Recovery Group Meeting

Introduction:

Last week I attended a Recovery Group Meeting. The meeting I chose to attend was an AA meeting. I found this meeting to be very eye opening and humbling. I thought that it was amazing how strong these individuals are and how dedicated they are to making their lives better.

 

Who Attended the Meeting:

There were numerous individuals at the meeting that I attended. I was surprised at how crowded it was. Before attending the meeting, I expected that maybe 20 people would attend, but I was actually very surprised at the fact that there were probably up to 40 people participating in the meeting. I noticed that there were more males at the meeting than females. And I wonder if this has to do with differences with addiction and recovery in gender. I also wonder if this has to do with differences in the types of treatment that women versus men prefer. Most of the population at the meeting were Caucasian, although there were individuals of other ethnicities present. The individuals at the meeting did not look like what some would say "the stereotypical alcoholic" would look like. There were people of all ethnicities, jobs, and backgrounds present. I think one of the most important things for people to be aware of is the fact that there all different kinds of people who have substance abuse/use issues, and individuals should not be judged based on how they look or do not look.

 

Format of the Meeting:

The meeting was ran by one man, who was also a former alcoholic. He first opened up the meeting by introducing himself and asking that two individuals attending the meeting read the purpose of AA and also read the 12 steps aloud. The man in charge of the meeting then asked if anyone had a topic that they would like to be discussed for the next hour. When someone raised their hand and stated their topic, the facilitator then asked that individual to give their input on the topic. After this, the topic was opened for discussion to everyone in the group. The rest of the meeting ran very smoothly. When someone has input about the topic that was chosen, they would simply raise their hand and the facilitator would call on them. There was no time limit or restrictions on what the individual could say during the discussion. Also, no one was forced to talk that did not want to, which I thought was very important. Since the meetings are only held for an hour, approximately five minutes before the meeting ended, the facilitator ended the discussion and gave a small summary of what participants had to say about the topic.

 

Interactions:

While at the meeting, I observed numerous interactions between the participants as well as the facilitator. I was surprised at how relaxed and informal the meeting was. There was coffee and snacks that participants could have. Also, although there was a circle of chairs, individuals could choose to sit at tables. The interactions between indivuals were very informal, yet respectful. Many times throughtout the meeting, individuals would respond to something a person said or a concern that was stated prior to them speaking. They often gave each other advice and encouragement. I thought that this was absolutely amazing because although these individuals were attending the meeting in order to help themselves continue on the path to recovery, they also worked to help eachother. The interaction between the participants and the facilitator was also informal. The facilitator did not do much talking throughout the meeting, but just let the participants talk about whatever they felt was important. Everyone in the group was constantly supportative of eachother and worked very hard to do whatever they could to encourage each other.

 

My Involvement:

I was not very involved in the meeting. When I arrived at the meeting, I introduced myself to the facilitator and told him why I was attending the meeting. He was very pleased that I was attending and everyone was very open to the fact that I was observing. I did not feel that it was my place to say anything during the meeting because I am not an expert, nor do I have the experience that they do. During the meeting I just listened to what everyone said and observed what happened. After the meeting, however, I did get to talk to a few individuals who participated in the meeting. They were very interested in why I was attending the meeting and seemed happy that I was interested in understanding the process of AA.

 

Helpful?:

I do think that this meeting was very helpful to many of the participants. Numerous individuals stated that even though they have been sober for a few years, they still continue to try to attend one meeting a day. I was very surprised by this, but I think that it shows how much these meetings do help people who struggle with substance use. Also, the fact that everyone attending the meeting has the same issue as you helps individuals a lot. Although everyone in the room may be different and come from a different background, they all have one thing in common and are able to understand each other because of this. By attending these meetings, the individuals feel understood and can gain support from people who are going through the same thing as they are. Everyone in the room was so incredibly supportative of eachother and so welcoming. Even though they had never seen me before this meeting, they were all so kind and welcoming to me. I am not sure whether or not I think that this should replace individual therapy, but I do think that it is an important and in some cases it is necessary in order to recover.

 

Connection to Class:

This connected to class in numerous ways. This allowed me to experience first-hand a recovery meeting. In class and in readings we have learned about numerous treatments and recovery techniques for individuals struggling with substance use. Attending this meeting really helped me to not only understand this particular meeting, but also see how difficult it must be to work to alleviate substance use. This also connected to us studying alcoholism and numerous other substances. Although the individuals in the meeting did not discuss how often they used or how much, they did talk about how difficult it is to resist drinking in their daily lives. They have to make a conscious effort everyday not to drink, especially when a stressful event occurs. This really opened my eyes to how strong these individuals are. This connected to our current topic in class, which was about strengths based perspectives. In this meeting, I noticed individuals using a lot of strengths based statements. They were constantly encouraging eachother and helping one another to see the good in themselves. They worked to help eachother understand their own strengths and how they can use these to continue on the right path. I found this meeting to be very interesting and think that it has really helped me to connect many of the topics in class to indivduals' experiences.