Recovery Group Meeting

Recovery Group Meeting

This week I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting that took place in a Methodist Church. From people discussing their experiences with the 12 step meetings in class, I expected the group to be varied. While they did seem to vary in age and race, there were no women present. The number of alcoholics that were at the meeting was around 10. Some were there from the beginning but a few arrived late. Although it was clear that a majority of the members were religious in some way, none of them specifically mentioned their ties to that specific church. My best guess would be that there was a mixture of both church members and community members attending the meeting.

The meeting was led by an alcoholic from the area who has been attending those meetings for a few years. It was a newcomers meeting so there were a couple of people that have never been there before, or at least not very many times. However, a majority of the participants seemed to be familiar with the meetings held there and knew one another from past meetings. They started by giving everyone a chance to introduce themselves if they desired and then left the floor open to anyone who had an AA related announcement to make. From there the leader chose a topic, “Just for Today,” and the attendees took turns sharing their thoughts and experiences and how they related to the topic of the night. Most of the people spoke but not everyone.

Everybody at the meeting seemed to be relatively relaxed. When someone was telling their story everyone paid attention and was very supportive. There was coffee in the back of the room being offered to everyone which made the meeting seem even more relaxed since everyone could get up and move around as they pleased. They were all very open with me and the other students observing and were happy to share their stories with us. One man shared his story with the specific purpose of helping us understand that it could happen to anyone. I was very grateful that they were so open with me.

The leader and other members of the meeting gave us the option of reading the 12 steps in the beginning but I chose not to. When the participants were sharing their stories I gave them my undivided attention. At the end of the meeting they stood in a circle and said a prayer which I took part in. Afterwards a few of them stuck around to talk to us some more about their stories and to encourage us to stay clean and in school. They were very interested to hear what we thought of the meeting. I was happy to tell them that I found it very powerful and meaningful. I can now see why those programs are so helpful to those involved and I am glad that they that opportunity.

Each participant that shared had a very different story; however, they did have a few things in common. Almost all of them spoke of a higher power, and many of them mentioned how grateful they are to have the AA meetings and how helpful they have been to them in there process of recovery. They were happy to be there, one felt as though he was being drawn to that specific meeting even though he already attended one that morning. It was very clear that the AA meetings were helpful to each of the members.

I recognized a lot of what we have discussed and learned being put into action at the AA meeting I attended. Many of them spoke about relapse and their stories related back to the cycle we discussed in class. They also focused on a higher power, as well as living in the present. From listening to the stories, I heard firsthand the effects that we read about and discussed in class. Some of them couldn't hold on to relationships that were important to them, others couldn't hold on to dreams. One man also mentioned a rehab facility he went to before attending these meetings.

I found the meeting to be very insightful and full of positive energy. Everyone laughed and smiled and was 100% supportive. I think this is very important for people recovering from an addiction because knowing that there will always be a group of people who have shared your pain and went through your struggle can be very encouraging.