A 12-Step Meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Reaction Paper

The group prayed after reviewing the guidelines. Then, a participant of the group proceeded to read the “how it works” from the AA book. Afterwards, another member read the 12 traditions. Two participants shared their experience with Alcoholism while others provided reflections and support. The facilitator informed me that each meeting two participants share. After the two participants shared, the AA meeting ended with another prayer. This paper will talk about my observations and reactions attending the AA meeting, and how attending the meeting will inform my future work as a clinician. The purpose of this paper is to present my personal experience of an AA meeting, and how I plan to grow as a therapist from that

The 12-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous is a well-known treatment method that’s used for many types of addiction, not just alcohol. Alcoholics are encouraged to “work” the 12-steps. The first step involves admitting the powerlessness over alcohol. The second step has the alcoholic believe that there is some type of a greater power working that will help aide the alcoholic to reach sobriety, as well as maintain is once reached. This step is an example of the religious influence on the 12-step recovery process.

I noticed that the participants did not look like what I perceived someone who was suffering from alcohol dependence would look like. They looked like productive law-abiding citizens. I am embarrassed to say that it never occurred to me that these individuals could live positive lives while battling alcoholism. I assumed that they would be dysfunctional and incapable to participate in the meeting. Instead many of them looked healthy and were eager to engage in the group discussion.

This paper is a reflective report of the authors’ personal observations, thoughts, and experiences from attending one of the ‘Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meetings’ at Burnaby Fellowship Centre Society. It is a drop-in social club for recovering alcoholics and addicts where its members describe their experiences with alcohol or drug addiction, how they came to the society, and how their lives have changed as a result of attending the program. Burnaby Fellowship Centre Society is part of the AA group which is a self-supporting and independent body. Membership is open to anyone who wants to recover from addictions and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop the addictions. The main purpose of the AA meetings is to help its members

Lastly, the chairperson recounted her own personal story with addiction. I was surprised how the group handled her story in a positive way. I noticed at times members laughed and even smiled and others making brief supporting comments. Rather than judge the events of her life, the group members seemed to connect in a personal way. I liked how the meeting was honest and open. Afterwards different members of the meeting read brief AA literature, "How it Works," the "Twelve Traditions" and "The Promises." I listened to each of them very closely

For this assignment, I observed an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held at The Meeting Place on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. There were 15 members in attendance, 12 men and 3 women not counting myself. The group leaders were both women and sat at the front of the room. For confidentiality of the group member names will not be included. The meeting began with the group leaders reminding the attendees of the rules of AA and the process of the meeting. Several of the attendees read the declaration of AA and the documents associated with the meeting structure. After the introduction, several of the members gave their testimony regarding their own experience with drinking. Following the short declarations, a passage of the big book was

I was very one sided as I walked into a AA meeting. I thought that the meeting where boring and little bit too much for people who wont to stop drinking. I couldn’t understand why people look forward to these meeting when they can simply talk to someone at home. Nevertheless, I was wrong. Hearing these people story who suffer from alcohol addiction was very heart breaking. I remember one story about this man losing his son to car accident. The only way he dealt with the pain of losing his son was to drink. He stated ever night he drunk him self-asleep. He was so adamant about telling his story because if it wasn’t for the hospital staff he would have lost his life. Alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. alcohol is the main common substance abuse in the united states. The reported show over 16.3 million adults over 18 years older had a least try alcohol in the life time. 71 percent reported that they drank in the past year. 4.7 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month. 6.7 percent reported that they engaged in heavy drinking in the past month. 50 percent of marriage fell due to the spouse drinking uncontrollably (Burke, 2015)

He was an older man in his 60’s and also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Keith struggled with sobriety and still does however; his stories were geared around the military. He said that the military in a way helped him become an alcoholic. The military by no means persuaded him but it aided him by the governmental money he received for being a member of the Marines. He told us that all he would do is make the money for his services then he would blow it on alcohol and fun times in the bar. Keith was very blunt about his experiences and even called himself an asshole. He thought of himself as a good guy but then he said he would vomit in the bathrooms and clean off his face just so that he could still party with the people in the bar. He called himself an asshole because he said he was a funny drunk but when people looked at him they just got really mad. Keith said that obviously he got into a lot of fights and he wasn’t scared of anyone. After his experience with alcohol in this manner he came to the conclusion that being sober was going to be the right thing for him even though he knew it was going to be a struggle everyday of his life. One important thing he said that I thought was the highlight of the meeting was about being sober. He said, “Its true what they say about being sober; it stands for son of a bitch everything’s real.” This really hit me because even

