Alcoholics Anonymous : A Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is mutual aid group that supports individuals in their recovery from alcohol dependence. Established in the mid 1930’s, Alcoholics Anonymous was borne from the principals of self-improvement and mutual aid practiced by the Oxford Group. The Oxford Group was a popular religious movement in the United States and Europe at that time. (AA)

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

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.

Jacobs, E. E., Masson, R. L., Harvill, R. L., & Schimmel, C. J. (2012). Group counseling: Strategies and skills (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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.

In 1935, a fellowship by the name of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) originated as an effort to develop a method for understanding the complexities of and recovering from alcohol abuse and addiction (Clinton & Scalise, 2013; Hester &Miller, 2003). AA is a non-professional spiritual organization of men and women who gather to share their experiences with alcohol abuse/addiction, to convey hope and strength to overcome alcohol dependence, and help others in the recovery process (Clinton & Scalise, 2013).

For the support group observation assignment, I attended the Gateway Group’s Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.) meeting. The Gateway Group is part of a larger organization called the Tri-County Intergroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Tri-County Intergroup serves A.A. members in Franklin, Wake, and Warren Counties and is broken down into 113 separate groups. As the preamble states, the purpose of all A.A. group meetings are for A.A. members to share their experience strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. There are no dues or fees for being an A.A. member, and the only requirement for membership is to have a desire to stop drinking ().

I have never experienced what it would be like to be a part of an AA meeting. The only time I have had seen or heard someone mention meetings for alcoholics has been TV shows and movies, which would portray these meeting as a circle of strangers just deliberating stories of their life and how this disease has changed them forever. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect. I felt intimidated and had a sense of nervousness, so I decided I would not go alone and brought a friend. My expectation upon entering this meeting was to see beat up people with bad hygiene and a homeless appearance. As a matter of fact, the expectations I had upon walking towards this place was that I was going to get hit on and even get kidnapped. As crazy as it

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

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,

I attended the Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meeting on Friday right after internship, which is located on 205 SW 23rd St, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I was a little bit shock after arriving to the location because the building was surrounded around residential homes, for a moment I thought I was lost. The meeting started promptly at 5:30pm for an hour and meets four days a week. The topic of the meeting was HALT which stand for hungry, along, and tired. Ordinarily, the guest speaker of the meeting is also a recovering alcoholic. He greeted everyone and passed out literature that was going to be discussed in the group.

Per my customary tradition of attending anything for the first time I arrived early to survey the environment as well as obtain a seat that would provide the most optimum observation vantage point. The alcoholics anonymous (AA) meeting I attended was held at the House of Disciples Life Recovery Center, a ministry of Wiseman Ministries. Interestingly enough, it used to be a funeral home. As I walked through the doors the first thing I noticed was a faint but distinct smell of burnt coffee, tobacco, and donuts. Making my way deeper into the meeting hall I located the source of the smell. After helping myself to a cup of java I walked over to a table sitting in front of chairs placed in a

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.

Alcoholics Anonymous began in 1935, on June 10. This date is known as the day that one the co-founders, Bob Smith, of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) reached sobriety (Gross, 2010). As Gross (2010) states, Bill Wilson, who was a newly sober alcoholic, met Smith and used the techniques, the 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Wilson used on himself to help cure Smith of