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Biblical Worldview Application Paper1

Biblical Worldview Application Paper Shanika Jones Psych497 February 28, 2021

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Name and Brief History of Organization Narcotics Anonymous ( NA) founded in 1953, describes itself as a nonprofit fellowship of sobriety of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. It was founded in 1953 by Jimmy Kinnon and others in Los Angeles, California. Narcotics Anonymous uses a 12step model developed for people with varied substance use disorders and is the second 12-step organization. Most of the founding members were from Alcohol Anonymous( AA) debated and established the 12 Traditions of the NA fellowship. On September 14, 1953, AA authorized NA the use AA’s 12-steps and traditions on the condition that they would stop using the AA name causing the organization to call itself Narcotics Anonymous. The Little Brown book was the first publication of NA. It contained the 12 steps and early drafts of several pieces that would be included in subsequent literature. After NA was founded it was not recognized by society at large as a positive force. The initial group had difficulty finding places to meet and often had to meet in people’s homes. The first meetings of Narcotics anonymous were held in the basement of churches for members protection because at that time an old law prohibiting convicted felons from congregating was still being upheld and churches offered their basements as a sanctuary. It was many years before NA became recognized as a beneficial organization for a variety of reasons meeting began to decline in the late 1950s. In late 1959 meetings began to form again and grow. The NA white booklet was written in 1962 and became the heart of NA meetings and the basis for all subsequent NA literature. The 1970s was a period of rapid growth in NA’s history. By 1976 there were 200 regular meetings including 83 in California alone, in the early 1980’s Brazil, Canada, Colombia, and India to name a few. The World Service office was officially opened in 1977.

Biblical Worldview Application Paper3 Narcotics Anonymous effect on Relapse Prevention Relapse is a condition where people fall into drugs after recover. Preventing relapse can affect preventing unlawful behavior, increasing mental health, and also prevent from unwell-being life. One of the NA program relapse prevention methods is mindfulness and spiritual-based which is a good way to increase psychological wellbeing. NA is found to give the addict accountability and support to have a drug-free life. It allows them to share with another addict their struggle of remaining abstinent from drug use. How Meeting is Run/ Organized: Serenity Group Substance Abuse Meeting Tuesdays 530-630 Riverside Behavior Health Virtual Only https://us04web.zoom.us/j/2468091909 tel:+19292056099,,2468091909# Zoom ID: 246 809 1909 Password: serenity

I attend this group twice because of the not-so-good experience I had with observing an NA meeting for another class. This meeting was very informative, and everyone was very transparent. They are a family; they also keep close ties with other members in the peninsula area. They celebrate other members' celebration by attending that person's home meeting. This meeting is a Speaker /Discussion Meeting James and his wife are the facilitators. James celebrated his 26 years of sobriety, so they had a Single Speaker that shared her journey from an addict to a sponsor. The helping model is 12 step recovery with a higher power. In the meetings, I attended no one shared about relapses. They share success stories in open discussion and some members live out of town now but continue to attend that meeting. Personal Comments of Meetings

Biblical Worldview Application Paper4 My very first meeting with this group was on February 16, 2021, the facilitator shared a story about his experience in rehab as a sponsor. He had the opportunity to get high while transporting another addict to the hospital. he stated the only reason he did not do it because he did not want his sponsor to be disappointed in him. His sponsor was like a father to him and went that extra mile to help him stop doing drugs. The group spoke about how they all dealt with Valentine's Day. Their addiction had damaged a lot of their relationships with spouses and families that this day was a struggle for them. One of the addicts shared about a strained relationship with his daughter and sister. He is been clean for 10 years and he felt like drinking and using this day because of the continuous self-cleansing and loneliness. He started using while in the military to cope with pain because men do not cry. A grandmother attends the group because her daughter is currently using drugs. This grandmother is raising the daughter’s children. She shared how she hurts because her daughter will not come to see or call the children. She cries because she never taught her daughter to be the mother she is today. I realize that an addict does not have specific look. These addicts were social workers, shipyard workers, retired military, and other medical professionals. The speaker who spoke during the celebration on February 23, 2021, shared about church hurt and growing up as a catholic in New York. She is been clean for 31 years, but her addiction became a nonsubstance addiction after she stops using narcotics. The addiction became work and keeping up with the Jones. She stated that she struggled with sharing due to low esteem and selfcentered fear. When she was using, she felt powerless and empty tried to use drugs, food, sex, money, and clothes to fill this emptiness. She shares that she was a functional and broke addict. She worked every day got paid at 1200 on Friday leave work and did not return until Monday broke because she smoked up every dime of her money. She shared about a horrible experience

