There are times in an individual’s life when he or she may have difficulty coping with day-to-day activities. Some get through these activities and the end results turn into them being stressed. One coping mechanism that a person may resort to when stressed, angry, or just want to relax after a hard days work is drinking alcohol. This may become quiet dangerous to someone’s health because drinking can turn into a habit. People who are notorious for drinking everyday become alcoholics. A human body can become immune to the alcohol, which results into overconsumption of alcohol. In other words, the more a person drinks, the more drinks it takes for them to actually get drunk and satisfied; this person experiences alcoholism. There are specific meetings for people who know they are alcoholics and want to seek help to quit, as well as people who are mandated and ordered by the law to veer away from alcohol.
On Tuesday, March 26th at 8:00pm I went to my first alcoholic anonymous meeting. The meeting name is called Wayward Open, which means the meeting type was open to anyone that cared to join. The location of the meeting is at Our Saviour Church (1234 N Arlington Hts Rd, Arlington Heights) on every Tuesday evening for an hour or less. Before the observation I felt intimidated and scared to enter the church. The reason why I was scared to enter the group was because I thought I would be looked at differently since I was not an alcoholic. I also felt like the members would gain up on me and tell me that I would never understand why or how people become alcoholics. After entering the building, I was first greeted by an individual with a friendly welcome. I sat down in the center of the room, so that I looked like I fit in with everyone else. When the meeting began at exactly 8:00pm, an older speaker named Henry announced that everyone is welcome to this alcoholics anonymous meeting whether they want to support a friend or family member, or they are here because they want support. Then, Henry started to read for “The Big Book of Alcoholics,” the preamble. One person for the group volunteered to read about how this meeting works and the promises gather for the 12-step program. The volunteers name was Rick, and right before he started to read he announced his name and that he was an alcoholic. The group members repeated Ricks name and then scouted, “thank you Rick,” followed by a cheerful clap of the hands. Rick read out loud that this meeting was a self-supporting contribution and that if anyone wants to, they can donate money while a basket is being passed around during the entire meeting. Rick the group member also read the actually 12-steps step to the program in order to achieve sobriety, strength, and serenity (health psychology, 1). The 12-steps are there to help admit a person is an addict, know that there is hope is stopping the addiction, turn to others for help, and also to help others when they are crying out for help. One of the pamphlets that I collected before the meeting called, A Member’s Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous also shares that the 12-step program are not rules, but they are volunteer actions that help people who want to recover their addiction (Grapevine, 16).
After Rick was done reading, Henry asked, “Is there are any newcomers joining us tonight?” I quickly raised my hand and said, “hi, my name is Olivia and I am a student at Northeastern University. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to come here and let me listen to your life stories.” After I spoke everyone said, “thank you for joining us Olivia,” and clapped cheerfully once again. At that point, the fears I was experiencing before I entered the building have gone away. It seemed that although everyone had the strength to admit they are or were alcoholics, all members were excited and happy to be there.
Next, Henry gave a brief history about his life and how he became an alcoholic. After he shared his story, he asked others to do the same. A man volunteered to announce that it was his two-year anniversary of being completely sober. After that statement, I realized that this man has been sober for so long and still gives up one hour every week to come to this meeting because he wants to be an example of someone who is struggling to stay sober. In class we spoke about how support groups need to be present whether a person does not have them or not. It was able to determine by listening to all these stories about peoples lives as alcoholics that a few do not have any support systems, but by attending a group a person is able to gain one. It turns out that the sober ones of the group were sponsors of other people. They are there for them whenever they want to talk during any given day about wanting to relapse or just to talk to someone. I felt that that is extremely brave and strong for someone to go out of their way to passionately give them the time of day to just help an individual. I also noticed that these people in this AA group are harmless. They know that they do wrong when and while they drink, but they mean well and just want to gain that strength to quit alcohol cold turkey.
In Chapter 13 of the Generalist Social Work Practice book, Miley describes what is best to do while working with self-help groups in order for it to become successful and beneficial for everyone that is present. She explains that groups provide emotional and social support, just like the group I visited. They also empower one another by sharing each other’s stories (Miley, 356). Towards the end of the meeting, Henry asked if anyone had a burning desire to share everything and anything they want to share with the group. This gives the opportunity for people to speak up if they want a sponsor or become a sponsor for a newcomer that has never been there before. Also, the anniversaries were announced once more, and Henry also thanked me for coming which really mad me feel important because he remembered my name. This shows that people are listening and doing their best to make others feel good about themselves after they leave the meeting. Just like Milka once spoke about in class, it is important to make someone feel better at the end of the meeting, than how they first felt when they first came in. This is a guarantee that the helper has helped in a positive way, and that they will come back for more guidance. Lastly, the meeting was closed off with Lord’s Prayer, while holding hands in a complete circle. My journal entree after the observation was not comparable to how I felt before I entered the building. I left the group feeling happy and having a good self worth about myself. I felt that this group was well structured even though they were not sponsored by any organizations or profits. The Wayward Open had a good about of determination and ambition to keep the group going as a whole. Everyone had a goal of not being an alcoholic anymore, and did their best to stick with it. I was also happy with the amount of people that showed up to the meeting, the entire room was full and it was difficult to keep up with other people’s names. Everyone had something nice and positive to say about others to make them feel special and important. Even though I was only there to observe, I felt like I was still helping in a way because I was able to listen and not judge anyone. This evaluation will greatly contribute to my role as a social worker because there will be a time when I want to work with an addict and want to refer to them to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. This experience has also helped me learn how to become a better listener in understanding how and why people resort to alcohol.
References
Grapevine,Inc, A. (1970). A member's-eye view of Alcoholics Anonymous. New York, NY.

Health Psychology Home Page. (n.d.). 12 Step Programs & Alcoholics Anonymous. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/12step.htm

Miley, K. K., O'Melia, M., & DuBois, B. (2013). Intervention:Creating Alliances. In Generalist social work practice: An empowering approach. Boston: Pearson.