A Reflection On Awakening Alcoholic Anonymous Meeting

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 other two people at the meeting declined to speak. They said they just wanted to listen. During the rest of the meeting, Andy spoke more about Step 12 and how to get to that step. Next was another prayer while everyone joined hands. The meeting ended at 1:10pm.

I went to a traditional 12 step AA meeting. It was a long timers group, which had individuals who have been attending AA for a while now and those who have been sober for at least 10 years or more. It was at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, located in Johnstown, Pa. The meeting was from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. They started off the meeting by reading the preamble. The preamble, which was found and quoted from the District 41- Alcoholics Anonymous, Johnstown, Pa website (2015), “Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.” After the preamble they had one of the attendees of the group read the 12 steps.

My first experience at an alcoholics anonymous meeting was very interesting and in a way uplifting. At All Saints Lutheran Church the home group called “The Young People’s Group” there were people who had come from all walks of life. The group meeting that I thought would have been rather small slowly became larger and larger over the course of the night. I was unaware that the AA meetings had been setup with a set of codes or rules for those who struggle every day to fight this addiction. They allowed people who were new or if it was their first meeting to introduce themselves and tell their story to the fight of addiction related to alcohol. I was really impressed with the fact that the AA groups have an awards system for reaching

The objective of this study is to write a reaction on a 12-step meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous with the focus of the meeting being attitude modification. The meeting attended was the Stairway Group meeting in Decatur, Alabama. The members who attended this group meeting were of all ages, of both the female and male gender and were white, black, and Hispanic individuals. The majority of the attendees were males.

I answered questions, such as where I want to school, what I liked about the program, and how I viewed those with addiction. I kept it short and sweet, as I did not want to take too much time out of the meeting to discuss myself. As the topic of discussion moved from my schooling to the meeting, I quietly observed and actively listened to the various stories and advice. After the meeting finished, I thanked both the leader and the members for sharing their personal stories with me and allowing me the opportunity to witness an AA

I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting on November 26, 2016 at noon in Simi Valley, CA. It was in the back entrance of a strip mall in a long, thin room with tables down the middle and chairs around the table and around the walls in the room. It is only located four minutes from my house, but I have never noticed it before. As I walked in there was a little kitchen with coffee and a pecan pie and there were goodies on the table. I them walked into the main room.

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.

For my second substance abuse meeting, I had the opportunity to attend an Alcohol Anonyms (AA) meeting. The AA meeting chosen was located at Crossover Ministry Clinic within Richmond, Virginia on the Southside. Crossover Ministry Clinic is considered a health care ministry that provides health care services to members of the Richmond Metropolitan community that is uninsured. Their mission is to provide health care resources to people in need through the teaching of Jesus Christ. The meeting is called Serenity U and is held on Mondays at 10:00am. This meeting was open discussion and incorporated literature.

The meeting consisted of twenty-five people including myself. The leader began by welcoming all returning addicts and non-addicts to the NA meeting. The meeting started with a moment of silence followed by everyone reciting the serenity prayer. After the prayer, the leader asked for volunteers to read the short messages about what the meeting is about and why they were there. Each person that volunteered to read one of the short messages began by saying, “Hi my name is (blank) and I’m an addict.” This was something that the group members did so that they could face the truth and admit that they had an addiction. The meeting continued by a volunteer reading the Twelve Step Traditions. This was a list that the members followed to achieve recovery from their addiction to narcotics. The leader then spoke aloud to the group about which of the twelve steps they were focusing on for the night. The leader then left it open for any group member to share a personal story about where they were on their road to recovery. Everyone who shared their story was open with the group and shared very personal experiences that they had. Everyone listened to each personal story that was shared. No one judged anyone from where they came from or what they had done in the past. Everyone was there to receive help and support those who were on their way to recovery as well. The meeting ended with

From 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. on Saturday, April 4, 2015, I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous group meeting at St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It was the Area 75 Conference of the “Friends of Bill Group”. It was a truly sobering and enlightening experience and it made me appreciate my own life much more. This is especially true after a talk I had with a member of the group who asked to remain anonymous, suffice it to say that his story was a very tragic one. I would like to report on my general reaction and afterthoughts to the meeting, but I think it would appropriate to recount the member’s story first.

Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the most widely known and used 12 step groups, it was found in 1935 by two men who wanted to share and support those who wanted to become sober. Currently I am in California so I had to search for a meeting here and I was able to find a 12 step meeting at a local church that took place in the morning. My thoughts before the meeting were interested as well as nervous. I never went to one of these meetings nor do I know what one is about. Im not to sure what AA entails so I was interested in learning about it. Currently my boyfriends father is a recovering alcoholic so going to this made me think of him and I believe may help me understand him, his thought, and his feelings a little better. Before the meeting I began to read that AA does not discriminate including to those with other addictions, but closed meetings are specifically for those battling addicting to alcohol (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012).

On Wednesday, August 25, 2015 at 12:00pm, I went to an AA meeting at 570 Karl Road, Columbus, Ohio, Christian church. The people were very welcoming; they started by reading the 12-step fellowship. They recited their prayer and each member introduces himself or herself as an alcoholic. It is amazing to see how the group interacts among each other freely probably without any concern of being discriminate or being judgmental.

In addition, before anyone would speak, their open monologue would be their name and “I’m an Alcoholic.” After the person would introduce themselves, everyone would greet the attendee. For the members who were court ordered to attend, they began to pass their paper to the chairperson to have their slip signed. At the end of the hour long session, everyone stood up and gathered around in a circle. We then said a prayer for others who may be suffering and asked for continued mental clarity towards continued sobriety.

The “Serenity Prayer” was prayed. The 12 steps were read. The 12 traditions were read. There was a reading from “the Big Book” as they called it. It was a hardcover book that said Alcoholics Anonymous on it. Each meeting has a “topic” and then the floor is opened for everyone to speak. Each person who speaks starts by saying “My name is -------- and I’m an alcoholic. Everyone else then says “Hi