On September 18th, I observed an Alcoholics Anonymous Group at Trinity United Methodist Church in Atlanta. The name of this group is called John F.’s 12 Steps Study, which is an open discussion meeting for anyone to participant in and it does have attendees examine one of the 12 steps in the program. According to Alcoholics Anonymous’ national website, “Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self- supporting… [no requirements and]…Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2016, para. 1). Funk & Wagnalls New Word Encyclopedia (2016) also includes that Alcoholics Anonymous was founded
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This particular Alcoholics Anonymous group meeting was diverse with four Caucasians, seven African Americans, and one female. Sunday’s group had an indirect leadership style where attendees were allowed to discuss and examine themselves without too much guidance or feedback. Mary Ann Boyd’s Psychiatric Nursing Contemporary Practice textbook defines indirect leadership, “[as] which the leader primarily reflects the group members’ discussion and offers little guidance or information to the group” (Boyd, 2015, p. 197). However, there are other roles in the group. Each member is given the opportunity to speak and not be interrupted; and there are no disagreements during the group and most of the group members nonverbally express interest while each group member spoke. Despite being an indirect leader, the leader of the group did act as the information giver by giving facts about Alcoholics Anonymous and disclosing how alcohol impacted his life; which Boyd explains, “[is the person who] offers “authoritative” facts or generalizations or gives own experiences” (Boyd, 2015, p. 202). There was also an encourager of the group, who recognized and rewarded some of the attendees for reaching certain milestones with colored chips. For instance, an attendee receives a red chip for being sober for 90 days, while one receives a …show more content…
In addition, the indirect leadership and informal group roles worked well for the clients as no conflict arise at either group. However, I feel the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance support group was more effective with members helping each other find ways to cope with not only their mental illnesses; but also with stressors like work and family; which were not addressed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance was the only support group that included families of a person diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression; and they were guided on how to reach out to their loved one and support them by other attendees. While I appreciate that both Alcoholics Anonymous and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognized their attendees for accomplishing certain goals, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance did provide the setting that allowed clients to admit their mistakes and to learn how to solve them in a way that was non-judgmental; which was something I did not see with the Alcoholics Anonymous group I attended. Lastly, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognizes that there is an unknown medical cause of Bipolar disorder and depression that is difficult to be diagnosed by a physician; but Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance does support medical research on Bipolar disorder
This particular Alcoholics Anonymous group meeting was diverse with four Caucasians, seven African Americans, and one female. Sunday’s group had an indirect leadership style where attendees were allowed to discuss and examine themselves without too much guidance or feedback. Mary Ann Boyd’s Psychiatric Nursing Contemporary Practice textbook defines indirect leadership, “[as] which the leader primarily reflects the group members’ discussion and offers little guidance or information to the group” (Boyd, 2015, p. 197). However, there are other roles in the group. Each member is given the opportunity to speak and not be interrupted; and there are no disagreements during the group and most of the group members nonverbally express interest while each group member spoke. Despite being an indirect leader, the leader of the group did act as the information giver by giving facts about Alcoholics Anonymous and disclosing how alcohol impacted his life; which Boyd explains, “[is the person who] offers “authoritative” facts or generalizations or gives own experiences” (Boyd, 2015, p. 202). There was also an encourager of the group, who recognized and rewarded some of the attendees for reaching certain milestones with colored chips. For instance, an attendee receives a red chip for being sober for 90 days, while one receives a …show more content…
In addition, the indirect leadership and informal group roles worked well for the clients as no conflict arise at either group. However, I feel the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance support group was more effective with members helping each other find ways to cope with not only their mental illnesses; but also with stressors like work and family; which were not addressed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance was the only support group that included families of a person diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression; and they were guided on how to reach out to their loved one and support them by other attendees. While I appreciate that both Alcoholics Anonymous and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognized their attendees for accomplishing certain goals, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance did provide the setting that allowed clients to admit their mistakes and to learn how to solve them in a way that was non-judgmental; which was something I did not see with the Alcoholics Anonymous group I attended. Lastly, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance recognizes that there is an unknown medical cause of Bipolar disorder and depression that is difficult to be diagnosed by a physician; but Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance does support medical research on Bipolar disorder