Reaction Paper

Reaction Paper
After my first visit to a support group, I realized that peer support is a crucial element towards recovery and leading a purposeful life for many. Getting a support group that is in line with a person’s needs is indeed the beginning point of a fruitful life for many. Talking to others brings a sense of belonging and takes away the loneliness most people experience when they are struggling with some issues in their life. Support group members often get a feeling of emotional relief by being part of a larger family. Aside from anxiety disorders which I discussed in my first assignment, a large number of people also struggle with drug addiction which ranges from the use of alcohol to tobacco. In this regard, Narcotics Anonymous (NA) was founded to support addicts and continues to play a key role towards a substance abuse free generation.
Therefore, as part of my follow-up study, I visited the Narcotics Anonymous in my hometown, to get more insights about support groups. The NA was founded in 1953 by Jimmy K and some of his friends. The basic objective of the group is to help drug addicts overcome their addiction and live normal lives. According to “NA” (2016), it is a community-based group with diverse membership with regards to culture, ethnicity, race and religion. Over the years the group has grown to become an international organization and has its presence in 139 countries with over 60,000 meetings being held weekly across the globe. The group assists drug addicts to lead a normal life by utilizing the twelve-step program coupled with regular reading of the basic text.

Membership to the group is free, but once a person becomes a member, he/she will be required to pay a certain subscription fee.
The NA usually holds its meetings at social places such as churches, social parks, social halls and much more. When I visited one of their open groups, the meeting was being conducted at one of the local churches. Frankly, as I walked into the church compound, I had no clue what to anticipate. I arrived a few minutes to the start of the meeting and took a sit next to the only lady in the room. Unlike the previous group, I realized the NA group allows up to fifteen members per group. On this particular day, there were twelve men and one lady and their ages ranged between 20 and 45 years. Almost all the men in the room had the characteristics of hardcore criminals with tattoos covering larger parts of their hands and neck. At first, I was scared, but that feeling was soon gone after the lady next to me realized that I was nervous and initiated a chat with me. She was amazingly polite, and she let me know that I could ask her about anything. From the little conversation I had with her, I learned that indeed it was true that some of the group members had a criminal history, but they were determined to change for the better. All along I was curious to see how they conducted their meetings.
Soon the meeting started after one the middle-aged men stood and asked the members to say the serenity prayer. I noticed that this did not happen in the first meeting. Afterward, new members were asked to introduce themselves, and it happened that I was the only new member. The other procedures were similar to the previous visit, and on this day the group was having an open discussion where each member would talk about his/her experience for about ten minutes. I think open discussions are crucial because they help members learn how to maintain the achievements they have gained and equally get to hear of new techniques that may be utilized in their recovery process. Also, the fact that members of such groups are free to discuss their relationship with other family members and friends helps them achieve strong emotional ties. Equally, by learning from each other how they coped in different situation enhances the members’ problem-solving skills. One similarity that I noted between the two groups is that members of these groups are encouraged to offer honest feedback so that they can get realistic support from others. For instance, one member openly admitted that he had difficulties ending ties with his old friends, friends who had introduced him to drugs and he knew that the risk of relapsing was so high. The other members were very supportive and most narrated how they had handled similar situations.
I equally liked the way the leader allowed members to express their views without dominating them unlike in the first visit where the leader took much of the time. I find this important because it enhances the self-esteem of members especially those who have been previously subjected to abuse and discrimination. Self-esteem helps addicts build on their strengths and take full control of their lives. Equally, as rightly argued by Richmond and others, opening up is important for those recovering from addiction since it takes away the habit of personal blame that is common among addicts and ex-addicts. Such gains will soon spill over to other areas of the members’ lives leading to a fulfilling life (Richmond, et al., 2000). As the meeting came to a close, I realized that the discussions were part of the part of the twelve step program which is complimented by other readings.
In brief, from the two visits I learned a lot from the experiences and stories the members shared during their discussions. I learned that different people view issues differently and that one method may be suitable for one group but unsuitable for another group. Above all, I learned that recovery from anxiety disorders, diseases, and addiction is possible considering that some of the members had to overcome great odds and a strong belief system. Support groups remain important because they offer emotional support. As members share their experiences, they realize that they are not alone in the journey to recovery. The groups are like a large family brought together by a common objective hence it takes away the stress and anxiety of dealing with a problem. Therefore, I strongly believe that there is a lot to gain from support groups and I hope that more people will realize this. Lastly, having learned about prewriting techniques, I think that my writing skills have improved. This is because through these techniques I can now focus on my ideas and format before writing the final copy. This enables me to present my ideas clearly and in chronological order, something synonymous with good writers.
References
NA. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.na.org/Richmond, T. S., Thompson, H. J., Deatrick, J. A., & Kauder, D. R. (2000). Journey towards recovery following physical trauma. Journal of advanced nursing, 32(6), 1341-1347.