Personal Narrative: My Narcotic Anonymous Meeting

The Narcotics Anonymous meeting which I attended was named 7 Days of NA which was located on 1212 North Wolfe Street at an organization called Dee’s Place. Just as the Alcoholic Anonymous meeting previously attended, the location appeared to be in a covert and quiet place to hold a support group. We entered through the rear entrance, which seemed to be staged that way to secure participants identity. As before at the last support group I attended, I searched around the room to see again, a 12 steps guide posted on the wall, a relatively thick NA ‘Basic Text’ textbook on the desk of the facilitator and this

went to was located in Penfield, NY at 1601 Jackson Road, area code 14526. It was called the

For the self-help meeting in regards for my reaction paper, I attended a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting. NA is a nonprofit, community-based, 12-step recovery organization for recovering drug addicts (Bowens, 2011, p. 1). The meeting I attended took place outside on a Saturday afternoon at Magnolia Park in Garden Grove, California. It is an open-group tag meeting, where one speaker will tag another person to share and welcome for anyone to attend. It was very easy to locate the meeting, as it was right in front of the park’s only parking lot with members sitting in a circle on benches and lawn chairs. The meeting started at 12:00pm and ended around 1:30pm.

This paper is a reflective report of the authors’ personal observations, thoughts, and experiences from attending one of the ‘Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meetings’ at Burnaby Fellowship Centre Society. It is a drop-in social club for recovering alcoholics and addicts where its members describe their experiences with alcohol or drug addiction, how they came to the society, and how their lives have changed as a result of attending the program. Burnaby Fellowship Centre Society is part of the AA group which is a self-supporting and independent body. Membership is open to anyone who wants to recover from addictions and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop the addictions. The main purpose of the AA meetings is to help its members

Lastly, the chairperson recounted her own personal story with addiction. I was surprised how the group handled her story in a positive way. I noticed at times members laughed and even smiled and others making brief supporting comments. Rather than judge the events of her life, the group members seemed to connect in a personal way. I liked how the meeting was honest and open. Afterwards different members of the meeting read brief AA literature, "How it Works," the "Twelve Traditions" and "The Promises." I listened to each of them very closely

“De aqui soy,” is the name of the group that I visited last week. This group is located on pacific coast high way in Wilmington, CA. The duration of the meeting is 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Last Thursday round 8:00 pm, I decided to attend NA meeting. (Narcotics Anonymous) I thought that the time was the same like AA meetings. (Alcoholics Anonymous) However, when I arrived to NA, the meeting was on. With respect, I set myself in one of the empty sits in the back of the room. There were 11 people in the meeting. All of them were Latinos or Spanish speakers. The ages were mix from 21 to 60, I think. The history of substance was variable depending the person. They talked about cocaine, crystal, marijuana, crack, etc…

The first meeting that I attended was a Narcotic Anonymous meeting. The meeting time was 7pm-8pm on September 13, 2016. The group was made up of 12 individuals, 4 females and 8 males. The overall feeling of the group illustrated positive energy. Each person gave the perception that they truly wanted as well as needed to be there. I did observe that most of the participants depicted a very high anxiety level based on their body language and the tone in their voices. There were no “new comers”, which is the terminology used for a person who is new to the world of Narcotic Anonymous. The dynamics of the group, included persons who were in recovery as well as persons whose addiction is still active.

Narcotics Anonymous is a support group using the same principles as Alcoholics Anonymous but designed for individuals addicted to narcotics (Fortinash & Holoday Worret, 2012). The programs emphasize both personal responsibility and mutual accountability by means of a social model recovery program which is peer-driven. Recovery Kentucky utilizes care and change as their foundation for the peer-driven model. Participants are often reminded the program is not just a pit stop for drug and alcohol use but a commitment to change the whole body, mind and spirit. They are required to attend community meetings and complete a twelve step program where the client will acknowledge the problem, recognize a solution and develop a plan of action that will support the ultimate goal of sobriety (MIC Program Description, n.d.).

For this assignment, I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Ala-Anon meeting, Narcotics Anonymous meeting, and a Nar-Anon meeting. The Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was in Greensboro titled “Back to Reality”. It was located at a fellowship club. The Ala-Anon meeting was located at Centertary United Methodist Church in Greensboro. The Narcotics Anonymous meeting was located at Saint James Presbyterian Church and the Nar-Anon meeting was held at Saint Johns United Methodist Church which was in Greensboro as well.

I attended the Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meeting on Friday right after internship, which is located on 205 SW 23rd St, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I was a little bit shock after arriving to the location because the building was surrounded around residential homes, for a moment I thought I was lost. The meeting started promptly at 5:30pm for an hour and meets four days a week. The topic of the meeting was HALT which stand for hungry, along, and tired. Ordinarily, the guest speaker of the meeting is also a recovering alcoholic. He greeted everyone and passed out literature that was going to be discussed in the group.

Per my customary tradition of attending anything for the first time I arrived early to survey the environment as well as obtain a seat that would provide the most optimum observation vantage point. The alcoholics anonymous (AA) meeting I attended was held at the House of Disciples Life Recovery Center, a ministry of Wiseman Ministries. Interestingly enough, it used to be a funeral home. As I walked through the doors the first thing I noticed was a faint but distinct smell of burnt coffee, tobacco, and donuts. Making my way deeper into the meeting hall I located the source of the smell. After helping myself to a cup of java I walked over to a table sitting in front of chairs placed in a

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

Last night, I attended a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. This was not quite a new experience for me, be my late father was an alcoholic and narcotics addict that died of cirrhosis later on in my life this is why I identified myself with them. Narcotics Anonymous is a fraternity or association where there a recuperating addicts and their main purpose is stay clean. Consequently, the member of this fraternity were well-groomed, yesterday was ice cream sticks day where they had a keyword written on a little piece of paper, such as “perseverance”. Anyone can be a narcotics or alcohol user.

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

The meeting had a structure; they followed their agenda strictly. In the beginning of the meeting everyone went around and introduced them selves and said why there were there. I said that I was a student and was there to observe. After the introductions there was several readings that were handed out and asked to be read aloud, some of the reading were “Why are we Here”, “Who is an Addict?”, and “We do Recover”. After the readings they handed out key chains to anyone that has reached a specific time of sobriety. The leader of the group got his 9 mouths key chain. Then there were a few more readings, after the reading the floor was open to anyone who wanted to say anything. Then the meeting was over.