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with being able to attend meetings. The Alcohol Safety Action Project

(A.S.A.P.) and Driving While Intoxicated (D.W.I.) may have Alcoholics Anonymous

members conducting informational meetings as part of their programs. These are

not regular A.A. group meetings, but informational meetings about A.A.

On November 11th I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with another student

from class. I had researched online various times, locations, and types of

meetings in Nassau County. The meeting was in a local church that I have driven

by many times. The meetings themselves were located in the basement of the

church. I thought that the meeting would be held in a big, open, spacious room

filled with people from what I may have seen an A.A. meeting looks like on

television or in movies.

However, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that the meetings held at this

particular location were in small, nursery school classrooms. I figured that I

would be able to sneak into the room, sit quietly, keep to myself, and go

unnoticed. This was not the case. When I first walked downstairs, I was

reading a bulletin board which listed the times, types, and room assignments for

the meetings to be held that night. I was only standing there a minute or two

reading and deciding which meeting to go into when a man came over and asked if

he could help me find a meeting. So much for going unnoticed.

Immediately, I found myself speechless (that does not happen very often). I did

not think it was appropriate to say that I am not an alcoholic, nor do I have a

problem with alcohol because I was surrounded by either alcoholics or friends

and family members of alcoholics. I also thought that he might think that I was

just in denial. I was flustered, and the other student that I was with seemed

equally so because she was doing the talking for both of us and was having

trouble choosing her words . It was not appropriate either for us to say that I

was there to observe for a school project.

The man was polite and had introduced himself. He said that he helped to run

the meetings here and at another location on Long Island. He also asked if this

was our first meetings, I think because we both looked lost and somewhat

confused about how to go about choosing a meeting. So we both said yes, and he

suggested a few options for meetings about to begin. There were meetings that

were both open and closed, step, for women, and for beginners to name a few.

We told him we were interested in an open meeting. he asked us if we were

students, and we said yes. Then, a very astute observation, he politely asked

if this was research for a class. A minor sigh of relief, I did not feel like I

was posing or intruding so much anymore.

We decided to attend an open meeting that was for women only. The meeting

started, and a women stood up and introduced herself. She stated her name and

that was an alcoholic, but had been sober for a little over a year. Recently,

she said she has had a strained relationship with he teenage son. They have a

good relationship, but he knows how to lay guilt trips. Before she was sober

her sons got their way all the time, and did as they pleased. He is becoming

more independent and at 16, and getting a drivers license. She has set

boundaries, but he does not readily accept this. It is also difficult she

realizes that he mother he knew growing up is a different (sober) person now.

Another women in the group has a boy the same age, and she said they have spoken

about their similar problems, and it is good to know she is not the only one

going through this growing process. She realizes that this is a difficult time

for her son too because her own mother was not there for her. Being a member of

Alcoholics Anonymous helped her to understand that her mother was a sick woman,

who was dependent on amphetamine. She has forgiven herself for feeling like she

did about her mother, and they have a relationship not. They are not close, but

understand each other.

It seemed that this women has benefited greatly from attending A.A. meetings.

She was able to stop drinking, and attend meetings where she can discuss her

drinking and related problems. The difficulty of staying sober, everyday

occurrences in life, or specific child related problems can be related by other

members in meetings. She has also been able to repair the relationship with her

mother who was also an addict. It seems like these meetings really do help

people in their everyday battle to stay sober. It is a support system that they

might not able to stay sober without. About 2,000,00 people consider

themselves members of Alcoholics Anonymous according to a member survey in 1999

(AA Forum).

A 1999 study confirms that weekly participation a 12-Step program, like

Alcoholics Anonymous, or Narcotics Anonymous helps people in recovery to

maintain their abstinence for up to two years after completing substance abuse

treatment. “Results indicated that 12-Step attendance was associated with lower

drug and alcohol use (Fiorentine).” The people in the study who continued

attending 12-Step programs were much less likely to have used drugs or alcohol

than were subjects who dropped out. The author of the study concluded that

“weekly or more frequent attendance at 12-Step programs may be effective in

maintaining long-term drug and alcohol

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