Why Are We Here? A Look at AA's Self-Help Group Paper Example

Introduction

The Alcohol Anonymous self-help group's meeting I attended is called Why Are We Here group. This particular self-help group is affiliated to the AEDA Associated Limited Liability Company and the Fairfax Presbyterian Church. The physical location where the group members meet is at Fairfax Presbyterian Church. The church is found at 10723 Main Street. The participants range from young adults to adults. The ages range from 17, 18 and to 65 years of age. The members are of all gender and are receptive to new members. The forms of leadership include peer to peer and a professional present during a session. For a new participant in his or her first visit, the group allows him or her to introduce himself or herself. The leader or leaders present give the visitor a wrist band written 'I am victorious.' The band serves to encourage the member to participate. The members contribute to the leadership by voluntarily assigning themselves roles to play. For instance, there is one who will offer to begin the session with prayer, another will serve the coffee and snacks, another will arrange the seats, and another will finish the session in prayer once it is over.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Group Process

The group was founded by members of the Presbyterian Church who worked with AEDA Association LLC who saw the importance of rehabilitating the many alcoholics around Fairfax at really low costs. The partnership and publicity by the church enabled for many alcoholics to get the word about the self-help group and attend the session for $20-30. The money goes to fund for the snacks, getting food for some of the alcoholic's families without food, and general welfare of the group. The purpose of the meeting is communicated through flyers given around Fairfax and posters in the church's noticeboards. The message there includes a brief explanation of self-discovery of the reasons that made one become a substance abuser. The agenda of the next meeting is established towards the end of the previous meeting.

The group uses several techniques to encourage and ensure that everyone participates in the session. The leader may delegate numbers to the participants who will participate by explaining something or responding to a question; he or she may ask questions that need responses in a particular flow- clockwise or counter-clockwise. Also, participation is initiated voluntarily. These techniques are effective in ensuring that everyone participates by the method of inclusion. That is, some participants want to be told what to do hence work well with the number delegation approach. Secondly, the flow approach ensures that those who don't want to talk about anything get the opportunity to participate. Lastly, voluntary participation works for people who do not want to feel pressured to participate.

The participants in the session have different responsibilities. These include attending the session in the stated period, assisting in whatever capacity in ensuring that the session in lively, and participating in the meetings. The first and last responsibilities are communicated at the beginning of every session so that the new members and every other participant is well acquainted with the order of the day. The second responsibility is explained in a self-assigning approach whereby a participant volunteers to assist in the capacity he or she can assist in. The participants are also told to work cohesively when attending to their responsibilities since recovery from alcohol abuse is a journey that calls for support from the group and family. The group demonstrated an interest in the meeting by actively participating through responding to questions, telling the rest about how their week has been, their hurdles and how they overcame them. Acceptance was demonstrated by congratulating each other on the number of days that one has spent without using alcohol and accepting new members into the meeting.

Personal Reactions

I attended the Fairfax Why Are We Here group meeting for the first time in the Fairfax Presbyterian Church on a Wednesday evening. I arrived as people were having snacks and was welcomed by a gentleman who turned out to be the one who would be leading the session on that particular day. After coffee and snacks, some members cleared off the table while the rest of us mingled. It is here that some of the participants greeted me, welcomed me to the meeting, asked me of my name, and told me a bit about the meeting. We then sat on seats arranged in a circle so that every participant could see each other clearly. The leader began by praying for the meeting and introducing himself. The participants also introduced themselves from the right-hand side of the leader. Everyone clapped thrice after each person introduced himself and herself. Being a new participant in the group, I introduced myself by name and said that I am a friend of the group. I did not have to explain the nature of my being there. It felt good being welcomed to the new group as they welcomed me by telling me that we are one and we are victorious. I was also given a wrist band written 'I am Victorious.' Having not explained the nature of my visit lifted a heavy load off my shoulders as I thought they would not welcome the reason so well.

As participants were speaking about the experiences, responding to questions, and asking questions, I felt both empathetic and sympathetic towards them. There were those who had successfully gone through several months and years without any substance abuse and were really happy to share their happiness. They also talked about withdrawals and the temptations to take a sip of their favorite drinks. I felt the pressure they feel when fighting the addiction and temptation to try just one time. I was moved by the members who talked of how they have been able to recover health wise, get back to their jobs, and reestablish family relations that were broken or messed up due to their alcohol and substance abuse. I was glad to learn of some of the participants' ability to accept their situation and make commitments to recover and become better.

Critical Thinking

The participants were each at different stages of recovery. A majority were in the commitment stage and had managed to go up to three years without partaking in alcohol and substance abuse. Some participants were in the acceptance and planning stages. These included members who had gone between 2 and 8 months of not using alcohol and substance abuse. Some of the participants were also relatively new to the program and had been recommended to attend the sessions in order to recover from their addictions. The AA groups, through lively participation of the members, love, acceptance, openness, communication, honesty, having accountability partners and commitment plan, have been helping and are helping the participants through every stage of recovery from alcohol and substance abuse.