Narcotic Anonymous Support Group Essay

Forsyth (2015) argues that some support groups are created to allow members to come together and share their common concerns, including divorce, disability, drugs, and weight problems. Many support groups have been developed to battle addiction, including the Narcotic Anonymous (NA) Support Group. This is the group that I attended the sessions. The group size of participants for every meeting is 10, though since NA support groups are absolutely voluntary the number of participants does not really matter. In fact, the only requirement for the support group is the desire to curb using drugs. The meetings provided a safe place to ask queries, discuss own feelings about the programs adopted, and share personal experiences from the previous sessions. The presentation of the theme was in line with the 12-steps program.

The meeting was chaired by a 7-year experienced and a 12-step Alcohol Anonymous behavioral therapy, Dr. Braving. The application of the 12-step model provided a basic approach to dwelling without substance approach. People who understood what we were going through guided us through the programs. These people shared their experience, hope, and strength with us. Sponsors provided direct support to us and were encouraged to be available just in case the resolving they reached starts to diminish. The presentation of the theme also encompassed the spiritual aspect of the recovery program. The content of recovering and abstaining from narcotics was appropriate to participants in many ways. Group Dynamics and Participants of Narcotic Anonymous (NA) Support Group The session of the meeting that I attended was in the performing stage of group development.

Forsyth (2015), refers to this stage of group development as the middle stage or working stage. Performing stage of group development is a stage when members are focused on the purpose. In the meeting session that I attended the focus was abstaining and recovering from the consumption of narcotics. The session provided me with an opportunity of learning new materials through discussion various recovery topics, completing tasks, personal sharing and engaging in therapeutic work. For instance, the leader allowed members who had dropped from the group some sessions to rejoin the group again. He used the criteria that NA support group is a group for all and the only criteria required here is the heart of recovery (Jacobs et al. Additionally, journaling dynamic.

This dynamic requires that members record what they learn in the group, and just in members forget what happened in sessions they can refer. Narcotic Anonymous support group that I attended was open. The purpose of the meeting session was to help participants recover and abstain from the consumption of narcotics. I think participants benefited from the meeting in many ways. First, the support group meeting provided members with a collective strength of hope, strength and shared experience. This provided positive encouragement and support. Again, the meeting provided members help when they needed it. Dr. Braving allowed every member in the meeting to utter what he or she deemed necessary. Second, Strategic style. This leadership style involves a leader heading the organization, but all subordinates are geared for the purpose of high performance.

Dr. Again, reflection skill. This skill involves restating the comments made and conveying it in an understandable manner. Members were allowed to share their thoughts during the session, and Dr. Braving, while giving advice, could state the points exactly. The skill was appropriate because it helped members remember what they said. Dr. Braving failed to give the participants time to complete expressing their experience completely. But through the skill of active listening, Dr. Braving learned the importance of guiding participants through their hardship. Another challenge was lack of commonality. I learned that NA support group programs teach people to be honest with their lives and believe that the control they believed they had is lost. If I was leading the group I would emphasize the significance of accepting narcotic addiction as a disease first before teaching programs that would enhance abstinence and recovery.

If people understand that narcotics addiction is a disease, it would be easy for them to seek medicine for that disease. Again, to avoid communication, I will encourage commonality. for instance, newcomers will have separate sessions. In a summary, the experience of attending an NA support group has enabled me to relate the information in books to happenings in real life. The session helped me realize that narcotic addiction is a disease that has penetrated the society, and along with it, it and has swept more people. To offer assistance to those individuals struggling with addiction, support groups such as Narcotic Anonymous has been created. NA support group is non-religious, but with programs like 12-steps, sociometric and integration, and sponsors a way to recovery and abstinence are encouraged.