Finding A Meeting At Fit My Schedule

Going to these kinds of meetings is something that is quite simple. You find out where and you just show up when it is convenient to you. There's no signing in, you don’t have to pay anything, or make appointments. There are no meddling questions, no commitments. Your confidentiality and privacy will be appreciated. You won’t be met with a mandate to come back to any meeting. You can go to multiple or as little as you wish. Many have no idea what to expect in their first meeting. For some the idea can be quite intimidating, so you will be relieved to find that your fears will be unwarranted. AA meetings are stress-free, welcoming and open.

I chose to visit an Alcoholics Anonymous group for my Understanding Group Dynamics project. I went on March 20th 2016, to an open discussion group titled Pass it On Group for Beginners that are Living Sober. It was held at the First Congregational Church at 14 Brookside Road in Darien, CT 06854 at 6:15 p.m.. I chose to go to this group as I felt it was a group that I could most strongly connect to, as I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been cold turkey for two years now. I choose to live a sober life as the hangovers, pain that myself and loved ones endured and the constant need to escape from reality was taking over my existence. Going to this group reminded me that I am not alone in this journey of recovery and in the journey of figuring out how to live life sober with my friends, family and strangers drinking around me. The group was friendly and one that when you first enter, they make sure that you are there for the right reasons as confidentiality is important. Then right after, they welcome you with open arms and if you choose to just sit and listen that is fine, but I am a vocal person and I spoke and applauded. I am glad that we got to do this assignment, for I think without I would have never gone to an AA group meeting. I would have kept on my journey by myself and just praying when times got hard, now I have people I can reach out to.

I decided to attend a meeting based first (and almost solely) on convenience of the location. So I decided to attend a meeting right here in Batavia. The “Batavia 12 & 12” at the Holy Trinity Church down on 6th & Wood St. They hold meeting on Mondays around 11:00am. The main focus is to follow the 12 steps in order and work on them in a more traditional fashion. They do have the big book, but follow it more in a step by step focus. However karma decided to rear its head and make it a Closed Meeting, meaning that it is not as open to the public to sit on and they only allow members who are coming with a problem related to alcohol. So at first I was turned away but, I was lucky enough to know a person

The other two people at the meeting declined to speak. They said they just wanted to listen. During the rest of the meeting, Andy spoke more about Step 12 and how to get to that step. Next was another prayer while everyone joined hands. The meeting ended at 1:10pm.

The first member stated that the meetings are what keep him going. When he runs into a problem he prays to God, who is his higher power. He says that when he prays and

The meeting I attended took place in Bothell on a weeknight at 7:00 pm in the evening. The meeting was held in a local church and there were 17 people in attendance, excluding myself. Among the 17 people, there were 6 women and 11 men. The average attendee was approximately between the ages of 40-50, 4 people were under the age of 30, and two were somewhere around 60. Of the 17 people, 16 were white and one woman was of an Asian-American descent.

The meeting was held in a large sanctuary and there were around 200 people in attendance of all different ages and races. The children’s ministry that accompanys Celebrate Recovery was also attending the main service so members ranged from elementary school age to around eighty years old. They have services for middle school and

Obesity within adults is a prevalent problem in the United States, with over 51% of all adults suffering from obesity by the year 2030 (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity, or the state of being excessively overweight, is sometimes a result from what is known as food addiction. Much like an addiction to a substance, to be addicted to food is to constantly crave a certain food item (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity and food addiction tend to coincide with each other. That coexistence is shown primarily in the documentary Super Size Me, in which director Morgan Spurlock focuses on the way fast food and food addiction affect the human body.

I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting at the Great Bridge United Methodist Church, in Chesapeake, VA. This was an open meeting held at 0730, entitled; Ready, Willing & Able. This meeting had a variety of individuals in attendance. After the meeting was started, today’s agenda was to read a quote from a book titled, Living Sober, distributed by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Each person in the room was asked to comment about the quote or “pass”. There were 18 people in attendance and the meeting lasted 60 minutes. Each person was allowed to respond to the quote for 2-3 minutes. Everyone was given chance to speak, that wanted to. Some of the participants that were engaged spoke a lot more than others.

Over the weekend, I attended an Overeaters Anonymous meeting at the Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills. This meeting was open to OA members and non-OA visitors. Each meeting is composed with special topics such as, a book study, lifeline, speaker, or newcomer’s stories have a defined topic of discussion. However, these meeting have certain bylaws that are strictly followed, which is the only requirement for OA membership and that is the desire to stop eating compulsively. Each attending member is asked to respect the meeting’s group conscience and give a voice to any person who has the desire to stop their addiction of overeating.

A woman led the group for her first time. Next to her sat the secretary who helped her out. She read some rules about the group and asked if there were new members. I raised my hand and explained that I was a MFT student and that I had come to observe the meeting. Everyone welcomed me and were very friendly and supportive. Others introduced themselves and several were from out of town. Baskets were passed around for those who wanted to donate. In the rules, it states that there were no dues or fees for AA membership, but that each AA group was self-supporting through their own contributions. Most people donated in a dollar or two.

I took this opportunity to understand my unhealthy habits and transform my behavior. In my Wellness Recovery Action Plan, the information brought light to the obstacles and how to overcome issues. After filling out the Schedule of Recent Experience (Wieitan et al., 2009) and Tactics for Coping with Stress (Weitian et al., 2009), it was a shock how much I put my body through. A finalized copy of my results can be observed in Appendix A, and the results of the Schedule of Recent Experience (Weitian et al., 2009) can be viewed in Appendix B. In the outcome, I conducted coping mechanisms such as therapy, exercise, and nutrition. Nutrition has been a challenge as a waitress and full-time student. I am always around food at work that led to overeating.

From the information I gathered online I now know that the meeting I went to was an open

The meeting began with some readings. I read on the AA Promises which I thought was a waste of time. In my opinion I felt like they should have left the readings for

All of the members of this group seem very friendly and easy going. I was a little unsure about going to this meeting. A friend who is a member had invited me after I told her my assignment, and also since she knows about some of the struggle I face with my husband’s history of compulsive (not substance abuse) behavior. I really didn’t know what to expect.