Alcoholics Anonymous Support Group

Group therapy has evolved so much that the participant are learning how to help themselves and others. Self-help groups are one of the most popular forms of group therapy. One of the most known self-help groups is Alcoholics Anonymous also known as A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international organization produced to assist alcoholics to recover and live alcohol free lives. It was founded by Bill Wilson and Robert Holbrook Smith in 1935. It is a program, complete with twelve steps and twelve traditions, that was put together to help addicts

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 purpose of this research paper was to attend two support group meetings and share my experiences. The meetings that were to be attended were an Alcoholics Anonymous

At the beginning of my training, I was hesitant to work with people struggling with addiction. However, at this point, I am excited to begin working with this population. The raw honesty presented in the group setting along with the anger at the possibility of losing a safe place created a dynamic I wanted to further explore. Research supports that individuals attending group therapy in a 12 step program format succeed if they have the proper support and motivation (Cite). The group dynamic demonstrated that recovery takes time and self-discovery, similar to other situations dealt with in therapy. Subsequently, by using my sense of self and humor with clients struggling with addiction, I can help them in their journey. Furthermore, the client needs to identify accountability at their own pace in the process and not when others dictate. This knowledge and the personalization of addiction will aid me in the future support of my

Before Al-Anon was placed into practice, Bill W. and Dr. Bob began meeting to build a foundation for individuals who were trying to recover from their alcohol addiction. Family groups were officially put into place in 1935 and that is when family members of alcoholics decided to accompany their loved ones to the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings. As these family members participated in the AA meetings they found it helpful to be able to discuss their unique positions they were in and enjoyed living by the AA’s Twelve Steps program. They believed that the twelve steps offered them a better chance to repair the hurt caused to the families of AA members as well as help them cope with life while their

Within the group, members base their foundation on the 12 traditions and build their homes/lives on the 12 principles steps Step three was frequently used within each meeting I attend and it states, “made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2004). These statements are believed that a person must be willing and able to live their lives according to God's plan. Snuggled in a less desirable neighborhood, the old run-down white house was home to a life-changing organization designed for addicts to assist other addicts to overcome drug and alcohol addiction. The Delta Group attendance fluctuated during the each of my four days of observation; regardless of the size, each session was a humble experience as I underestimate the knowledge I would gain from attending the meeting required to complete this

The treatment philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that of a 12-step program, additionally, the group caters to individuals who are recovering, or trying to recover from alcoholism. This group only focuses on alcohol abuse/misuse and not any other types of addiction. The 12-step program used by AA uses a person 's spirituality to focus their attention on their higher power and how they might draw strength from it. In the meeting that I attended, the participants concentrated on the first two steps of the 12-step program. The first step, admitting that the person is/was powerless over alcohol, opened my eyes due to the fact that I always had thought that the first step was admitting you have a problem. Although, they come to the same conclusion, the word powerless struck a chord because being powerless can leave you feeling worthless and weak. The second step, believing that a power greater than yourself will restore you to sanity, I feel was the absolute focus of this meeting. The participants read prayers and meditation passages before the meeting really got underway. I looked around at the faces in the room and I saw peace and acceptance on most faces when they were praying to their God to give them strength to abstain from alcohol for the day.

On Friday, June 5th, Megan Crews and I attended a community support group meeting at New Horizon Church of Christ. This meeting was a for teens and young adults that were experiencing issues of emotional abuse, substance abuse, sexual abuse, depression, co-dependency, and anything else that was causing them struggles. The Landing (what this group is called), is a daughter program of Celebrate Recovery, which has been helping people in different communities for 20 years. This collection of groups is faith based and helps the whole family, not just the individual experiencing the problem. It is set up as a fifty-two week program, based on principles that Jesus shared in the Sermon on the Mount. They use a 12-step program model using Jesus Christ as their focus and not psychological theory. There are over 20,000 programs in churches around the world. The programs have also had great success being used in the prison system. Since the beginning of these programs, many people have found peace and healing from their issues, hurts, and habits.

In his article "Why the Hostility Towards the 12-Steps " David Sack asserts that the misconceptions about 12-step programs prevents many people from recovering. Sack backs this claim up with the description of the seven most controversial misunderstanding of the program, and the truth about religion, powerlessness, meeting substitute dependence, cult, to many rules, idea the program does not work, and that it is for old men and loser. In order to help the reader to examine the misjudgments and the fundamentals of the 12-step programs, "by no means a perfect program"(par. 1), instead of prejudging them. Sack is writing to a new audience of Alcoholics who are looking for ways to recover from

Recently I had the unique opportunity of attending three support group meetings. I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and a Nar Anon meeting. Two of the meetings were open and one was closed. Please note that an open meeting is a meeting where the general public is allowed to attend and a closed meeting is designated for a specific group of people. This paper will explore my feelings and experiences during this experience.

Alcoholics anonymous is a support group that is a mutual “self-help group, organized through an international organization of recovering alcoholics that offers emotional support and a model of abstinence for people recovering from alcohol dependence using a 12-step approach” (Amato, Davoli, & Ferri 2009). The self-help group uses its 12-step approach through the idea that dependence is a spiritual and a medical disease (Amato, Davoli, and Ferri 2009). The meetings are reinforced through ritual and it starts with “introductions, storytelling, and reflections, so that participants need not contribute their own stories until they are ready someone else somewhere in the room will have something to share” (Beels 2007). In the room many slogans are

Substance abuse directly and indirectly impacts the lives of millions of people in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2013). The field of addiction treatment has worked to stop this through evidence-based practice (EBP) initiatives, which encourage recovery (SAMHSA, 2013). However, there are differing definitions of recovery (White, 2007) and in understanding addiction (Moyers & Miller, 1993). Because there are differing definitions associated with addiction and recovery, the addiction treatment field remains divided on certain topics (Cook, 1985). One topic of controversy is the use of Twelve Step Groups

Our group didn’t have a specific leader. The meeting was held at Young at Heart: Club Yana. The address is 111 Howes Street Port Orange, FL 32127 (386-761-3533). The date of the class was 7/8/15 at 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. There were approximately 15 attendees. The 12-Step concept of recovery has been used for other drugs as well. Participants benefit from a 12-Step program because they have support and if successful have abstinence of alcohol. The 12-Step program is free to addicts of alcohol and narcotics and other substances. The programs are scheduled throughout areas and meetings are frequently held during the week. An attendee may attend as many meetings as they would like, but more meetings and abstinence of alcohol is encouraged. If an attendee is suffering from an addiction of more than one substance, they could go to several meetings, not only one in particular. Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, and Alateen are groups for families and friends of the attendee that is in recovery. These groups provide free education and support.

The main purpose of Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.) is to help members keep an open mind on the subject and can stay sober. Using the 12 steps designed by A.A. assists people to break through their denial and to see the problems alcohol has caused in their lives. The Twelve Steps are the core of A.A’s program of recovery from alcoholism. They are based on the trial-and error experience of A.A’s early members and have worked for millions of alcoholics since then. In recent years, there are about 1.2 million people who belong to one of A.A.’s 55,000 meeting groups in the United States.

The Healing Through Christ program offers support groups to both people in addiction in addition to their family members involved. The population I served in the Healing Through Christ center was primarily women, with ages that ranged from twenty to sixty. I came in contact with many sisters, daughters, wives and mothers in search of healing from the trauma that they had faced, either from a loved ones addiction or from their own personal experiences. The community within each group was vastly different in terms of healing and knowledge about addiction. About half of each class had been going to group meetings for years, while the other had only been present for a couple weeks.