The Chair Person And One Group Member

For example, have you ever had to sit through a board meeting or perhaps just a gathering with a

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 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 AA meeting I attended was an open speaker (OS), which meant that the majority of the time was spent listening to a particular member give a testimony of their journey with alcohol. As I sat, I had no idea what I was going to expect which made me nervous. There was a woman introducing herself in front of everyone who I learned was the meeting chairperson for that day. As the meeting began, the chair asked if anyone was attending AA for the first time. A few raised their hands; I was not one of them. I was too intimidated to introduce myself and speak. The chairperson then read the AA Preamble and led a group prayer which the majority of the people recited. At this point, I felt like an outcast since I did not know the words to the prayer.

The only Alcoholics Anonymous meeting I attend was located at a fellowship hall. There was plenty of space available and it proved to be a good setting for the meeting. There were around thirty to forty people in attendance

I met with Christine, an acquaintance I know through members of a twelve step program. We met for about 20 minutes over coffee. As we spoke, I asked the questions that I prepared,

I attended the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting held at the Westhampton United Methodists Church, 6100 Patterson Ave, 23226, which is 3.8 miles away from my home. The meeting started at 7:30pm and was structured as an open meeting that welcomed beginners. I utilized www.aarichmond.org website to search for AA meetings in the Richmond Area. There were about 30-40 meetings offered a day within a 15-mile radius of my home zip code. I selected the RVA YPG because I assumed Y in YPG stood for youth or something related to young people. Then I researched it and found one possible meaning for the acronym was Young Planners Group. I was interested in attending the YPG meeting because I am always fascinated with the progress

My last observation session began with the group leader introducing all members present. She also announced to the group that this was my last time attending. This stage of the sessions was supposed to be more intense because this was a 6 week program. The group leader was going to be more of a facilitator during this process allowing the

So I attended the AA (alcoholic anonymous) meeting of a group called Choices Group from the KCB club on November 13th, 2015 at 2:30 PM. This AA meeting was held at the location of 5715 W. Alexander Rd.//Leon Ave. Although they meet everyday, this was the best day for my schedule. What I liked is that right away, I got in touch with the meeting organizer named Laura and she was more then willing to let me sit in in one of the meetings. Even over the phone I could feel that she was a nice person and when I met her I was not wrong. She has purple hair and such a bubbly personality. For starters, I always thought everyone would sit around in a circle but that was not the case in this meeting. There were tables where people can sit as well as some back chairs with no tables. When I arrived, Laura told me to sit in the back and when we go over people’s names to say that I was a visitor, that unfortunately never happened. It was around 2:27 PM and there was roughly 10 people there. As it got closer to 2:30 PM a bus showed up and that is when the rest of the people showed up. Roughly 45 people were there and the meeting started.

Walking into an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting I did not know what to expect. I have never been in a room with so many people who were desperate to stay sober or even become sober. Individuals that are trying to stay sober realized that life is worth living, and they are deserving of a fresh start on life because of the AA meetings. Some people have been sober for a long time (over ten years) and still attend AA meetings. There were people from different ages, gender, and race all in one room. They were people who worked a blue collar job, businessmen and women, people that retired. Each any every one of them had one thing in common, substance addiction. Most of the people at the AA meeting were alcoholic, some addicted, and others introduce

Experiencing an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting was something quite unlike any of my previous experiences. Before I had entered the small room packed with people from wall to wall, my thoughts were soaring. They drifted from “this is most likely going to be extremely scary” to “how am I supposed to face these people who are suffering so badly, as if it’s no big deal.” I expected the stereotypical scene: small gathered circle, people crying, a table of pastries to the side of the room, and most importantly an extremely tense atmosphere. I expected the people in this meeting to look down at me, as I looked so much younger than they were. I projected the room to be filled with a sadness and intensity like no other. Before entering, I felt nervous, scared, and also excited for what I was about to encounter. Most of my expectations, however, did not occur.

Initially when I had arrived, I was the first person to walk in, so I had some time to talk to the person in charge. At the beginning of the meeting I got a chance to speak with the wife of a guest speaker and she explained to me how the meeting was going to go. They first read two chapters from a book that was used in this program and everyone was required to have. Then, they had their guess speaker talk about their experience and how it was for him to go through the process which kept him sober for 30 years. After he was done talking, for the rest of the hour people were called on to come up and share their story. However they were asked to share a small part of their story so everyone could get a chance to talk a little and have the opportunity to feel heard. It was interesting how every story was the so different yet everyone could connect to one another.

Though, I was familiar with the meeting and how it works, I was extremely nervous, especially because of my language barrier. I could hear my heartbeat, when I walked into the meeting and at the beginning I told that I don’t want to talk or share. I saw the people who sat on the only room with lights on in the church, but I didn’t step into it before asking a person if it was Al-Anon meeting. I wanted to double-check which wasn’t necessary. Then I tried to

Now that I am participating in my first practicum, counseling complete strangers with real problems sitting in on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is more interesting than ever. For the sake of confidentiality no names will be provided and only the bare minimum amount of details otherwise. For this assignment, I attended a local church in Longview, Texas that holds weekly Celebrate Recovery meetings. No warning was provided to either the group leader or the group members about my attendance as is sometimes required for projects such as this. We are all broken to some extent or another so my being there was not too far from the truth (Rom. 2:10; 3:23). Upon arrival, I helped myself to the complimentary coffee and snacks, took a seat with an excellent vantage point and made small talk with a man to my immediate left.

About an hour and a half had passed and we finished up all of the planned games. Also, snack foods were provided and I was having casual conversations with some of the guests. Again, I did not feel uncomfortable in any way. Yes, being the only white female does put up an invisible wall between me and the other guests., but the social interaction was natural. Though at times I did feel disconnected and at times I felt a little like an outsider. The fact is, in todays society we have done so much categorizing and labeling, so when someone is different from another we throw him or her in a category and isolate him or her from the rest. We have also become ethnocentric around our own races and that is why there is an invisible wall between different races and ethnicities. Last, it was time to for the mother to be to open her baby gifts. Majority of the gifts were simple baby necessities like diapers, blankets, binkies and stuffed animals. On the other hand, there were a