For assignment three, I chose to attend an open discussion mental health group meeting called Alcoholics Anonymous. It is a support group for individuals working towards recovery of alcoholism. The location of this group was downtown Birmingham at the Advent Episcopal Cathedral, 521 20th Street North. Open discussion meetings are held on the ground floor every Friday, however it is not easy to find. The door to the meeting room is hidden within the courtyard of the church and not marked by a sign. Even the employees working at church were unsure of the location of the meeting. Once our group finally found the meeting location, we entered to find only three attendees. The meeting room was fairly small and filled with chairs that surrounded
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The regularly attending members introduced themselves by saying, “Hey, my name is ______ and I am an alcoholic.” The group responded each time by acknowledging the member. I think this is an important part of the group because it requires the person to voice aloud that they have identified that they do have a substance abuse addiction. After each member said their name they had the option to share with the group about resentments they might have or just listen that day. A large majority of the group chose to share about this particular topic and I could tell this was a mutual issue that people struggle with. After group members had spoken the group as a whole thanked them for sharing. I thought this was great because it makes it feel like what you said meant something to the group and overtime would build respect.
We ended our introductions with the group speaker who told her story about her struggles with alcohol and how alcohol had impacted her life. She also talked about how she came to lead alcoholics anonymous support groups. She then spoke about her own resentments and admitted that forgiveness was the hardest part of recovery for her. I then read aloud a passage called “The Promise”. We closed the meeting by holding hands and saying the Lord’s Prayer and saying, “keep coming back it works if you work
The regularly attending members introduced themselves by saying, “Hey, my name is ______ and I am an alcoholic.” The group responded each time by acknowledging the member. I think this is an important part of the group because it requires the person to voice aloud that they have identified that they do have a substance abuse addiction. After each member said their name they had the option to share with the group about resentments they might have or just listen that day. A large majority of the group chose to share about this particular topic and I could tell this was a mutual issue that people struggle with. After group members had spoken the group as a whole thanked them for sharing. I thought this was great because it makes it feel like what you said meant something to the group and overtime would build respect.
We ended our introductions with the group speaker who told her story about her struggles with alcohol and how alcohol had impacted her life. She also talked about how she came to lead alcoholics anonymous support groups. She then spoke about her own resentments and admitted that forgiveness was the hardest part of recovery for her. I then read aloud a passage called “The Promise”. We closed the meeting by holding hands and saying the Lord’s Prayer and saying, “keep coming back it works if you work