I went to Alcoholic Anonymous opening meeting because I am interested in learning more about this program and alcoholism itself. Also, some of my family members are highly addicted to alcohol, and they have to drink at least half a gallon per day. I have no idea how to stop them from drinking alcohol excessively, so I hope that I am able to learn something from this meeting that I can share with them and probably advise them to lower the amount of their alcohol consumption every day. Based on what I learned from the meeting, Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) self-help meeting is a program for alcoholics who are desire to stop drinking.
I like about Alcoholic Anonymous program because they treated every attendees equally. Everyone who attended this
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I personally feel that everyone in that meeting has each other’s backs.
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.
This meeting was broken up into two different sections. First part was story telling. A guy told personal stories of his struggles with alcohol use and abuse from his past in addition to his struggles to remain sober. This part took about 30 minutes. The second part was open dialogue which took about an hour. Nobody was instructing us to do this or that in this section. It was a dialogue which communicating, saying, sitting there, and listening to somebody telling their personal stories. It allowed everyone to talk about their struggles, as well as encourage one another. Before each person started telling his or her stories, that person had to announce his/her name and that his/her were an alcoholic or addict. After the person finished
The third chapter of the Alcoholics Anonymous book develops the idea of what alcoholism involves and how people with alcoholism differ from normal people. This chapter elaborates on the idea that there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic, meaning an alcoholic will never be able to have a few drinks and then stop. It is also believed within the alcoholics’ anonymous community that at in the early stages of their drinking careers, they could have stopped drinking. The first step in recovery is to acknowledge that there is a problem, the book describes different ways a person can be an alcoholic. Not every alcoholic is going to drink a long time nor take large quantities, but the inability to stop makes the alcoholic. The chapter explains how an alcoholic is still unable to stop on the basis of self-knowledge and will power. In order to protect against taking that first drink again, there must be a higher power. Chapter three outlines that there is more than one option of what
yellow house or an alcoholic anonymous meeting somewhere for the first time and admitting they are
I decided to attend a meeting based first (and almost solely) on convenience of the location. So I decided to attend a meeting right here in Batavia. The “Batavia 12 & 12” at the Holy Trinity Church down on 6th & Wood St. They hold meeting on Mondays around 11:00am. The main focus is to follow the 12 steps in order and work on them in a more traditional fashion. They do have the big book, but follow it more in a step by step focus. However karma decided to rear its head and make it a Closed Meeting, meaning that it is not as open to the public to sit on and they only allow members who are coming with a problem related to alcohol. So at first I was turned away but, I was lucky enough to know a person
The members found tremendous strength in the group. I could feel the importance of the community, the no-judgment zone, and sharing their story with peers. The meeting promoted empathy and allowed people to feel supported and understood in their struggle with alcoholism. More importantly, the meetings show them that they are not alone. They could talk about their actions under the influence to others that truly understood
The support group I attended was on October 19th, 2012 at 12pm at Wesley Church located on Barstow Avenue. It was in the Winterburg Education Building in room 3. A gentleman by the name of Andy was leading the group. He first said a prayer and then asked if there were any new members. There were none so he asked if there were visitors. I introduced myself and said I was a Fresno State nursing student. He then said today they were going to talk about Step 12, which was about service. Service was about introducing AA to people that could benefit from the program. Before you were expected to complete step 12, they wanted you to complete steps 1-11 first.
The first member stated that the meetings are what keep him going. When he runs into a problem he prays to God, who is his higher power. He says that when he prays and
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
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the largest and most commonly known self-help group in the world. Since the creation of AA in 1935, there have been many programs modeled after it, which are also based on the 12-Step Program. Some of these include Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Chemically Dependent Anonymous, as well as programs for specific drugs, such as Cocaine Anonymous (CA) and Crystal Meth Anonymous (NIDA, 2012). Attendance and participation for self-help groups are open for anyone to attend and free of cost for all members, with meetings typically held in locations such as churches and public buildings. “Metropolitan areas usually have specialized groups, based on such member characteristics as gender, length of time in recovery,
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
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 meeting started out with an introduction of everyone who was present. They stated their names and said they were alcoholics and how long they had been sober. They continued to go over old business, and then proceeded to read from the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, the Third Step Prayer. The prayer was about releasing one’s self of their bondage.
On February 27, 2014, I visited an Alcohol Anonymous (A.A) therapeutic group meeting called Another Chance. Another Chance is an intergroup meeting located inside the Concord Baptist Church of Christ, at 833 Gardner C. Taylor Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11216. Another Chance has been in operation for over thirty years, and holds open discussion meetings on alcohol use and prevention, every Thursday from six in the evening until seven o’clock. This group interaction with alcohol substance use and abuse focuses on helping all members regardless of race, ethnicity or culture, to abstain from drinking one day at a time; and encourages them to maintain healthy thoughts and emotions through the use of the “Twelve Steps and Traditions” of recovery
I explained to them the reason why I was there and they were very nice and happy to help me with my assignment. One of them offered me a book named Alcoholics Anonymous, so I do not get lost during the meeting. As they began reading one of the chapters, I could realize that it was not as scary as people often think these meetings are. I believe that people there are really brave just by been there every day and talk about their problems. Personally, I thought the book is very direct and straightforward when assuming that they will always be alcoholics. I was surprise since it is not very common that people accept and talk the ugly truth. It is even hard for me,
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio, and is a spiritual based organization with the sole purpose “to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety” threw fellowship. Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.) foundation is built on a 12 step program that involves taking 12 step that will guarantee your sobriety (according to A.A.) because you start the 12 steps but you never end, it is designed for you to consistently work the 12 steps for the rest of your life to remain sober. There are 12 traditions with the 12 steps and this is what A.A. has taught them as they go through the program. When attending an A.A. meeting there are no membership fees or dues to pay and
The meeting began with a prayer and a reading of the twelve steps, which I did, and preceded into a 25-minute meditation session. Following the meditation session, the floor was opened up for persons to reflect on their meditation. It was quiet for sometime, but eventually persons began to talk. Each person that spoke introduced himself or herself as, “Hi I am XXXX and I am an alcoholic” in which the rest of us responded with a hello. The discussion each person brought to the circle often revolved around what they had been experiencing in the last week, and ended with a positive-spin that reflected back on their journey with sobriety. One gentleman talked about his spring break on Orca Island with his kids, another discussed a speaker he was arranging to have visit Spokane, and another woman talked about an “essay reading party” she went to in which wine was being drank by the majority of participants. The meeting ended with the serenity prayer, something the girls at Daybreak say before lunch, and simple discussion between some of the participants. During this time I talked with the woman who had told me where to find the AA meeting. She talked with me about the need to find the proper AA meeting for myself, encouraging me to explore multiple