Aa Meeting Reflection

Programs that aid in the recovery of family members of addicts are also very different from those that help with domestic violence. The 12-step program worked by family members in Al-Anon is almost identical to those worked by alcoholics in AA, including acknowledging the fact that they are “powerless over alcohol,” placing a reliance on a higher power to “restore [them] to sanity,” (Al-Anon, 2008; p.44). This approach can make a person who has been abused feel even less in control of their life. This idea also serves to further reinforce the excuse of substance use that might be made by their abuser.

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

The 12-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous is a well-known treatment method that’s used for many types of addiction, not just alcohol. Alcoholics are encouraged to “work” the 12-steps. The first step involves admitting the powerlessness over alcohol. The second step has the alcoholic believe that there is some type of a greater power working that will help aide the alcoholic to reach sobriety, as well as maintain is once reached. This step is an example of the religious influence on the 12-step recovery process.

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

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.

I feel the 12-Step program is successful because others who can empathize, offer advice, and understand exactly what the other is going through are there for support and encouragement. By the time you decide to enter the meeting you are usually self-aware that there is a problem and you want to help yourself; to me that can and will make all the difference in determining your success in the program. I really like that 12-Step Programs are faith based, I think believing in something bigger than yourself is crucial to the process. I also like that its catered to a lifestyle change overall, not just one singular change like to stop drinking but changing the way you live your

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.

Before I enrolled in SOP 3932(The Psychology of Drugs and Drug Abuse) course, I always believed that a 12 Steps Program is only for addicts to attend and the counselor who is guiding them could be there. Then when Professor Berry informed be that I needed to attend a session I felt sick to my stomach. The reason why I felt that type of why is because the negative perception I received from it from the media and word of mouth. When I attended the meeting this past weekend I was apprehensive because I never saw so many addicts ever in my life. The place was at it capacity and I watched some addicts had trembling hands, others couldn’t sit still, and the remaining addicts was zone out (it was like their minds wasn’t there at that moment). When the host came out to speak, I watched how the people shifted their focus on the host

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

Our group didn’t have a specific leader. The meeting was held at Young at Heart: Club Yana. The address is 111 Howes Street Port Orange, FL 32127 (386-761-3533). The date of the class was 7/8/15 at 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. There were approximately 15 attendees. The 12-Step concept of recovery has been used for other drugs as well. Participants benefit from a 12-Step program because they have support and if successful have abstinence of alcohol. The 12-Step program is free to addicts of alcohol and narcotics and other substances. The programs are scheduled throughout areas and meetings are frequently held during the week. An attendee may attend as many meetings as they would like, but more meetings and abstinence of alcohol is encouraged. If an attendee is suffering from an addiction of more than one substance, they could go to several meetings, not only one in particular. Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, and Alateen are groups for families and friends of the attendee that is in recovery. These groups provide free education and support.

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.

In this article, the authors examined factors that might predict attendance and participation in 12-step programs. Participants were recruited for intensive outpatient treatment upon admitting into community treatment programs. After the baseline assessment, participants were randomly enrolled to treatment as usual (TAU) with (Stimulant Abuser Groups to Engage in 12-Step Programs) Stage-12 or TAU alone. Participated were took the assessment at baseline, week 4(mid treatment), week 8 (end-of-treatment), 3 and 6 month after the treatment. The four variables of outcome assessment were speaking, attending, duties at 12 step meetings, other peer recovery support groups. They found baseline measures of perceived benefit of 12 step groups predicted

The conclusion on the report of support group’s effectiveness was very interesting to research. There were different methods used to examine the effectiveness of stages of change in organizations such as Alcohol Anonymous, Al-Anon and 12-Steps groups. What I received from the two meeting I attended say that the programs is not positively effective for instance the woman that celebrated her sixteen anniversary at the Al-Anon meeting seen to be very bitter and unhappy. Even though her husband is no longer in her life, she harbors a lot of anger and she constantly relives her husband drinking problem, when she shares her story over and over again. Next, the observation in the Alcohol Anonymous meeting is similar to Al-Anon; they both have

I already knew what to expect when I attended the meeting because I had attended an AA meeting in my master’s program. However, this meeting was slightly different. I noticed when I walked in there was not as much touching (hugging) as in the AA meetings, although everybody was welcoming. This meeting was an open meeting, so all are welcome. I went to an early morning meeting starting at 6:30 am with the intentions fewer would attend. The meeting was scheduled to be for an hour only, most likely because it was during the week and people might be going before work.

For posterity’s sake, I tried to recall my first 12-step meeting and have concluded that it was most likely the year 1996, it was cold in the little town of Altoona. The clubhouse was strange, dark, smelled of coffee, and full of smoke there, the people were all so different, but all of them seemed to know some secret code, plus they seemed to talk as if reading bumper-stickers. As I “kept coming back,” I began to feel more comfortable, understand what was going on, and want what these people had. People at these meetings were open, appeared comfortable in their own skins, and had such, dramatic, fascinating stories that were dark, yet somehow uplifting.