Biblical Worldview Application Paper5 that resurfaced when she first attended NA. The NA meeting passed around a basket to collect for coffee and minor expenses. The addict shared when she last went to church before getting clean the pastor laid hands on her because a family member requested. After she left the church, she got high on drugs for a couple of days, so she assumes God did not love her or did not want to help her. So, she said for a while she looks to her group and NA literature as her Higher Power. The church hurt she experiences was too much for her to look at the Lord as her higher power. The speaker also spoke about how the church had evicted her family because they had not attended in a month or gave enough tithes. Her story crushed me because God is loving and wants to help all of us. If we just allow him to help us work through our pain. The speaker spoke about how she had sex with her cousin and did not know whether the cousin was the father of her daughter or someone else. She lived with that shame and guilt until she reached her 4th step in recovery: a moral inventory of herself. She shared this story at an NA meeting to discover other addicts had done the same thing and lived with the same pain. During the share and congratulating part of the meeting another addict shared about attempting to commit suicide on May 15, 2020, by jumping off a pier to drown. The addict stated he was high but a higher power came onto the pier and spoke to him then he called the facilitator to come to pick him up. The addict was very remorseful for using and attempting to take his life. In this portion, I learned about the Spirituality of Narcotics Anonymous. Narcotics Anonymous calls itself a spiritual program of recovery from the disease of addiction. NA places importance on participants developing a working relationship with high power. The only suggested guidelines are that this Power is loving, caring, and greater than one’s self and more powerful than the disease of addiction. Participants from various spiritual and religious backgrounds as well as atheists and agnostics have developed a relationship with a higher power.

Biblical Worldview Application Paper6 Biblical Worldview Application This meeting incorporates a biblical worldview because addicts recognize that mankind has a fallen nature, We as sinners cannot save ourselves without faith and belief in a higher power such as God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Jesus, Yeshua. The twelve steps of NA are based upon a spiritual foundation. The Serenity Prayer is prayed during the meeting and at the close of the meeting. Every addict referenced how God helped them even though they thought he was disappointed in them. God I believe was presented in their recovery journey whether it was positive or negative. They realize God was carrying them even when they were killing themselves with their addiction. Conclusion This meeting taught me a lot about how the lord has been protecting me from certain relationships. I attended the meeting and one of the addicts was the guy was friends with a few years ago. God kept me from dating him because he knew his path of addiction. The addicts in this meeting showed me why I couldn’t detect that an ex-boyfriend of mine who I later discovered was a heroin addict. The listen I learned was that the addict on TV is not the proper image of an addict. God's will for your life is better than your own will because he knows the truth. God knows the true character of that person, while they are lying and wearing different masks. But addiction develops to cope with pain and uncertainty. It is a sickness that only commitment, support, the strength of will, and God can help you to overcome one day at a time. The pain and hurt were a lifelong process, not overnight addiction took time so it will take time to accomplish full recovery.

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References LaBelle, O. P., & Edelstein, R. S. (2018). Gratitude, insecure attachment, and positive outcomes among 12-step recovery program participants. Addiction Research & Theory, 26(2), 123132. doi:10.1080/16066359.2017.1333111 Tianingrum, N. A., Feriani, P., Susanti, E. W., Purdani, K. S., Winarti, Y., & Safrudin, B. (2019). The effect of narcotics anonymous meeting toward relapse prevention among prisoners. Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development., 10(3), 667. doi:10.5958/0976-5506.2019.00579.5...