12-Step Group Meeting

The first meeting that I attended was a Narcotic Anonymous meeting. The meeting time was 7pm-8pm on September 13, 2016. The group was made up of 12 individuals, 4 females and 8 males. The overall feeling of the group illustrated positive energy. Each person gave the perception that they truly wanted as well as needed to be there. I did observe that most of the participants depicted a very high anxiety level based on their body language and the tone in their voices. There were no “new comers”, which is the terminology used for a person who is new to the world of Narcotic Anonymous. The dynamics of the group, included persons who were in recovery as well as persons whose addiction is still active.

The 12 Step Program I attended was put on by USF group 164, held on July 8, 2015 at 7:00p.m. Location of meeting was at 12850 North 50th Street, Chapel Center in Temple Terrace, Tampa, Florida. The group leader was named BoB L. There were 12 participants that evening and several guests, a room full. I along with two other students were introduced to the group as student nurses, and we were welcomed with open arms. The group was very inviting and warm. People seemed happy, friendly and in good spirits. The length of the meeting was an hour and it closed with participants receiving pendants. Then someone was invited to come to the podium and say a prayer.

I went to a traditional 12 step AA meeting. It was a long timers group, which had individuals who have been attending AA for a while now and those who have been sober for at least 10 years or more. It was at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, located in Johnstown, Pa. The meeting was from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. They started off the meeting by reading the preamble. The preamble, which was found and quoted from the District 41- Alcoholics Anonymous, Johnstown, Pa website (2015), “Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.” After the preamble they had one of the attendees of the group read the 12 steps.

A 12 step group enhances recovery in two ways. Firstly, it offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol,

Over the weekend, I attended an Overeaters Anonymous meeting at the Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills. This meeting was open to OA members and non-OA visitors. Each meeting is composed with special topics such as, a book study, lifeline, speaker, or newcomer’s stories have a defined topic of discussion. However, these meeting have certain bylaws that are strictly followed, which is the only requirement for OA membership and that is the desire to stop eating compulsively. Each attending member is asked to respect the meeting’s group conscience and give a voice to any person who has the desire to stop their addiction of overeating.

I attended the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting held at the Westhampton United Methodists Church, 6100 Patterson Ave, 23226, which is 3.8 miles away from my home. The meeting started at 7:30pm and was structured as an open meeting that welcomed beginners. I utilized www.aarichmond.org website to search for AA meetings in the Richmond Area. There were about 30-40 meetings offered a day within a 15-mile radius of my home zip code. I selected the RVA YPG because I assumed Y in YPG stood for youth or something related to young people. Then I researched it and found one possible meaning for the acronym was Young Planners Group. I was interested in attending the YPG meeting because I am always fascinated with the progress

The objective of this study is to write a reaction on a 12-step meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous with the focus of the meeting being attitude modification. The meeting attended was the Stairway Group meeting in Decatur, Alabama. The members who attended this group meeting were of all ages, of both the female and male gender and were white, black, and Hispanic individuals. The majority of the attendees were males.

The participants were looking for help, which it created some confusing thoughts; I thought AA meetings were mandatory for all participants. It also made me realize with all the brief stories how alcohol is an enormous concern in our society, however our society has normalized those concern and convert the negative impact of alcohol into something positive. It drive me to think that 12 steps program work, and it should be part of a treatment. After, the meetings that I attended; I feel the 12-step program will work if professionals in the Human Services area introduce the program on a positive manner. It may be challenging because of the religious portion for some cases, however this may introduce the participant’s new ways to cope with the struggle of alcoholism. At the same time, the main benefits for the client will be abstinence and support. The abstinence is a continuous process and through the meetings clients will be able to keep the abstinence from alcohol or other drugs. Conclusively, there was an environment of hope in the meeting. During, the meeting one of the participants was a new member. He described how alcohol destroyed his family and he is trying to get his family back, however his wife does not want to come back with him and a divorce petition was completed. This particular participant found in the 12 step meeting comfort and support from his peers. Besides, the comfort the participant

