Reflection Paper About Aa Meeting

On March 30, 2016 I attended an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting. In order to go about finding this meeting, I researched AA meetings in my location through the AA meeting website, AAVirginia.org. When using the internet resources they provided the name of the group that were meeting,days available for meetings and the times, and the name of the location along with its address. Another piece of important information that was provided was the subject matter of the meeting, what they covered, and what type of building was provided for those who are facing disabilities. Although I had chosen one meeting I also kept other meeting times and locations available in case something went wrong. Originally, the AA meeting that I had chosen was an open, discussion themed meeting, it was handicap accessible, it covered the 12 Steps, and covered the 12 Traditions of AA. It was to held at 6:15 P.M., and was about 10 minutes away from my home. I had chosen this meeting because this meeting covered aspects of AA that I was not personally familiar with; such as The 12 Traditions and 12 Steps, but also because their name sounded
interesting, “Quittin Time Group.” Getting to the meeting was no problem. I had my own transportation. Even though I chose a meeting which was not to far from my home I was not aware of the area in which the meeting would be held, so I first googled the location and used navigation to get there. GPS was a great help in getting me to my location. I was fortunate enough to have these resources in order to assist me in getting to the meeting with no problem. If the internet, having my car, and having my GPS was not available, I do not how know successful I would not have been successful in finding the meeting, how to get to the location, nor would I have known how to figure a way to get to the location. These barriers, alone can greatly effect a person’s attendance to these meetings. Electronic resources were extremely helpful in figuring out where I should attend a meeting. Although I do not have mental or physical disabilities, it was helpful to know rather or not the meeting place is handicap accessible, and rather or not the times of the meetings are suitable for the individual. All of these factors are important when assisting clients in locating meetings near them that is fit for their schedule, but not everyone would have access to electronic resources. Not only could those electronic and transportation obstacles be barriers in attendance, but a person could plan for these and the meeting may not happen at that location or the time which was provided. In my situation, the time and location in which I wanted to attend the meeting did not work out as planned. I arrived at the meeting place, but no one was there. Another lady and I had a small conversation as to how we both think that no one will show up to this location and how inconveinicing this was. Luckily, I had another meeting place and time available, this location was about 6 to 7 miles away from the first meeting place. This meeting location was another church and it had started at 7:30, but when my partner and I walked into the church, they were having Bible Study, no one knew of an AA meeting.
I was very angry at this point! I wanted to give up in finding a meeting, very badly, but I do not enjoy being defeated. The third meeting place, was the very last place. I would not have known about this location if it was not due to research on my cellphone, another barrier in which an individual may face if they did not have anyone to ask for assistance nor the technology on-the-go. Luckily, the last location in which I had drove to was successful. The meeting began at 8 P.M., and was about 5 miles from the previous location. I was elated to see that the parking area had cars parked in the lot and people were standing in front of the building talking amongst one
another.