Aa Meeting Reflection

The group prayed after reviewing the guidelines. Then, a participant of the group proceeded to read the “how it works” from the AA book. Afterwards, another member read the 12 traditions. Two participants shared their experience with Alcoholism while others provided reflections and support. The facilitator informed me that each meeting two participants share. After the two participants shared, the AA meeting ended with another prayer. This paper will talk about my observations and reactions attending the AA meeting, and how attending the meeting will inform my future work as a clinician. The purpose of this paper is to present my personal experience of an AA meeting, and how I plan to grow as a therapist from that

Many of the same individuals were present for both meetings. It was interesting to see that those who have been coming to the meeting have stationed themselves in a specific seat of area in the room. Along with seating arrangements, it appeared to be the same people sitting with one another. I had also noticed that one man attends the meetings and presents announcements specific to events associated with AA. He also presents announcements which are related to the church who allows the meetings to be held. I want to assume that the man attends the church but also attends the church. In contrast, this meeting was hosted by two men. Both men are active participants in the discussions and share their

The purpose of this research paper was to attend two support group meetings and share my experiences. The meetings that were to be attended were an Alcoholics Anonymous

The focus of the meeting was Step #2 –humility. There were a few AA birthdays and in general the meeting consisted out of birthday-people reliving their stories and some talking about humility.

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.

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

Everyday, more and more people are being claimed by alcoholism. The most important message AA makes is that there is help available, and there are people who want to help you, just as other helped them. Louis, a 79 year old AA member reciprocates his AA experience by “try[ing] to help the younger people find sobriety and happiness the way I have. I tell them, “If I can do it, so can you” (AA pamphlet). This is just one of many stories AA members have to offer an observer.

For this paper I attended an Alcohol Anonymous meeting (AA), so that I could experience a new type of group that I have never been exposed to before. I attended the AA meeting here in Macomb, at the First Presbyterian Church on October, 1 2016 at 8:00pm. I learned about this group because a classmate informed me about it. I decided to choose this specific group because I have never been to an AA meeting before. I felt this would be a good way to get exposed to something I have never experience and to get a better understanding of an AA meeting.

There are millions of people who have and who are suffering from alcoholism. For those seeking help with their addiction, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) may be the right for them. While this program is not promised to be a cure, and the authors of this program does not promise full recovery, it provides an atmosphere where members can be honest about their dependency on alcohol. Furthermore, AA provides support from other alcoholics, and rewards for meeting certain sobriety anniversary dates. This paper explores the history and major developments of AA. Furthermore, this paper explains the structure of meetings, and the roles the leader and members play during meetings. This paper also touches on AA’s definition of success and how it handles members who relapse. Additionally, this paper explains this student’s experiences of two AA meetings she attended, which include what she learned from attending the meetings, and what she learned from the people she met at the meetings.

The meeting started with the welcoming greetings from the facilitator, and she read some rules for the meeting from a “12 Traditions” book: keep confidentiality, stay in the “here and now”; make “I” statements, share feelings, no crosstalk or advice giving. There was some tension when it was time for someone to share the story, so we all sat patiently and waited when someone would finally have enough courage to talk

The meeting that was observed was a regularly scheduled meeting, each month the board members came together and discuss important issues

At this point in the meeting two different group members read the teaching and then Mary, the leader asked if anyone would like to share an experience. Mary looked at the group complainer and said please confine your sharing to the disease of compulsive overeating, rather than the events of the day or week. If anyone is having difficulties please speak to your sponsor or other members after the meeting. How a member shares is one norm for this group, sharing is timed and sharing needs to reflect hope or how the member used the program to overcome a difficulty. In an effort to create an atmosphere of sharing there is absolutely no feedback, cross talk or advice given during share time; this group norm is called a conscious. Mary, the leader stated the chair for each meeting had the discretion to let another member know if she was off topic or was speaking to long. Our group complainer wanted to share first; I almost heard a cohesive group sigh. This member started her share time with what was foremost on her mind, changing the meeting time to 7:30! The young college girl asked if she could share at this point.

In the beginning of the meeting, the hostesses both greeted themselves and welcomed everyone to the meeting. They asked if there were any announcements that were needed to be made, and about two persons discussed an AA event that was approaching. It was similar to a retreat that individuals could attend with their sponsors. Another individual shared with the group about different have canceled their AA meetings for the week due to Easter celebrations. That is most likely why

A couple people’s speeches stuck out the most to me. The first one was a middle aged man who discussed how for the longest time he tried to use his work and kids as motivation for him to quit drinking but it would never work or last. He said the only thing that worked was realizing the higher power, and how to receive help from that higher power you most give too and try to be better and he said the first step was going to the AA meetings. After he finished he also thanked me for reading one of the 12 steps of AA because when he was younger with problems he was too scared and he said that seeing me read and not being scared, even though I wasn’t an alcoholic, makes his life a little more “green” (which I’m amusing means that it gives him more

The session was an open discussion meeting on a Saturday morning at 8 am. It was astonishing to see the high turnout for the early morning group. The common trend mentioned by the members was that they wanted to come early Saturday to set the tone for the rest of the weekend. It was the day of the Michigan State University versus Notre Dame Football game and many mentioned that their friends and families were having get-togethers where alcohol would be present. It seemed like an anticipated difficult day for many but they wanted that clarity of AA thoughts to be present with them throughout the day and weekend.