I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting at the Great Bridge United Methodist Church, in Chesapeake, VA. This was an open meeting held at 0730, entitled; Ready, Willing & Able. This meeting had a variety of individuals in attendance. After the meeting was started, today’s agenda was to read a quote from a book titled, Living Sober, distributed by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Each person in the room was asked to comment about the quote or “pass”. There were 18 people in attendance and the meeting lasted 60 minutes. Each person was allowed to respond to the quote for 2-3 minutes. Everyone was given chance to speak, that wanted to. Some of the participants that were engaged spoke a lot more than others.

Attending a local Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a humbling and informative experience. To be completely honest, I had no idea what to expect going into the meeting. Right before I walked in, I felt somewhat uncomfortable and embarrassed. I felt as if I was intruding on someone’s personal life with my presence, even though I knew I was welcomed since the meeting was listed as “open”. Alcohol abuse is a very sensitive topic to me, as someone quite close to me is an alcoholic: my Uncle. I know that he is a recovering alcoholic, but I never quite know what is going on with him because I don’t ask questions and he never shares what he is feeling with me. When I was younger, I remember that he was always the life of my family parties, but I know now it was because he was drunk. When I see him now, he isn’t as energetic as he used to be and often avoids situations where alcohol is involved. Although my Uncle did not personally tell me, my father has shared with me that he attends AA meetings at a church in my hometown. I never understood what AA meetings really entail and didn’t grasp how they helped alcoholics recover. Attending this local AA meeting helped shed light on what my Uncle feels, and I am more understanding to his addiction. I am thankful for this assignment because I know that my Uncle is not alone; the AA community is so supportive and the members all have the best intentions of getting

Everyday, more and more people are being claimed by alcoholism. The most important message AA makes is that there is help available, and there are people who want to help you, just as other helped them. Louis, a 79 year old AA member reciprocates his AA experience by “try[ing] to help the younger people find sobriety and happiness the way I have. I tell them, “If I can do it, so can you” (AA pamphlet). This is just one of many stories AA members have to offer an observer.

For this paper I attended an Alcohol Anonymous meeting (AA), so that I could experience a new type of group that I have never been exposed to before. I attended the AA meeting here in Macomb, at the First Presbyterian Church on October, 1 2016 at 8:00pm. I learned about this group because a classmate informed me about it. I decided to choose this specific group because I have never been to an AA meeting before. I felt this would be a good way to get exposed to something I have never experience and to get a better understanding of an AA meeting.

There are millions of people who have and who are suffering from alcoholism. For those seeking help with their addiction, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) may be the right for them. While this program is not promised to be a cure, and the authors of this program does not promise full recovery, it provides an atmosphere where members can be honest about their dependency on alcohol. Furthermore, AA provides support from other alcoholics, and rewards for meeting certain sobriety anniversary dates. This paper explores the history and major developments of AA. Furthermore, this paper explains the structure of meetings, and the roles the leader and members play during meetings. This paper also touches on AA’s definition of success and how it handles members who relapse. Additionally, this paper explains this student’s experiences of two AA meetings she attended, which include what she learned from attending the meetings, and what she learned from the people she met at the meetings.

The sponsor suggested AA members to continue taking part of the meeting and successfully manage their lives free of alcohol consumption. Hence, the sponsor also suggested the visitors to deliver the message about the effectiveness of the AA model to others alcoholics, including other individuals with different addictive disorders.So, they can change their lives for better by getting back the control of their own lives.

I can relate to his presentation on some level, as I grew up with alcoholics in my family. I seen them struggle and seen them fight everyday but it is not something we talked about. It was like Tim said “don’t tell”, almost like if we did not talk about it, it was not real. I seen some family members recover and everyday I watch some who don’t, but because it was something we never talked about I never really looked at it from their perspective. I never truly looked at them fighting and understood everything they were going thought and I wonder if they blame themselves or if they look at my other family members and blame