I was given more reading material and encouraged to come back. I was also given phone numbers of two of the members and was told that I could call anytime if I needed someone to talk to, even if it were the middle of the night. I found this group to be encouraging, caring, and genuinely concerned about its members. It is a safe place to express yourself and your feelings about your situation and by sharing the struggles that you have can not only help you, but can also help someone else at the same time. There are also advantages and disadvantages of Al-Anon.…
Mistie, thank you for sharing your observations with the Alcoholics Anonymous group. It is wonderful that you were able to recognize the strengths in each person. This is a wonderful quality to posses as a therapist. It also appeared that you came out of the meeting with a greater appreciation for those struggling with abstinence. It appeared as the group leader was taking the appropriate steps in having the individual recognize when they are entering the danger zone and what they did to stay out of it.…
I had the opportunity of being able to attend and observe The Serenity Seekers, an open Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) twelve step meeting. Upon arrival, I received a warm welcome by many different group members. They introduced themselves to me and one of the members even brought me pamphlets that provided me with information regarding what their A.A. program entailed. At first, I was apprehensive about going to an A.A. meeting; however, the members were all accepting of my presence, which made me feel comfortable. By accepting me, the members were displaying cohesiveness, the primary therapeutic factor allowing A.A. members to feel a sense of belonging, acceptance, and validation amongst the group.…
Last Saturday night, I went to an open Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Joyful Servant Lutheran Church which is called the KISS fellowship. Each member of the fellowship has the chance to run the meeting, and most of them are alcoholics. It is basically a welcome of newcomers and sharing of personal experience and ideas. The meeting has about 33 people, including visitors and sponsors. Ages vary from young adult to old people, but most are at middle age.…
is to create a fellowship where members stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. They are united through their common problem, alcohol. As a result, men and women of all ages, social, cultural and economic backgrounds may attend meetings. The goal of A.A. is for members to stay away from one drink, one day at a time. Furthermore, sobriety is achieved through peers sharing their experiences as a way to provide strength and hope that recovery is possible.…
I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting, held Wednesday at the 12 Step Club, located inside the Yard Birds mall, in Chehalis Washington. I had gone down the day earlier in the week to make sure I knew all the logistics, where, when and how long it would take, whether or not it was an open meeting, and so forth. The room was in a shopping complex the size of a small mall (305,00 square feet to be exact), and the room itself looks like it had retained the furniture and paint from when it was originally constructed forty-five years ago. Frankly it looked cold, old and moldy, with bleak, dirty, concrete block walls. The gentleman I talked to had long pony-tailed grey hair down his back, of an age impossible to determine, was washing dishes…
The speakers shared with the group how their life was when they were alcoholics and how attending the groups and wanted to change their life is making them a better person. They were 55 members present at the meeting I attended and most of them were men. One of the speakers spoke about how he faces many obstacles everyday but with a good support system is what keeps him going. He stated that his life was miserable when he used to drink and he realized that he was hurting his family; he felt like he didn’t know who he was anymore, his family didn’t know who he was and that was painful for him. The AA group is what’s helping him stay sober and finding himself.…
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is “the most widely used treatment for alcoholism in the world;” it is known as a self-help group, which utilizes a 12-step program (Emirck & Beresford, 2016, p. 463). According to Mark Galanter, “Mutuality,” “is central to the AA fellowship” not self-help (2014, p. 301). The program emphasizes the acknowledgement of “the existence of God and a Higher Power,” as well as “a spiritual awakening” which is deemed crucial for a successful outcome (Ruiz, 2016, p. 801). AA is a “free” support group, with meetings being held “7 days a week” (Stockwell, 2017, p. 709).…
When one thinks of support groups, the most common one that comes to mind is Alcoholics Anonymous. However, there are a myriad of groups out there that address the need of almost every individual. One such is Narcotics Anonymous (NA). This is a nonprofit fellowship dedicated to help those who are addicted to drugs. I shall recount my experiences and thoughts after attending one of their meetings.…
The meeting was truly eye opening. It was amazing how much these meetings mean to the members who attend. The meeting starts with introductions, then some of the members do readings of the AA meetings steps and requirements. The members attending the meeting then can talk about their experiences and what has helped them.…
Although I was somewhat anxious about going, I feel that these experiences have really opened my eyes to something I knew very little about. The first meeting I attended was an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in freehold borough. It was held in a room called the…
AA requires that members share their experiences, and other useful information with the group. This approach is helpful because it helps members to maintain sobriety and offers a safe place to discuss challenges and get support. Connecting with people with similar problems and set of challenges helps members to reduce feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and fear. Groups help people to stay positive and motivated and make things easier because members have people they can turn to and lean on for help during tough times (Drumm, 2006). The organization helps substance abusers to witness the recovery of others and to learn how to deal with similar problems, which is in line with the support group approach.…
Alcoholics Anonymous is recovery group for those suffering with an alcohol addiction. Its program is mainly focused on abstaining from alcohol and achieving sobriety, but also puts emphasis on spirituality and comradery with other members as a form of a family and accountability partners. I attended an AA meeting on Friday, September 9th, and here’s what I saw and learned. The meeting I chose to go to was in my local church at eight pm.…
Addiction support meetings have multiple benefits beyond helping a person move toward a healthier, more stable and productive life without the misuse of substances. Historically speaking, in the case of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, the idea that one alcoholic speaking with another is enough of a good start for progress toward recovery. As a matter of fact, that is how it is described in AA literature (Big Book, 2001). Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio. Its primary purpose is to help alcoholics stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.…
In addition, the indirect leadership and informal group roles worked well for the clients as no conflict arise at either group. However, I feel the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance support group was more effective with members helping each other find ways to cope with not only their mental illnesses; but also with stressors like work and family; which were not addressed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance was the only support group that included families of a person diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression; and they were guided on how to reach out to their loved one and support them by other attendees. While I appreciate that both Alcoholics Anonymous and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognized their attendees for accomplishing certain goals, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance did provide the setting that allowed clients to admit their mistakes and to learn how to solve them in a way that was non-judgmental; which was something I did not see with the Alcoholics Anonymous group I attended. Lastly, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognizes that there is an unknown medical cause of Bipolar disorder and depression that is difficult to be diagnosed by a physician; but Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance does support medical research on Bipolar disorder…