Alcoholics Anonymous Group AA Meeting

I did not wish to interrupt the natural flow of the meeting with my presence. However, that is exactly what occurred highlighting to me a duality in why AA can be both helpful and harmful depending ton the individual. One member spoke during the open testimony about his desire to only attend meetings with people that have 20 plus years of sobriety because he finds a newcomer to be distrustful to his experience in the group. During his five-minute monologue, it became clear to myself and other group members that he did not appreciate me observing his meeting. As other members spoke after him, he became increasingly agitated in his movements. When the group paused to collect the donations, he left the meeting and did not return. That experience highlighted the negative aspects of AA because the open honesty could be damaging or discouraging to newcomers. I tried to imagine myself a newcomer to AA, seeking treatment for something that I may not fully understand myself. After hearing his dismissal of newcomers and everyone under 20 years sobriety that feeling of “otherness” in a newcomer could push them to not return. Therefore eliminating the AA support for

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 ().

The Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting that I attended was held at the Alcoholics Alana Club in Anaheim, California on Thursday. The meeting started at 7:30 in the evening, though many members gathered earlier to smoke and mingle outside. The members were a mix of Caucasian and Hispanic individuals that ranged from early 20s to late 60s. They seemed to be over lower socioeconomic status (SES), and the majority of them had tattoos and piercings. This particular meeting was a speaker meeting, so the meeting began with the leader welcoming everyone and announcing the people visiting from other states, as well as people who shared that this was their first meeting. He then called up a couple people to read certain chapters of the AA book. Another individual then volunteered to be the ‘10 minute speaker’, and briefly shared his story and how the 12 steps helped guide his recovery. The treasurer then passed around a donation basket and handed out sobriety chips, and a 10 minute break followed. After the break the guest speaker shared his story for the next half an

My feelings addiction prior to attending these meetings and taking this course were that people were addicts because they chose to be. I always looked at alcohol addiction as a choice rather than the disease that it really is. I think because of my view on addiction, it caused me to lack sympathy when it came to this particular population. After attending just these two meetings and hearing so many stories about alcoholics recovering from their disease, it definitely made me more empathetic because I now realize addiction is something that these people can’t control.

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

In the United States, there are many support groups and programs available to individuals seeking recovery from hardships, addictions, or struggles. Members with similar experiences meet together to encourage, advise, and provide support for one another in order to promote recovery. One well-known support group, Alcoholics Anonymous, is a 12-step program – a support group that applies a series of 12 steps in order to achieve recovery. 12-step programs and support groups can be spotted almost anywhere, including at churches, medical facilities, as well as in schools. AA’s 12-step program and 12Stone Care’s non-12-step grief group are examples of groups that provide services to individuals and offer support for those who are taking steps towards

Attending the AA meeting as a non-member, was a learning experience. I was able to learn the group purpose and goals. For example the group’s purpose was to, help maintain group member’s sobriety and helping other alcoholics achieve recovery. Also the purpose of AA is to serve as a resource to other alcoholics, promote additional knowledge, and provide further services to the alcoholics. Some goals of the group were, monitor their drinking, completely remove alcohol out of their life, support system, and the members also stated how the group is changing them for the better.

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

I attended an AA meeting held at the St. Stephens Catholic Church in El Paso, Texas. I was a little apprehensive at first because I have never attended a meeting such as this and didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure where to go, so I went to the office to ask for directions. The woman sitting at the desk walked me over to the meeting room where I was greeted by an older gentleman. He welcomed me in and offered me some coffee and a snack, as I walked in I noticed that there were three other older gentlemen sitting at a table talking. I began to feel uncomfortable and wondered if there would be any women attending the group. I was invited to sit down and was handed a small book, which looked like a bible, and a coin. The man explained that the book of Alcoholics Anonymous which is commonly known as the “Big Book” provides information about Alcoholics Anonymous, how it works, the story of how it came into being, information about alcoholism, a listing of phone numbers to groups in other states and

Today, “alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States” (NCADD Staff, 2017). According to the National Council on Alcohol Drug and Dependance, “17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence” (NCADD Staff, 2017). To cope with this mass issue, several self-help programs has evolved. Perhaps the most well known and most accepted program is AA. AA stands for Alcohol Anonymous. This global program is designed for men and women who have problems with drinking alcohol, alcohol abuse or dependence. The association is accepting of all individuals regardless of age, race or other distinguishing factors, and hopes to help those who wish to resolve their drinking issues.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Noteworthy, AA celebrated their initial start date on June 10, 2015, citing the derivation of the self-help support group as June 10, 1935 (Shamra & Branscum, 2010). Alcoholics Anonymous is a substantially influential group considering that they acted in changing the public’s perception of alcohol addiction from being a sin to alcohol addiction actually being a disease (Tavris, 2014). There are more than two million members involved with AA universally, and the typical duration of sobriety for these members is greater than seven years (Sifers & Peltz, 2013). A major benefit of AA is the fact that the programs popularity allows widespread accessibility that individuals have the opportunity to access in the United States and abroad during a diverse amount of time intervals (Shamra & Branscum, 2010). In addition, another benefit of AA membership is that the cost of membership is free; AA requires no financial support from its members (Galanter, 2014). Moreover, AA gains its support by receiving charitable donations from its members and other supporters (Sharma & Branscum, 2010).