History of Organization
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio, and is a spiritual based organization with the sole purpose “to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety” threw fellowship. Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.) foundation is built on a 12 step program that involves taking 12 step that will guarantee your sobriety (according to A.A.) because you start the 12 steps but you never end, it is designed for you to consistently work the 12 steps for the rest of your life to remain sober. There are 12 traditions with the 12 steps and this is what A.A. has taught them as they go through the program. When attending an A.A. meeting there are no membership fees or dues to pay and
…show more content…
3. You must make a decision to turn your life over to God.
4. Make a moral and fearless inventory of oneself.
5. Admit exactly what you have done is wrong, to God, yourself and another human being.
6. Must be ready for God to remove all the defects of character from you life
7. Humble yourself and ask him to remove your shortcomings.
8. Write a list of individual you have harmed, and be willing to make amends to all of them for frogiveness.
9. Make direct amends to people, whenever possible, but not if it will injure them.
10. You must take personal inventory when we are wrong and admitted it.
11. Seek prayer and meditation in order to improve conscious, connecting with God and praying for knowledge and understanding of his will and for the power to carry it out.
12. Having a spiritual awakenings from the result of the steps, will carry the message to alcoholics as they practice these principles in all of their affairs. (A brief Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous, P-42, copyright 1972, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.)
The format for the 12 step meeting can be structured a little different to fit your needs but all must still adhere to the foundations of the 12 step program format for.
1. The meeting needs to be held in a quiet and uninterrupted place and fixed times to ensure consistency.
2. The person that is
When you start the program, you commit yourself to following a “12 step program” and attending 90
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.
Mostly all of the members of the meeting read a paragraph and then reflected on what step meant for them now, why the felt it was important, and/or anything else they wanted to say about it. I chose not to read aloud from the book when it was my turn because I felt a little uncomfortable. Not everyone chose to read aloud, so that helped me to feel more comfortable and not as out of place. There were a lot of repeated reflections about how the members felt like they had to be the one to take care of everything and everyone. They felt responsible for everyone’s actions and took responsibility if/when something went wrong. Also, there was discussion on how step ten has helped group members to realize that in order for them to be able to take care of anyone else, they had to be able to take care of themselves first. This statement was one that is really important. It made me think about how that concept is something that is always talked about in regards to being a social worker and how it can be applied to everyone. Another topic brought up during the reading of step ten was the pain and hurt of addiction. A couple of the women talked about how addiction is very hard, not just for the person who has the addiction, but for family and friends as well. They went on to say that for those who have not experienced it really have no idea how it could affect you, even when you are not the addict. Some of the women talked about how alcohol is all encompassing. When this was brought up, I noticed other people in the room nodding their heads in agreement. Additionally, a couple of the members discussed how much they have changed since coming to the meetings, specifically how step ten has helped them in their
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,
Step 3. Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
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.
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.
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.
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.
The two groups had many similarities and differences. Both groups established an open and accepting atmosphere. They both respected time by starting and ending on time. Both offered a physical item to represent different time frames of sobriety, as well, as acknowledge the seriousness and importance of being dedicated to the tenants of the program. Some of the differences were, the pace of the meeting, the depth of the conversations, the size, and the majority ages.
“Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.” AA is managed and run by recovering addicts. This provides an organic nature to the healing process for those struggling with alcoholism. Additionally, their structure promotes a level of openness and honesty which most have never seen. In my time with the Mountain View AA group I witnessed honesty, support, accountability, and celebration. These four elements combined create what I believe to be a powerful tool in the fight against addiction.
Once we recognize God’s true love for us and see the need of looking to Christ to change our hearts rather than trying to do it on our own, we see our need of repentance, which involves a change of direction, turning our back on previous intentions and actions, and seeking new direction in life. Instead of making excuses, blaming circumstances or others, repentance means taking full responsibility. King David, after committing murder and adultery appealed to Christ: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10). He accepted his guilt and asked for a new direction – from Christ.