Mutual Help Group Reaction Paper

Mutual Help Group Reaction Paper

Aisha Siddiq

[Name of the Institution]

Mutual Help Group Reaction Paper

Introduction

Help groups tend to repair a broken person who is suffering from addiction through the healing process that is accompanied by a group of individuals, also facing the same addiction problem in a meeting process (Munn-Giddings et al. 2016). Church groups, in particular, provoke a valuable insight into a person through reflecting on some of the most important aspects of life, such as reflecting on life without addiction. Moreover, church groups often talk about the religious aspects of life and the sacred meaning it holds, which makes individuals suffering from addiction think about replenishment and obedience. The following reflection paper would consist of my help group and the purpose it has. The discussion of this essay would concentrate on the most significant aspects of this help group, such as the time and place, the name of the group, the demographics, physical surroundings, atmosphere, etc. Moreover, it would elaborate on the meaning of participating in a church group and the expectations which unfold.

Discussion

Identification

The name of the group that I am a part of is “Ladies Doing it Together” and is referred to as a help group for individuals suffering from symptoms of addiction and obsession. Addiction is the most terrible thing that can come across a person as it breaks them down entirely and turns them into something which they are not. Addiction does irreparable damage to a person by forcing them into consuming harmful substances, which not only becomes a risk to health, but endangers the well-being, physical health, and professional life of that person. By being a part of this help group, one thing which becomes evident by every passing day is that improvement is enforced upon. The meeting which I am a part of starts every Saturday, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am at Soundview Presbyterian Church. The demographics of the group consisted of females who were aging 16-years-old and over.

The atmosphere and tone of the meeting presented as a Church, and biblical setting with benches all around leading towards an altar. The tone of the meeting was moderate and calm, which is similarly leading towards one topic, and that was a compulsive obsession and addiction disorder. The meeting was a way of telling the participants about the plague surrounding our habits and ways of changing it into a more favorable lifestyle. The atmosphere was designed in a way to boost our morale and support us towards a more favorable beginning. Regardless of how things might have become, the purpose of the help group is to spread positivity and be assured of the change. The self-disclosure gained from attending this meeting for personifying and ambitious. There were so many feelings surrounding all the same, which made me confident about the change that was almost achievable.

The Church, located at Lafayette Ave, 760 Soundview Ave, New York is the only establishment to have offering women a chance to experience self-healing through providing help group facilities. More importantly, it is the only well renowned and close Church to have opened up meeting sessions based on sorts of social awareness and issues concerning our societies. While attending this meeting, there is so much, and there is so much which I came to learn and know about myself. Things which I never knew before, and it surprised me. Attending this meeting meant very important to me as it was my only way to achieve happiness and fulfillment. Things that I came to learn about myself after attending this meeting was my patience, adherence, culpability, and accountability. While attending this meeting, I have been very keen to receive emotional guidance from people attending the same session as me.

There were a few typical stereotypes who wanted to draw the worst conclusion out of this situation, but the majority were those who were reluctant on going back to that phase, including myself. I was expected to become better and to come over these disorders of addiction and obsession. After developing a level of comfort with the group members in the meeting and the lecturer, there were so many expectations that arise. At times that were surprises which made me more confident about the past, as a more promising future lied ahead. The nature and philosophy of self-help groups primarily get defined as getting mutual help, mutual aid, from a group of people sharing a mutual problem. The purpose of the meeting is to support each other and share all the history concerning that problem so that a possible recovery is imitated. The aspect of healing in the mutual self-help group is the most critical part.

A self-help group also contributes towards a more systematic approach that requires concepts which focus on current social policies, such as crime, welfare, education, and volunteering. The concept of self-help solely gets based on improving the wellbeing of another person. The new learning gained from this help group consisted of classical conditioning, which also referred to as social learning (Tracy, & Wallace, 2016). There were limited implications but more advantages such as leaning through social interaction and joint influence. Moreover, having fun activities such as observing restraint on certain things, being talkative, discussing the past, any significant episodes which helped gain a better insight. A pleasing social discourse helped recognize the positive coping skills that were required. This new learning acquired about the nature of addiction helped restore control over it, even to an extent where one can say trying to cure the situation in which the possibility of having a stroke can be diminished.

Developing a level of comfort with the participants helped me know about there disorders and how they are coping with there implications. Listening about other peoples problems, helped me understand my own to a considerable extent. More importantly, this helped me with the learning of different disorders that can become a part of this process if not tackled and processed on time. The concept of going to a self-help group in a Church was to understand the God's intention towards his people, and to what extent would it require me to heal spiritually and biblically enlightened in the process of finding a cure towards these disorders. Being a part of this specific Church group was the only reason the number of participants, those were affected by the same disorders in the city. Having to know that a lot of support and motivation can be attained from these people, helped me cope up with my strengths to a considerable extent.

Conclusion

The aforementioned reflection response based on the self-help group consisted of experience of coping up with addiction and obsession disorders. During the time spent in the meetings at Church, a lot of things have been expected, and more than that have been learned during this process. I understood what it meant when addiction is no longer a part of a person, and I also appreciated the improvement that was becoming a part of me during the process. Moreover, I was thankful to have a group of generous people who were shattered from the inside but were holding hands with one another from the outside. The reason why everyone was so close in this group was to learn the main objectives of living with such disorders.

References

Munn-Giddings, C., Oka, T., Borkman, T., Chikoto, G. L., Matzat, J., & Montaño-Fraire, R. (2016). Self-help and mutual aid group volunteering. In The Palgrave Handbook of Volunteering, Civic Participation, and Nonprofit Associations(pp. 393-416). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Tracy, K., & Wallace, S. P. (2016). Benefits of peer support groups in the treatment of addiction. Substance abuse and rehabilitation, 7, 143.