I chose Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous or my 12-step reaction paper and attended the Thursday evening meeting at the Unitarian Church at 7701 SW 76 Avenue in Miami. This meetings is held between 7:30 – 8:30pm and is restricted to women only.
I did not know much about this affliction and therefore, even with the understanding that this was a 12-step meeting, I did not know what to expect when I walked in. Much like someone who doesn’t understand 12-step meetings at all, I found myself thinking all sorts of sordid things about the people I would encounter at this meeting. I did some research about this and learned that Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous is for those individuals that have a problem with sex addiction, love addiction (jumping …show more content…
Just like in Narcotics Anonymous meetings so familiar to me, there was coffee, tea, donuts and cookies available. Only 2 women were present when I arrived and I immediately felt nervous that I’d be put on the spot. Two more women showed up within 10 minutes and they all seemed to know each other, being very comfortable around each other. They eyed me suspiciously and no one came over to introduce themselves or ask me any questions which made me feel even more nervous. Five minutes before the start of the meeting, another two women showed up and one of them was obviously leading the group. She came over and introduced herself to me as Sarah. After I introduced myself to her, I explained the purpose of my being at that meeting. Sarah made it clear to me that this meeting was somewhat different from any other recovery meeting because of the very nature of the addiction. She said that these meetings were usually closed to outsiders but that she would make an exception only because I was in the Social Work program and I was also in recovery (NA). She also explained that being a “women only” meeting is for the safety and confidentiality of the women in the …show more content…
The seats were arranged in a semi-circle. This meeting was almost exactly like any recovery, 12-step meeting that I’ve attended. They read the serenity prayer, offered a moment of silence for those that have lost the battle with addiction, read the 12-steps of SLAA and opened the floor to discussions. Topics were quite interesting and the women were very open about their experiences and continued battles with recovery. I had no idea that this would be as emotional as it was. Discussions ranged from a complete inability to grieve the death of a parent, to days spent struggling with a constant desire to have anonymous sex, to one woman describing in detail her continuing struggle with masturbation (at least 20x a
I did not know much about this affliction and therefore, even with the understanding that this was a 12-step meeting, I did not know what to expect when I walked in. Much like someone who doesn’t understand 12-step meetings at all, I found myself thinking all sorts of sordid things about the people I would encounter at this meeting. I did some research about this and learned that Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous is for those individuals that have a problem with sex addiction, love addiction (jumping …show more content…
Just like in Narcotics Anonymous meetings so familiar to me, there was coffee, tea, donuts and cookies available. Only 2 women were present when I arrived and I immediately felt nervous that I’d be put on the spot. Two more women showed up within 10 minutes and they all seemed to know each other, being very comfortable around each other. They eyed me suspiciously and no one came over to introduce themselves or ask me any questions which made me feel even more nervous. Five minutes before the start of the meeting, another two women showed up and one of them was obviously leading the group. She came over and introduced herself to me as Sarah. After I introduced myself to her, I explained the purpose of my being at that meeting. Sarah made it clear to me that this meeting was somewhat different from any other recovery meeting because of the very nature of the addiction. She said that these meetings were usually closed to outsiders but that she would make an exception only because I was in the Social Work program and I was also in recovery (NA). She also explained that being a “women only” meeting is for the safety and confidentiality of the women in the …show more content…
The seats were arranged in a semi-circle. This meeting was almost exactly like any recovery, 12-step meeting that I’ve attended. They read the serenity prayer, offered a moment of silence for those that have lost the battle with addiction, read the 12-steps of SLAA and opened the floor to discussions. Topics were quite interesting and the women were very open about their experiences and continued battles with recovery. I had no idea that this would be as emotional as it was. Discussions ranged from a complete inability to grieve the death of a parent, to days spent struggling with a constant desire to have anonymous sex, to one woman describing in detail her continuing struggle with masturbation (at least 20x a