Anthony Scandy

Alcoholics Anonymous

10/3/18

For this week of clinical we got to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as a group

and observe the way these meetings work. We met up at the Southern Park mall where we

discussed the twelve steps of recovery and what we should expect to see. Upon arrival and taking

a seat inside, they went around the room and introduced themselves and told us what they were

there for. I would say 95% of the room was alcoholics. I thought that the majority of people there

really wanted to be there and really wanted to be successful on staying sober. Some of the stories

these people were telling were about how they started drinking, how it got out of hand, how they

realized they had a problem, and how finally by coming to AA they were able to overcome their

problem and remain sober. Some of these people had relapsed before, and some had not, but they

all shared the common goal of wanting to be sober for as long as they possibly could. One thing

that I learned that I did not previously know was that AA does not accept any outside funding

and runs only on the donations from the people who attend the meetings and funds they generate

themselves in order to refrain from being controlled or opinionated from any outside source.

Overall, I thought that this experience was very useful because now if I ever have an

alcoholic patient I can recommend an AA meeting and explain to them how it works and that

even I have attended one so they should attend one as well. It was also useful to see how people

really can let this substance take them over. I have drank in my life, sometimes more than others,

but I have never thought it was taking over my life like these people thought. I firmly believe

that as long as you have your life in order, under control, and it flows well, if you want to

consume alcohol you can do so as long as you are in good health and drink very responsibly.