This was my first experience at an alcoholics anonymous meeting and it was very interesting and in a way uplifting. At St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Middleburg, Fl. the AA group was called “Soul Savivors” there were people who had come from different walks of life such as a single parent that started when she was fifteen to a School teacher that started when he was eight. The group meeting that I attended was rather small, a total of six were in attendance and 3 were missing. I had no understanding of how an AA meeting had a set of codes or rules for those who struggle every day to fight this addiction. I currently work at a hospital and am only exposed to the start or relapse and want to seek help. I originally thought that AA meeting were designated to tell those in need of help how to not relapse. However I gained the knowledge that they are not there for themselves but for those who need and in turn those in need help them. They allowed people who were new or if it was their first meeting to introduce themselves and tell their story of the fight of addiction related to alcohol, they then opened with a prayer. They then proceeded to go over the twelve steps and twelve traditions of alcoholic’s anonomys. The meeting began with a man named Joe, who offered to read a book related to withdrawing from alcohol. Frank was in his late 50’s and shared that he was hooked on alcohol for 30 years, and had been sober for almost 4 years, thanks to the constant AA meetings like this one. He shared about the effects of alcohol in his life and how it took his wife, children and money away from him. Frank’s experience was a good start to the sharing session, the others then like him followed on with their stories.
I was taken back and impressed with the fact that the groups had an awards system for reaching sobriety for a certain period of time whether it was 30 days or 30 years. After the awards were given out for those who had reached a