Experiencing an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting was something quite unlike any of my previous experiences. Before I had entered the small room packed with people from wall to wall, my thoughts were soaring. They drifted from “this is most likely going to be extremely scary” to “how am I supposed to face these people who are suffering so badly, as if it’s no big deal.” I expected the stereotypical scene: small gathered circle, people crying, a table of pastries to the side of the room, and most importantly an extremely tense atmosphere. I expected the people in this meeting to look down at me, as I looked so much younger than they were. I projected the room to be filled with a sadness and intensity like no other. Before entering, I felt nervous, scared, and also excited for what I was about to encounter. Most of my expectations, however, did not occur.

This self-help group meeting that I attended took place in Catonsville on Friday at noon. The meeting was held at Catonsville Baptist church. There were 46 people in attendance, including myself. The chairperson asked everyone to help him begin the meeting with the Serenity Prayer. On the left side of the meeting room, there was a table of free pamphlets and books for purchase, so we could find a booklet there which was included all the readings for the entire meeting. Also, the chairperson looked for a couple of people to volunteer to do the readings before the meeting started.

I took this opportunity to understand my unhealthy habits and transform my behavior. In my Wellness Recovery Action Plan, the information brought light to the obstacles and how to overcome issues. After filling out the Schedule of Recent Experience (Wieitan et al., 2009) and Tactics for Coping with Stress (Weitian et al., 2009), it was a shock how much I put my body through. A finalized copy of my results can be observed in Appendix A, and the results of the Schedule of Recent Experience (Weitian et al., 2009) can be viewed in Appendix B. In the outcome, I conducted coping mechanisms such as therapy, exercise, and nutrition. Nutrition has been a challenge as a waitress and full-time student. I am always around food at work that led to overeating.

This essay is a reflection on my observation of how a group interacts with each other. The 12-step meeting I attended was Overeater’s Anonymous (OA). OA uses the same Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions as Alcoholics Anonymous, the words are changed from “alcoholic” to “compulsive overeater”. The meeting I went to had seven people in attendance even with this small of a group it was definitely a diverse group. All seven attendees were women whose ages ranged from a young college student to an elderly homemaker, there was a middle age professional (just left the office type), and a good old ranch gal boot wearing, hair in a braid ranch women. I was a bit nervous about being there but someone patted the seat next to herself and I

The addiction I chose to write about this week is a food addiction/compulsive eating. A food addiction is obsessive-compulsive relationship people have with food. Eating food is both vital and important in our everyday lives to give our bodies the nutrients, vitamins and calories that it needs. “Compulsive overeating, also referred to as food addiction, is characterized by an obsessive-compulsive relationship to food” (Karim, 2012, p. 7, para. 2). When people overeat, they engage in episodes of uncontrolled eating and will often find themselves consuming so much food just to feel comfortably full. Compulsive overeaters usually eat even if they are not hungry. People who have a food addiction have excessive thoughts about food that consumes

From these meetings there are two categories opened and closed. Closed meetings are for alcoholics only while open meetings are for alcoholics and anyone else who would like to join them. Their family or friends who want to be there for support or maybe random guest who want to see what a meeting is like before they recommend it to someone who needs it. The basic format for the meetings would be a speaker meeting, which focuses on sharing, a discussion meeting which is more interactive than the first and a step meeting where obviously discusses one of the steps.

In my research, I explored the world of eating disorders. I wanted to see if there was anything specifically encouraging eating disorders and if there was a way to stop it. Eating disorders affect the community greatly because often times, they go unchecked or unrecognized. As a recovered anorexic, I feel it’s very important to address this issue. It’s a very big problem that is often not addressed at all, or is seen as normal, like counting calories. I hoped to find a way to improve the way that eating disorders are viewed and explain to people about what defines an eating disorder, because many people will never know if it is not explicitly explained to them. My study’s purpose is to bring light into the dark world of eating disorders