Self – Help Group Reflection January 5, 2017 at 9:00AM I attended the We Care AA Skid Row Drifters Alcohol Anonymous group meeting. The meeting consisted of about 20 people. Located in downtown Los Angeles, skid row has as many as “6,000 homeless people living” there at any given time. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3824528/Skid-Row-revealed-striking-photographs.html). I thought it was interesting that the group meeting was in the center of skid row. Individuals who live in skid row, live in tents, sleep in the street, do drugs in the street, drink alcohol in the street, and much more. I know this because I live downtown and see it every day. While sitting in my seat at the meeting, observing and being mindful of the atmosphere,
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There was a man, age 72, who had been sober for 25 years, relapsed for 5 years, and then sobered up again for another 6 years and then relapsed and now is sober; the moment he said that, I immediately thought of the definition of addiction, which is “a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences…(https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-use-addiction). I never really understood the full ramifications of an addiction and how it can mentally damage a person and how it really is an ongoing illness until I heard this man speak and a few other men who experienced a relapse as …show more content…
No one grows up wanting to become an addict; it’s the hand they were dealt regarding their environment, socioeconomic status, and family history. I remember one man speaking and he said, “my mother and father met at an AA meeting”. I was shocked. Shocked because if what he is saying is true, then did he have a chance of a normal life while growing up? Were his parents alcoholics during his whole childhood? What do his parents think of him being at an AA meeting? I wonder if his parents feel some sort of guilt about what their baby boy has grown up to be, an addict?
This experience also made me aware that each person who spoke at the podium was retelling his or her story in a form narrative therapy. Each person was aware that they themselves were not the problem; it’s the addiction, which needs constant treatment every day to be able to stay
There was a man, age 72, who had been sober for 25 years, relapsed for 5 years, and then sobered up again for another 6 years and then relapsed and now is sober; the moment he said that, I immediately thought of the definition of addiction, which is “a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences…(https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-use-addiction). I never really understood the full ramifications of an addiction and how it can mentally damage a person and how it really is an ongoing illness until I heard this man speak and a few other men who experienced a relapse as …show more content…
No one grows up wanting to become an addict; it’s the hand they were dealt regarding their environment, socioeconomic status, and family history. I remember one man speaking and he said, “my mother and father met at an AA meeting”. I was shocked. Shocked because if what he is saying is true, then did he have a chance of a normal life while growing up? Were his parents alcoholics during his whole childhood? What do his parents think of him being at an AA meeting? I wonder if his parents feel some sort of guilt about what their baby boy has grown up to be, an addict?
This experience also made me aware that each person who spoke at the podium was retelling his or her story in a form narrative therapy. Each person was aware that they themselves were not the problem; it’s the addiction, which needs constant treatment every day to be able to stay