Critical Analysis Self

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.

Cleaning up down South: supermarkets, ethical trade and African horticulture is a piece by Susanne Freidberg published in Social and Cultural Geography journal in 2003 (Freidberg, 2003). Susanne Friedberg holds PhD from UC Berkely and is a Professor of Geography in Darmouth College, New Hampshire (“Susanne Freidberg,” n.d.). In the article the author argues that the ethical standards have become fetishised. The UK supermarkets compliance with such standards edges on paranoia. It does not mean that the supermarkets care about these standards from moral point of view but that the compliance is driven by fear of bad

The group prayed after reviewing the guidelines. Then, a participant of the group proceeded to read the “how it works” from the AA book. Afterwards, another member read the 12 traditions. Two participants shared their experience with Alcoholism while others provided reflections and support. The facilitator informed me that each meeting two participants share. After the two participants shared, the AA meeting ended with another prayer. This paper will talk about my observations and reactions attending the AA meeting, and how attending the meeting will inform my future work as a clinician. The purpose of this paper is to present my personal experience of an AA meeting, and how I plan to grow as a therapist from that

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

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

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

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

My grandfather was an alcoholic. He drank from the moment he rose out of bed until he passed out in the evening. He battled with this disease for many years. Drinking alcohol was like breathing air, it was his daily routine until the day he passed away.. Alcoholism took his life at the age of 65. I loved my grandfather; he was a very caring and loving man. In fact, at one point he was an electrical engineer, he lost his job when alcohol took command of his every waking moment. I chose to attend an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting, because I wanted to gain an understanding of the program, in hopes to increase my understanding of the struggles my grandfather went through. This would be my first AA meeting. This particular AA group is called, The Spring Forest Recovery Group, they meet every Sunday at 7:00 pm. It is located at 4015 Spring Forest Road, Raleigh, North Carolina. Every 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays they have their speaker meeting. Every 2nd & 4th Sunday they have their big book study. This past Sunday was their big book study. Everyone had his or her blue books, titled Alcoholics Anonymous. I walked in sat down and listened carefully as the 12-steps to recovery were being read out loud. The room was still except for the words that bounced and echoed throughout the room. The room is set cafeteria style, 8-foot tables and white chairs filled the room with rows of 4. Group is a mix of multicultural members, with a common problem or

When I walked into the meeting, I was a little apprehensive. It was only a small group of about ten people, which was held at a local hospital. Knowing that I had to explain I was there to observe as a student studying social work, I was worried that the participants would hold back from their real behaviors in the group and that they would be cold to me. However, that assumption could not have been farther from the truth. All my apprehension flew out the window, as the members of the small group all welcomed me with open arms. Apparently, these were regulars. Most in the group attended every meeting, and continued to use the support of the group to deal with the continuous chaos and trauma of living with an addict. I was welcomed to sit and observe the behavior of the individual members of the group express their grief, fear, and

2) Learn coping skills: A client may learn skills that will help them from doing the same thing that contributed to their addiction. They may learn that continuing to attend meetings, meditation, exercising and in some cases medicine may avert them form using drugs again.

AA meetings are something I am all to familiar with. My dad has a drinking problem and all my life it’s been something thats affected not only himself but our family. Nine months ago I would have never thought I would ever be sitting in a one of these meetings because I knew I would never allow alcohol to take my life in the direction it took my fathers. When my dad hit rock bottom I was able to get him the help he has needed the majority of his life, he finally checked himself into rehab. This was huge, this was the first step in the right direction and I would do my best to be there for him every step of the way. He had to attend meetings throughout the week and I did my best to attend all the ones I could. Before the first meeting I attended I was a little nervous even knowing I was not going to have to say or do anything. I thought they’d

I've been working in this field for the past 10 years and I have referred clients to an AA/NA meetings many many times. I'm not in recovery and so it never occurred to me to attend one myself. What I know about those meetings are either from coworkers, from clients that I've worked with and also from school and just reading about it. When the assignment was given I was excited about the opportunity to be able to learn more personally how it feels to attend a meeting.

When I had first read about this assignment, I was a little anxious to go to these meetings. mostly because I did not want to run into anyone that I had gone to high school, and since I am from a relatively quaint town, I knew that could be a possibility. However, the first meeting I had chosen to go visit was an alcoholics anonymous meeting that surprisingly was being held at my former high school. I had arrived early to settle into the back to make sure I would just observe and not disrupt the meeting. When it had started I was shocked that they started off by praying, I was not sure if all of them were from different religions. However, after I had read more into my readings it made sense to me why they had started off the meeting with a

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

Considering myself to be an intelligent human being I am going to explain my thought process and how I made decisions before the reading of Critical Thinking. A personal problem arises in my life. I first look at where it came from and make sure I know the source of where it came from. If it is a negative problem I recount in my mind if we have been around this mountain before determining what type of response they will receive from me. If it is a new issue I will try to handle it where both parties will be in a win win situation. If nothing can be resolved, then I do not want to try due to fear of being rejected and failing.