Alcoholics Anonymous Field Visit Report Essay

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 Alcoholic Anonymous meetings that I attended were both located in Chandler Arizona. The first meeting I attended was on Thursday May 28 at 1 pm, it was held at Chandler Presbyterian Church the address, 1500 W Germans Rd. Chandler, Arizona 85286. The second meeting that I attended was held on May 29, 2015 at 11 am it was located at a place called the Get It Together Hall, address 393 W Warner Rd. Chandler, Arizona 85224. The first meeting that I attended had more males than females and the average age was about 45-50. The second meeting had an equal mix of males and females and the members appeared much younger, the average age was probably 25-45. Both meeting were set up pretty much the same, using an open forum. The meetings would began with one of the members reciting the Alcoholic Anonymous pledge. Then other members would read announcements about the meeting and go over important rules for the members to follow.

As you read the chapter, you easily feel a sense of acceptance, support and hope through the Alcoholics Anonymous community. It would seem as if this chapter was designed to target the hopeless and the downtrodden in an attempt to say, we are here for you and we recognize this is hard, but there is help out there. Chapter two also talks about how religion has a strong foundation in Alcoholics Anonymous and in the road to recovery. Yet the writers tell the reader even though there is a strong religious background, you do not need to follow one specific background to receive support or assistance. What in found fascinating from the reading, was a comment about how members of Alcoholics Anonymous are comparable to passengers who have been shipwrecked and are now coming to be rescued. This reference truly made me feel how massive and formidable an individual’s feeling of loss and

After the preamble, the Twelve Steps were recited by an AA member. These steps are basically what the members live by to become and remain sober. The first step is: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable. This step is the hardest because we all live in denial when it comes to admitting our wrongdoings to others. It is even harder when it is something that we like to do.

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 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,

Alcoholics Anonymous is a group composed of men and women who want to stop drinking and help each other stay on the path towards sobriety. They are not affiliated with any other organization, denomination, or institution and the only requirement for membership is the desire to stop drinking (Fisher & Harrison, 2013). They meet at least once a week, if not more to support one another and to share their experiences, struggles, and successes.

Alcoholics Anonymous relies on a twelve step base towards recovery. These 12 steps have a spiritual background towards them but the founders encourage alcoholics to take what they wants from these steps that will help them and leave the rest. These 12 steps include:

This paper will try to explain the different views of how and why Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs are accepted and rejected as effective tools in treating alcoholism and other addictions. The articles reviewed contradict the others’ opinion. First, we see that supporting the 12-step programs with a degree of involvement both the doctor and patient will see better results in treating the addiction. The second view will show that 12-step programs can be used as “self-help” treatment and must be used in conjunction with other forms of rehabilitation. When AA and other 12-step programs are not used with other forms of treatment, the patient tends to become codependent on the group.

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)

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.

This field site is ideal because it’s a primary source, with options for interviews, observations, and interaction. There is also the option to simply observe and take notes on what the speakers are saying, the members’ reactions to the speakers, and the side conversations about their lives. This data is better than what can be found by searching on the internet or through books because it is first-hand accounts of real alcoholics’ lives. By experiencing these people’s conversations, this project will be unavoidably accurate with its data, and have a sense of reality involved as well. An example of a conversation from the first field site visit involved a middle-aged woman named Michelle and two other men talking about their families. Michelle, who’s a single mom of two kids, 18 and 20, was comforting one of her AA friends regarding his own family problems. This was the first taste of how AA works. It’s not only a place for alcoholics to get and

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.

Alcohol Anonymous was founded in 1935 and offers a twelve step program to help individuals kick the addiction. Fellowshipping with other alcoholics, sharing troubles of the addiction, and having a sponsor has shown to help addicts in their recovery process. Most counseling treatment centers focus on teaching a healthier lifestyle, overlooking the importance of the socioeconomic structure (Nikelly, A., 1994).