Self-Help Meetings and Paper:

1. You will need to attend three self-help meetings:

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2. One Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (AA),

3. One Al-Anon meeting (for friends and families of

alcoholics) and either:

4. One Smart Recovery Meeting (underpinnings are RET/CBT), or

5. One Refuge Recovery Meeting (a Buddhist Path to Addiction Recovery), or

6. One of the 12-Step meetings on this list:

  • ACAAdult Children of Alcoholics
  • CACocaine Anonymous
  • CMACrystal Meth Anonymous
  • CoDACo-Dependents Anonymous (for people working to end patterns
  • of dysfunctional relationships)

  • GAGamblers Anonymous
  • MAMarijuana Anonymous
  • NANarcotics Anonymous
  • OAOvereaters Anonymous
  • PAPills Anonymous (recovery from prescription pill addiction)
  • There are multiple 12-step meetings that take place through-out the day and night. Do

    not attend meetings designated for AA or NA group members only. These are usually

    noted with a C (referring to a closed meeting) next to them. You want to look for open

    meetings. To find a meeting time and location that will fit your schedule, please refer to

    the following websites. Please pay close attention to the meeting type key.

    You may attend one online meeting in lieu of one in person meeting.

    NA website for Southern California meetings:

    AA website link to contact area meetings:

    Al-Anon website for Los Angeles County:

    SMART Recovery:

    or

    Los Angeles County:

    For any of the meetings above, Google the type of meeting or meeting name

    and the county in which you want to attend the meeting.

    2. Prior to attending these meetings, you may want to look over the first 165

    pages of The Big Book (4th ed.), which can be found online at

    www.aa.org.

    3. PAPER: In light of your experiences at the meetings, write a paper

    incorporating what you learned during these different experiences. The paper

    should be a minimum of at least 2 pages and cover the following:

    a. Page 1: Write a review of each meeting you attended that includes:

  • Location and time of meeting
  • Discuss focus of the meeting (e.g., participation meeting
  • Step Study, speaker meeting, etc.)

  • Reflect on you own thoughts and feelings at the meeting: What
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    was it like for you? What do you think a person new to recovery

    would have experienced?

  • What did you learn about yourself from being at the meeting?
  • b. Page 2: Comment on how your beliefs about all these groups have

    changed or stayed the same given these experiences. Did you have

    preconceived notions or assumptions prior to going? What surprised

    you? What did you learn about this population that you did not know

    before? How can you help your clients now that you have

    experienced the meetings for yourself?

    WRITE MY PAPER