Essay on Attendance of the Latino Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

I attended a Latino Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Atlanta, Georgia. It was an open type of meeting that comprised of a chairperson and attendees who were mostly alcoholic Latino women. The meeting was scheduled to start at 10 am and end at noon at Nexus 1201 Executive Suites. Most of the members were aged between 30 and 50 years and were median income persons. However, the majority of them seemed to have health problems due to effects of alcoholism. I attended the meeting to learn how AA meetings are conducted and its effectiveness in addressing addiction in the community. Another factor that motivated me is the desire to get ideas about the meeting to encourage similar meetings in other places to ensure substance abuse is ended within the entire Latino community.

Once I entered the meeting, I found very few people in attendance and I feared that postponement of the meeting was inevitable. Another fear was being identified as non-alcoholic because the women in attendance were local individuals well-known by the chairperson. I felt I was the only one stranger in that room. However, many women started streaming in, and in less time the meeting room was full. As a new person, I received a warm welcome from my fellow women who were happy to see me join them in collectively addressing ways to control alcoholism among ourselves. I received friendly hugs and handshakes as per Latinos culture, and we shared pleasantries before the arrival of the chairperson. I felt less at ease because I was initially worried about being treated harshly since I was a stranger to them.

In few minutes, the chairperson who was also an alcoholic arrived, and the meeting started. Few senior individuals were given a chance to individual introduce themselves and provide brief history concerning their alcoholic life and experiences. Luckily, I did not introduce myself, and the meeting agenda of the meeting was officially started. The meeting beforehand is a 12-step meeting that is occasionally held every month in the region. This type of meetings is organized by local leaders separately for women and men, and everybody is free to attend. According to their introduction and presentations, I managed to identify to some of the speakers. The chairperson is a former owner of a local pub while other speakers are individuals that have been invited to advise the women on drug abuse.

Before the meeting, I had perceived a situation where the meeting will not be successful based on the number of people in attendance. However, I slowly developed a positive attitude because the meeting was intense and critical issues were discussed. Many subjects were touched including the importance of Ibogaine in treating addictive Opiate and recovery measures. The conference covered the addiction of various forms of drugs such as heroin, alcohol, nicotine, cannabis sativa among others extensively. My initial thoughts were that getting addiction was a long-term thing and depends on the amount of substance a person takes. However, the experience at the meeting completely changed my perception of drug addiction. Firstly, I managed to learn that addiction can be influenced by family genes. Specific heritable factors which range from moderate to high have influences (Agrawal & Lynskey, 2008). Secondly, I learned that traditional Native American sweat lodges play a significant role in treating drug addiction (Michael's House Treatment Centers, 2018).

Moreover, the 12-step meeting enabled me to learn more about co-occurring disorders brought about by substance use. These include eating disorders, sexual addiction, and pathological gambling. With this basic knowledge I acquired, I can confidently refer any person to attend one of the 12-step programs because it is very educative. Drug programs make a drug addicted person have hopes and believes in reversing the substance addiction in his or her life (Straussner, 2014). I confess I felt different from the feeling I had before the meeting. The women in attendance received life-changing lessons which will convert them from being alcoholic to more powerful and reliable women.

The women are likely to benefit from three primary subjects discussed. These are factors that contribute to substance abuse, effects, and ways to control them. The participants were taught on contributory factors to drug abuse such as peer pressure, mental illness, trauma, genetics, and environment. Additionally, the clients learned about ways to recover from alcohol dependence through behavior change which results in social and spiritual transformation (Kelly, Magill & Stout, 2009). Another great lesson learned concerns the role of epigenetics in drug abuse. Epigenetics effects occur through the food they eat and also triggered by other factors such as racism and poverty hence making them engage in drug abuse (Combs-Orme, 2012).

Although many meetings are educative, there are potential drawbacks that affect the attendees. Several sessions are time-consuming and may create some inconveniences. This meeting was to take 3hours but ended up taking four hours. Another challenge concerns formalities which may be complicated. If you wish to attend a meeting, you must be aware of regulations to be observed. For example, the AA meeting requires attendees to keep confidentiality, share feelings, and avoid fixing and crosstalk (Kelly & Hoeppner, 2013). Lastly, attending meetings may create the possibility of information overload. For instance, having multiple agendas may result in too much information which eventually makes the participants forgot other essential information.

This Latino AA meeting proved to be successful based on the hope instilled in the women. According to specific women, I interviewed privately after the meeting; they believe that their future will be much different from the way they are now. In one case, a middle-aged woman narrated to me how alcohol had destroyed entirely her marriage up to the point she has been abandoned. However, she has gained hopes, and she plans to enroll in a rehabilitation center where she will work to restore her marriage and contribute positively to the society. A closer look at the outcomes shows a successful meeting with fruitful returns in the near future.

One personal confession from a participant touched my heart. The participant narrated how she has been abusing alcohol and other drugs such as bhang and nicotine for the last ten years. She explained how she was introduced to drugs by her peers and slowly became a drug addict up to the point of being neglected in the society. She started from consuming little amount of alcohol to engaging in search of illegal alcohol. Additionally, she was secretly supplied with bhang and nicotine by peddlers within the community. However, she was later assisted by her brother who took her to a nearby rehabilitation center where she underwent recovery process for six months. She later recovered from substance abuse and chose to become drug change ambassador.

I advise individuals who fear attending meetings that they should attend an AA meeting. Evidently, it is advantageous to drug addicts because it gives them an opportunity to end substance use. Although many such meetings are uncomfortable and you may have to spend little on transport and creating time, the results are fascinating.

References

Agrawal, A., & Lynskey, M. T. (2008). Are there genetic influences on addiction: evidence from family, adoption and twin studies? Addiction, 103(7), 1069-1081.

Combs-Orme, T. (2012). Epigenetics and the social work imperative. Social Work, 58(1), 23-30.

Kelly, J. F., & Hoeppner, B. B. (2013). Does Alcoholics Anonymous work differently for men and women? A moderated multiple-mediation analysis in a large clinical sample. Drug and alcohol dependence, 130(1), 186-193.

Kelly, J. F., Magill, M., & Stout, R. L. (2009). How do people recover from alcohol dependence? A systematic review of the research on mechanisms of behavior change in Alcoholics Anonymous. Addiction Research & Theory, 17(3), 236-259.

Michael's House Treatment Centers. (2018). Can Traditional Native American Sweat Lodges Help Treat Drug Addiction? Michael's House Treatment Centers. Retrieved 15 January 2018, from http://www.michaelshouse.com/blog/can-traditional-native-american-sweat-lodges-help-treat-drug-addiction/

Straussner, S. (2014). Clinical work with substance-abusing clients (3rd ed., pp. 1-16). London: The Guilford Press.