Reflection Paper On Mutual Help Group

Many participants engaged the group with stories of overcoming addiction or being sexually molested by family members as reasons behind their addiction. However all of their stories were compelling and empowering to the group of individuals who have seemed to endure some of the same sentiments as their fellow group mate. It appeared as if the individuals in the group even though that were court ordered appeared to be extremely engaged and very involved during the meetings. It seemed as though most who attended found peace and solice from the group during the NA meetings. As it stated by Krentzman, Robinson, Moore, et.al (2010), client’s state that their top two reasons for attending NA meetings were to promote recovery/ sobriety and to find support acceptance and friendships. One thing that I learned from the NA group that just as in AA, family support deems to be an important function on the perseverance of an addict and that the participation and involvement of family is detrimental in the treatment process for the addicts. In several of our readings many of the passages discussed the effects of family systems support as it pertains to substance abusers chemical addiction. The passages described the family system as being a detrimental part of the treatment process as well as for the treatment of the family as well. According to past studies, family involvement has aided clients in

The members in the group were very inviting and open with their mission. The programs presentation was very interesting and helpful to each person in attendant. Although the meeting lasted one hour and thirty minutes it seems to help each individual deal with their addiction at little better. The leader of the meeting was Kathy; the meeting had about 15 attendants. The members where very active in following the guidelines and standards of the meeting, these guidelines and standards help the members accept their addictions and the process of healing. The 12 steps to recovery and sobriety include honesty, faith, surrender, soul searching, integrity, acceptance, humility, willingness, forgiveness, maintenance, making contact and service. These steps are a part of the healing and recovery process with any addiction behavior. Honesty, integrity and faith are three of the most important factor in the 12 step program. When a person has an addiction it requires them to truly assess where they are with the addition and to seek a higher power for strength (Medical News Today,

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

A 12 step group enhances recovery in two ways. Firstly, it offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol,

The NA meeting is a support group consisting of men and women that are recovering addicts who meet regularly to stay clean. The NA group practices twelve-steps of NA. These support groups offer social and psychological support for many years following abstinence from drugs. Members will learn social and prevention skills that will decrease the risk of relapsing (Keene, 2001). Twelve Step programs are free programs as a supplement to treatment and are associated with positive outcomes to maintain sobriety. Hence the reason providers encourage twelve-step program

The participants were looking for help, which it created some confusing thoughts; I thought AA meetings were mandatory for all participants. It also made me realize with all the brief stories how alcohol is an enormous concern in our society, however our society has normalized those concern and convert the negative impact of alcohol into something positive. It drive me to think that 12 steps program work, and it should be part of a treatment. After, the meetings that I attended; I feel the 12-step program will work if professionals in the Human Services area introduce the program on a positive manner. It may be challenging because of the religious portion for some cases, however this may introduce the participant’s new ways to cope with the struggle of alcoholism. At the same time, the main benefits for the client will be abstinence and support. The abstinence is a continuous process and through the meetings clients will be able to keep the abstinence from alcohol or other drugs. Conclusively, there was an environment of hope in the meeting. During, the meeting one of the participants was a new member. He described how alcohol destroyed his family and he is trying to get his family back, however his wife does not want to come back with him and a divorce petition was completed. This particular participant found in the 12 step meeting comfort and support from his peers. Besides, the comfort the participant

Most of these people had families, friends and a very successful career. They had what I eventually would like to have and yet their lives collapsed when they started using alcohol as their escape route for stress. These stresses were due to a loss of a family member, their jobs or just their everyday lives. Some of them were young women, who looked as what I would call normal and this made me think to myself many times during the meeting that I could easily be one of those people. I had felt stress before and know how difficult it can be handle without falling into a bad habit. Even though their addiction had no excuse in my eyes and I believed it was wrong, I now felt sympathetic towards them instead of judgmental. I was able to actually understand what they were going through and admire their strength for asking for

I chose the group as an alternative to an addiction group that had a general idea similar to AA. When the group was canceled for the evening, I was offered to observe the 12Stone Care grief group as a second choice, held at the same time on November 16th. The 12Stone Care grief group provided valuable support to members and non-members of the church alike, and the sole requirement was to have lost a loved one. L.H., the widowed leader of the group, lost her husband to cancer ten years ago and started the semester-long grief group in 2013 in order to encourage others who are or have been in the grieving process (L.H., personal communication, November 16, 2015). Her goal in 12Stone Care is a “prayer is that [one] will find freedom from [their] struggles and healing in Christ” (12Stone Church,

As being a family support attendee for my stepfather, the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) support group, this group main focus is to stay clean from drugs. The members of NA learn and expressed ways on coping, to staying away from drugs, and live a drug-free life with the help of their 12 Step Program. When present at the meeting, the support group was on Step Seven, reading about asking God to remove their shortcomings. Even though the support group is near the end of reading and using the 12 Step Program as part of their lives, an individual wanting to go into recovery is an attempt in making a change. However, the goal is to stay clean and away from drug to keep from having a relapse to alcohol and substance use. An onset to alcohol and substance

I chose to attend the Alcoholic Anonymous meeting at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church on the north side of Chicago. I chose to visit a church because I wanted to see if there was a religious aspect thrown into the session. The name of the session was called Big Book Stop Study. This session occurs every Monday at 7:00pm, as an open meeting. The meeting lasted for an hour. The session was led by three members, Kyle, Tamara, and Melissa. There was fourteen participants within the group. I was very apprehensive about attending a meeting because I didn’t want to be seen as an alcoholic. For that very reason, I understand how hard it may be for some to admit to their alcoholism, due to the negative connotation that comes with the name. To some, that may seem like a short span of time. However, upon visiting this particular session I saw progression in each participant. I was very pleased with what I witnessed as a visitor.

The second meeting that I attended was an Alcohol Anonymous. The occasion of this meeting was Breath of Fresh Air that took place at 7:30 pm on Thursday at 7046 Pershing Ct. - Functional

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

As social workers, we want to learn about how to develop a mutual aid group together. Our group chose to do this in a mutual aid group focused on managing stress, as well as recording group process and development. This group analysis and reflection paper will be based on the description of the participants as well as identifying, describing, and explaining the analyzing of the group processes and key concepts. Included will also be a facilitator’s reflection from my behalf of the third session of the mutual aid group.

A mutual aid group is a group of people with similar challenges, helping one another to overcome the obstacles they each face and become a system of support for one another. This mutual aid group is composed of five female members of a Social Work 420 course at St. Augustine College in Chicago. The topic of the group is self identity. This group analysis and reflection paper provide a review of the mutual aid process as it relates to a mutual aid group and examines and reflect on a group session led by the author.

In the grief support group I co-lead with a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and supervised by a Master of Social Work I learned how to facilitate a meeting. The LPCC taught me the person-centered approach and the social worker taught me to monitor client’s progression of goals. She allowed me to take lead, to link members together by similarities they share, and to give members homework. The LPCC believed in self-disclosure, she demonstrated this for me in a fantastic manner the social worker I was with did as well. Teaching me that it is great to self-disclose when appropriate and when it will benefit the progression of the group or for them to feel comfortable trusting the leader. In my group sessions I did not deem self-disclosure appropriate to use. How I will translate this is to be aware of my clients, to ask them what goals they hope to achieve, and for them to keep journals of progress. I will create a safe atmosphere for clients to speak, provide affirmation, and help clients set and maintain goals.