Aa Meeting Reflection

As part of my community outreach makeup, I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting in my hometown. It took place at the La Puente Center: 15911 Main Street, La Puente at 10:30 AM. I got to the La Puente Center and took a seat amongst the people that usually meet at this time. I introduced myself as a nursing student from Mount Saint Mary’s. I let everyone know that I was currently in a Mental Health class and as part of it I was to attend an AA meeting to see how these meetings were conducted and what their goals were. It was a group of individuals all looking to maintain their relationships, occupations, and lives in conjunction with their struggles with alcohol problems.
It was important to me because it as an international fellowship, it is open to any men and women who have a drinking problem and want to do something about it. In addition, there is no age or education requirement to attend these meetings. I observed people at different stages in their lives, of different ages, and definitely both men and women. It was important to me to observe that all individuals that attended were open to each other regardless of their background

What was also surprising to me was the level of honesty these individuals instilled. I’m sure that this is pivotal to the quest of being sober but it was raw honesty. These individuals acknowledged that they were different and not like other individuals who were not alcoholics. Their constant use of the term alcoholic was a clear effort to become accepting of their nature and remove stigma from the word itself. I was not only surprised, I was happy. These individuals brought a lot of perspective to my own life. It was eye opening in the sense that there are so many factors, faces, and situations that may represent a mental