Alcohol Anonomyous (St James Club) - Essay Example

Alcohol Anonymous (St. James Club) Attending the St. James Club alcoholic anonymous meeting was an enlightening experience. While I felt a great deal of anxiety before attending the meeting, upon entering the room and speaking with some of the people I came to feel extremely comfortable. No one was intimidating and everyone was extremely kindhearted and welcomed me with open arms. One of the issues I was interested in learning about was group confidentiality. The general understanding is that the group observes confidentiality, but I was not sure if this would be entirely observed.

In these regards, confidentiality was observed. When the meeting opened the group leader and members had about four different sayings in the group session. There was a facilitator that guided the group from beginning to end. At the beginning the facilitator opened the floor for anyone to answer questions and to elucidate the general rules. Some of the rules were related to confidentiality and the others centered on how the group should respect each other. The group leader then opened the discussion to the other members and asked if anyone was having problems staying sober.

One of the group members named Charles appeared to be the dominant group member but he also helped start the session. Each person had a supporter and Charles was having a problem with his supporter. The group dynamic was slightly off, as there were twenty men and only three women. Still, I believe in terms of numbers the size of the group was optimal for discussion. The group also had a strong diversity of age, with individuals there from age 18 to age 72. In all I can say this was a spiritually based meeting that was beneficial to the group members.

Sitting in on this meeting I felt accepted and socially at ease; I appreciate the experience and have no difficulty understanding how this could help individuals in their troubles with alcohol.