to the new people that were either new to Alcoholics Anonymous or new to the group at St. Joe’s. They were very welcoming to them and gave them hugs and congratulated the new members for coming. It just made me feel like this group actually helps the members change. This Alcoholics Anonymous group seemed like a very kind and supportive

The leader gave a heart warn personal describtion of what is was like to be addicted and how many people that were hurt due to her choices parent, friends, children, and loved one that she had to apologized to each and every person. This emotionl aspect to me is the heart of what the program is about the fellowship of the individual that that share the same conflict and the same pain. When it was time for everyone to go down the line and share their own personal story their very similarities in who they have hurt, stolen from betrayed trust, lied and even time spent in jail. When you take a glance at everyone when a story is being told you can see in everyone eyes the convention that they have for each other because they have been through it or are still going through it. These meeting become a place that welcomes you to poor out your heart and soul to make room for the forgivness that is needed in order for one to start the healing process. When the meeting almost over it was asked that you turn to your neighbor and given them a big huge and tell them that Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your god goes with you; he will never leave your no forsake you.” (ESV) The leader also tackles one or two steps at a time

The group that this writer attended this week was an Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A) open group that consisted of thirty-two individuals. The date of the meeting was on Tuesday, December 1, 2015. The group started out with one facilitator opening the meeting up. He read the serenity prayer and covered the 12 steps related to the premise of A.A. This took no more than the first five minutes of the meeting.

These programs can be found throughout the community, and only requires that one truly desire to stop their addiction behavior. Participation in these programs can be the key needed to maintain long-term recovery. Research has shown that those who participate in twelve-step self help groups typically have better recovery outcomes than those who do not participate (Moos & Timko,

The Crossroads resident treatment program incorporates the 12 step system of Alcoholics Anonymous, traditional individual therapy, and a focus on physical health.

I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical of going to this meeting. I was nervous, anxious, and worried what they might think or ask. At the same time though, I was also excited. I was excited because I wanted to learn more about Alcohol Anonymous. Walking into a church where I knew no one and knew what these people struggle with was a bit eye opening. Immediately upon arriving into the meeting, all those fears had left. I was actually intrigued with how Alcohol Anonymous meetings are held. Every meeting is different. Confirming what I stated earlier, we listened to a CD and followed along in “The Big Book”. I never read the alcohol anonymous book and was extremely interesting. Hearing these people tell their stories, even though their stories