Meetings intended for young people are identified in 12-step meeting directories, but many of these “young peoples’ ” meetings have a preponderance of members older than 30—quite ancient by a 16-year-old’s standards. Conversely, some generic 12-step meetings might have a cadre of teenagers that attend regularly—at least for a while.
In AA and NA, teens and young adults tend to travel in nomadic packs, linger for a few months, then move on. For this reason, having contacts familiar with the characteristics of local meetings can be invaluable as you try to match a younger patient with a 12-step meeting.
Attitude toward spirituality
One of patients’ most common complaints about 12-step meetings is their surprise at how “religious” the programs are. Insiders are quick to point out that 12-step programs are “spiritual” and not “religious,” but the distinction is moot to patients who are uneasy with this aspect of meetings. The talk about “God as I understand Him,” the opening and closing of meetings with prayers, and the generous adoption of Judeo-Christian practices can rub agnostic, atheistic, and otherwise spiritually indifferent patients the wrong way.
To protect your patients from being blind-sided, review with them some of the spiritual practices employed in 12-step programs before they attend their first meeting:
- Meetings begin with reading the Twelve Steps (Box 3) and other 12-step literature; all readings are peppered with spiritually-loaded words such as “God,” “Higher Power,” “prayer,” and “meditation.”
- Meetings end with a prayer in which the group stands and holds hands (in AA) or links their arms in a huddle (NA). [I advise patients who might find this activity intolerable to duck out to the rest room 5 minutes before the meeting ends.]
- Group leaders typically collect donations by passing the basket.
Certain meetings have a particularly heavy spiritual focus and might be appropriately prescribed for patients hungering for spiritual growth. But for patients who have had toxic encounters with religion or otherwise are ill-at-ease with spirituality or religious matters, starting out at one of the more spiritually hardcore 12-step meetings could be overwhelming. While your 12-step contact person is your best guide in these matters, the following points also apply:
- Meetings listed as “11th Step” or “God as I understand Him” meetings will have a strong spiritual focus.
- Meetings held on Sunday mornings often have the express purpose of focusing on spirituality.
- “Step” meetings generally have a more spiritual focus, as 11 of the 12 steps are aimed at eliciting a “spiritual awakening.”
- “Speaker” or “topic discussion” meetings tend to have a less spiritual focus, though this will vary with the meeting chairperson’s preferences.
- “Beginners” meetings, when available, are intended for new members and devote more time to helping the newcomer understand the 12-step approach to spirituality.
TOOLS FOR MAKING 12-STEP MEETING REFERRALS
Unless you regularly attend 12-step meetings, it is impossible to know which groups would be the best match for your patients. Here are suggestions for matching your patient’s needs with local 12-step meetings:
- Use fellowship directories. All 12-step fellowships maintain directories of where and when meetings are held and whether meetings are nonsmoking or have other restrictions (e.g., gay-only, women-only). For directories, call local AA and NA fellowships (in the phone book’s white pages).
- Develop a 12-step contact list. Rehabilitation centers often have counselors on staff who are familiar with local 12-step meetings and can recommend those that match your patients’ characteristics. Counselors who are active AA or NA members can be a valuable resource in identifying subtle differences in meetings.
- Locate 12-step meetings for impaired professionals. Special 12-step meetings for nurses, physicians, and pharmacists are held in many cities. For technical reasons, these are not “official”12-step meetings and are not listed in 12-step directories. Times and locations can generally be obtained from local medical societies, impaired-professional programs, or treatment centers.
THE 12 STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Cameto believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Source: Alcoholics Anonymous