Dual Recovery Anonymous Essay

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Support Group Report The group that I chose to attend was Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA). The group met on Thursday evenings from 8:15 pm to 9:15 pm. Dual Recovery Anonymous is a 12-step program for individuals who experience both a mental or emotional illness and an addiction (dual diagnosis). The first and second groups had 4 attendees; the third group had 3 and the last group I attended had 8 attendees. Since there was 4 group members, on average at each meeting, it was easier for me to observe group dynamics and individual behaviors. Many individuals were repeat attendees and knew each other from being consistent with their attendance in the group. (No one’s name will be used in this paper for confidentiality purposes. Instead I will use member plus letters in quotation) One of the members (male) was an alcoholic and was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Another male member was schizoaffective with an alcohol addiction while a different male member had Major Depressive Disorder, ADHD and smoked marijuana. A “regular” was a female who was diagnosed with Bipolar, Anxiety Disorder, and ADHD and she was addicted to alcohol. The meetings were structured the same from week to week with DRA readings (preamble), moments of silence, and the serenity prayer at every meeting. The DRA Preamble stated that each member was to at least have a desire to stop using substances to cope and a desire to manage the diagnosed illness. The group facilitator was not a mental health professional and was a recovering addict who struggles with anxiety and depression (peer-run group). At each meeting, he reminded all attendees that the group was not a counseling or therapy group due to the lack of a mental health professional being involved and on site for the meetings. By definition, the group was labeled a “support group” which I agree with since Jacobs (2012) defines a support
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