Substance Use And How It All

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

According to the Diagnostic Statistic Manual 5 (DSM-5) substance use disorder is when the individual has a dependency on alcohol or drug, followed by penetrating craving and antisocial behavior to acquire the substance. The terms substance abuse and substance dependence refer to substance use disorder, which has been separated into three classifications as follows

I was given this assignment to do as an observation on an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting and had to write a paper on what I have observed. I did not know if I could do this without feeling self-indulgence toward the members. After speaking to a member, I could not believe the sensation of listening to that person’s short history of battling Alcoholism. I 'm glad to be there to learn their negative and positive outcomes in their lives.

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

My grandfather was an alcoholic. He drank from the moment he rose out of bed until he passed out in the evening. He battled with this disease for many years. Drinking alcohol was like breathing air, it was his daily routine until the day he passed away.. Alcoholism took his life at the age of 65. I loved my grandfather; he was a very caring and loving man. In fact, at one point he was an electrical engineer, he lost his job when alcohol took command of his every waking moment. I chose to attend an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting, because I wanted to gain an understanding of the program, in hopes to increase my understanding of the struggles my grandfather went through. This would be my first AA meeting. This particular AA group is called, The Spring Forest Recovery Group, they meet every Sunday at 7:00 pm. It is located at 4015 Spring Forest Road, Raleigh, North Carolina. Every 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays they have their speaker meeting. Every 2nd & 4th Sunday they have their big book study. This past Sunday was their big book study. Everyone had his or her blue books, titled Alcoholics Anonymous. I walked in sat down and listened carefully as the 12-steps to recovery were being read out loud. The room was still except for the words that bounced and echoed throughout the room. The room is set cafeteria style, 8-foot tables and white chairs filled the room with rows of 4. Group is a mix of multicultural members, with a common problem or

Walking into an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting I did not know what to expect. I have never been in a room with so many people who were desperate to stay sober or even become sober. Individuals that are trying to stay sober realized that life is worth living, and they are deserving of a fresh start on life because of the AA meetings. Some people have been sober for a long time (over ten years) and still attend AA meetings. There were people from different ages, gender, and race all in one room. They were people who worked a blue collar job, businessmen and women, people that retired. Each any every one of them had one thing in common, substance addiction. Most of the people at the AA meeting were alcoholic, some addicted, and others introduce

Going to the AA (alcohol anonymous) meeting, I was not sure what to expect for this is my first time attending such meeting. I did some research just to have an idea. Walked in saw a group composing of both men and women of different races and age sitting ready to be given the signal to talk about a something most of them don’t have control over. Most have been an alcoholic for over 20 years. The discussion leader introduces a topic with some brief comments and then throws the meeting open. A guy name Pete who is a recovered alcoholics started off by stating his name and began to explain the impact of being an alcoholic has had in his life and his loved ones, the daily struggles he would go through. He talked about times where he would feel like nobody. He went on to describe his first experience about coming to the AA meeting stating that he felt as if he was in the wrong place, with the wrong people, and taking the wrong approach to his drinking problem, but after attending a few meetings with the help of other members, hearing stories of other people he knew he was in the right place. Everyone else saw him as a human being who has an addiction and looking for help.

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.

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.

. My personal experience dealing with someone close to me with an alcohol or drug addiction has never been an issue for me. However, I did remember as a child observing some of my family members drinking alcohol during the holiday’s but never notice them acting out of the norm. They all just seemed like they were having a great time. As I entered high school, that is when I became aware of the effects of alcohol. Some of my peers would engage in drinking alcohol during house parties. There were always a few people getting drunk and starting a big commotion at the party. After graduating from high school, a few of my peers became addicted to alcohol and drugs. One of my peers was very popular when she was in high school. I was thinking to myself

The usage of drug is unbiased when it comes to race and class. Anyone has an equal chance to get addicted to a drug of their choice. In the today’s society, the drug is viewed as horrible and those who are ‘dependent’ on it are either criminals and/or addicts. There are many researches that were done in the past that criminalized those who use, which bring the term to criminology. Today there are so many drugs that are being used by different people in varies age group and to each drug there is a technique on, how is it use and when is it comes to the usage of drug, it does not discriminate by race nor class. This is what many people tend to forget and with so many pieces published it is very accessible to anyone who is very interested in

Many drug addicts go back and forth into the correctional system due to their drug and alcohol addiction. They are suffering from an addiction that they need help in overcoming, or else they will find themselves getting it the best way they know how. They will prey on the community by robbing and stealing to support their habit. The question is should they go to jail or should they get help for this habit? The answer is quite simple they should be offered help within the justice system to help deter crimes in the community. But in order to do this the offender must be willing to take the first step in gaining recovery from this addiction by admitting he or she has a problem. This will allow him or her help needed to overcome this addiction. Many offenders have been arrested over and over again to support a habit that they need to feed, and it seems like a waste of time and effort in trying to get help from a drug treatment program that they have to pay for, because they can’t afford it. Many drug treatment centers are too expensive, that it turns away the drug addicts that are in need of help and are crying out for the help. It seems like they would have to get arrested for the problem in order for it to be paid for, there is no way around it. Some drug programs ask for medical insurance, and many offenders do not have medical insurance let along afford to pay for it. Therefore, they continue to use drugs and alcohol due to no form of support or help unless they get arrested

Drug use and addiction has always been a topic of discussion for many people. None of it being good nonetheless, but it has been a topic on people’s minds. In our society today there is still a stigma attached to drug users and even worse drug addicts. The feelings are always geared towards shaming the user or addict and not much else. The really divisive idea being if addiction is actually a choice a person makes or if it is a disease. Most knowledge and discussion about this either leans one way or the other with both sides not giving in to the opposing sides point of view.

The background of this study is the reciprocal relationship between crime and substance use is well known. However, when examining this relationship, no study to date has disaggregated between-and within-person effects, which represents a more methodologically sound and developmentally appropriate analytic approach; Further, few studies have considered the role of social risk (e.g., deviant peers, high-risk living situations) in the aforementioned relationship. We examined the associations in a group of individuals with heightened vulnerability to substance use, crime and social risk, emerging adults (aged 18-25 years) in substance use treatment. (Merrin _et al_2016 pdf).