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Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings Reflections

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Submitted By tgorham21
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I have found this summer course, to be one where I am learning a lot about myself and my family. This very assignment has been able to help me to foresee what is in store for me in dealing with addictions both mine own and helping others with theirs. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is a program that at first I thought was nothing more than a bunch of drunks, getting together and sulking in their sorrows. Oh! How I was wrong. AA is a program that is and has been helping individuals and families for over 80 plus years. I have learned that the principles of AA are ones that can be universally used to aid anyone in getting through some of life’s challenges. My experiences at my AA meetings have shown me that the program does indeed work. And most importantly people are accepted where they are and made to feel welcome. I was able to attend two Awakenings meetings in Plattsburgh. My first meeting I didn’t get to much interaction from others and things might have changed had I been able to stay through the end of the meeting. At my other meeting I was able to stay for the duration and I was able to interact with the group. I was able to see how a “newbie” would/could be turned away from an AA meeting. I met a lady in the meeting, whom I sat next to and she was able to introduce herself to help me feel at ease. However, throughout the meeting she took it upon herself to tell me about certain individuals in the group and picked apart pieces of others stories. I found this to be very offsetting, and I would hope that she didn’t do this on a regular basis. If I had been an alcoholic in crisis, I might have been pushed to go and drink more by this lady. I believe in her heart she meant well, just the method in which she went about it was wrong. Other parts of the meetings involved participation from the groups. I thought this to be good to make everyone feel a

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