12 Steps Of Narcotics Anonymous

I attended a 12 step meeting held by the fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous. The meeting was open to addicts, non-addicts, and beginners. The focus was placed on the needs of the new members of Narcotics Anonymous, discussion of the Just for Today text, and the twelve steps of Narcotics Anonymous. The name of the fellowship is We Qualify. The meeting was held in the basement of a church and lasted for 90 minutes. The meeting commenced at 7:00pm and ended at 8:30pm. The room was large, clean, well-lit, with tables and chairs set up to accommodate a large group of people. There were two easels in the room, one on each side. One had the twelve steps of Narcotics Anonymous, and the other had the twelve traditions. Alongside the second …show more content…
JUST FOR TODAY I will be unafraid. My thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear (The Little White Book,1986). As each member spoke, they remember taking the first step which was attending a meeting. They encouraged the newcomers to continue to attend meetings and to read the materials provided by Narcotics Anonymous. The members didn’t lose focus on who the meeting was geared towards. The purpose was to embrace the newcomers and welcome them into the fellowship. According to Fewell & Spiegel in Straussner ( 2014), Narcotics Anonymous was created to serve the users of drugs, particularly narcotics, and follows the same format as Alcoholics Anonymous, with small variations. Narcotics Anonymous views addiction as the problem but does not name a particular drug. All the members who spoke referred to their addiction as a problem and admitted that they were powerless to their addiction. The last speaker worked for a city agency and told stories of “hitting up” in the bathroom. His co-workers often times had to tell him to clean up the blood on his face before he saw clients. As an only child, he stated that his mother was an enabler. She knew of his problems with drugs but took care of his bills when he could no longer afford to pay his bills. He talked about hitting rock bottom, losing …show more content…
They speak of the commitment and continued efforts to remain in recovery. In this meeting, the members encourage each other and hugs are frequent. The next step of the meeting was asking the members where they were in their process to recovery. It was broken into time increments. One member who appeared to be the youngest member was 90 days clean. He was asked to come to the front of the room, hugged, and received a key chain. The other members stated how long they’ve been clean and one particular member was celebrating his anniversary. It was his 28th anniversary. He stood in front of the room, stated name, identified as an addict, then told his story. The relationship with his sponsor was highlighted. He has had the same sponsor for 28 years and he talked about his reluctance at a time to attend the meetings and having the sponsor be there for him when he needed it most. The role of the sponsor and the member as therapeutic benefits. According to Peyrot (1985), the sponsor is required to continually reimmerse him/herself in the program in order to cite and apply to the person he/she is sponsoring. This member was presented with a “coin” and he read the inscription on both sides of the coin. It was a proud moment for him, as he included his family in his success story and recovery