Over the weekend, I attended an Overeaters Anonymous meeting at the Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills. This meeting was open to OA members and non-OA visitors. Each meeting is composed with special topics such as, a book study, lifeline, speaker, or newcomer’s stories have a defined topic of discussion. However, these meeting have certain bylaws that are strictly followed, which is the only requirement for OA membership and that is the desire to stop eating compulsively. Each attending member is asked to respect the meeting’s group conscience and give a voice to any person who has the desire to stop their addiction of overeating.
This meeting lasted about 1 hour and I felt very welcomed in this warm compassionate setting. Attending this meeting, I knew that I wasn’t going to be judged or looked down upon because of my situation or issues. Everyone who attended this meeting has a story to tell and that is why they choose to come. I choose to attend this meeting because of my past struggles, so I felt that I could relate to the material that was presented. The ...
...ethnicity or culture; it happens to anyone such as, doctors, lawyers, teacher, judges, students and many more. My observation of the meeting was that every member seemed to really listen to each other’s sharing, where each member shared an experience, and others could relate to that particular experience or had similar experiences, such as struggling with promiscuous behavior or relapses in attending meetings, but they still stuck with the program because they wanted change in their lives. No one was rushed in their sharing, and everyone was opened and friendly. It was a cohesive group. I felt a sense of that openness, when I was introduced to everyone, and included at close of the meeting, where everyone one formed a circle, held hands and recited the serenity prayer. Overall, it was a new and knowledgeable experience Another Chance gave me.
The first meeting was large with approximately 12 members, including the facilitator. My initial emotion internalized was amazement in the structure of the group. The structure of the group provides structure for the members which is crucial for those struggling with alcoholism. The initial sharing was from a young member of 26 who was struggling with sobriety and shared that he recently lost a child through miscarriage. I immediately became overwhelmed in the rawness of his visible emotions (crying). As I observed other members while he was sharing his story, they were intently listening to him. When the sharer finished, the group acknowledged him and another sharer started with his name and “I am an alcoholic”. I appreciated the structure of this transition. The emotion seemed to fill the room and it impacted how everyone addressed their next sharing. The following members shared in the direction of the first sharer and related to the difficulties and provided advise. During the exchange of emotion between members, I continued to be overwhelmed with the emotions internally. The second meeting that I attended was smaller but still provided that set structure and “family” feel of group members. Emotion and exchange of emotion was present as well. I chose to attend this meeting twice because I was impressed and overwhelmed by the first meeting, I had to attend again to gain more
Working with the women in the shelter was challenging, rewarding, and humbling. I felt many different emotions, sometimes I was sad as I’d listen to the women there share their stories with me. At times I felt an overwhelming sense of joy for them as we’d converse about their strength and ability to overcome the situations many of them had come out of. I felt triumph for some the fighters, but the greatest of all the emotions I felt, was hope. All of the women I spoke with, regardless of their background, their situation, or their story, had a tremendous outlook of hope. In the face of all of the adversity in front of them they believed wholeheartedly in the good that would come in the days ahead. That hope rubbed off on me. What had started as my own quest for self-fulfillment and self-knowledge had turned into something greater and I couldn’t have been more thankful. These courageous women, in sharing their stories with me helped me to build on my own story. They inspired, motivated, and pushed me to never give
Did your beliefs change about overeating and OA meetings after attending the meeting? How so?
In examining my personal strengths and limitations for work with this family, it was an eye opener. As an individual and human being, I felt the family’s sufferings. It was hard to hear and see what Precious has dealt with and knowing that she wanted to die at times. However as their social worker, I have to maintain boundaries and keep a professional relationship.
Maria Mena is a second year undergraduate student at Merced Community College getting her general education. After she finishes with her general education she plans on majoring in Nursing. She is interested in Nursing because she wants to help the sick and wounded in a hospital or clinical environment. Nurses will help treat you whether they know you or not and they are there for you in times of great need. Maria Mena is very determined and driven to push herself to achieve her goals. They include but are not limited to graduating from college and getting her Nursing degree. Then also possibly going past just regular nursing and specializing in Pediatric nursing at some point down the road.
Being obese seems to be a growing epidemic in the United States. It is not, just a problem with appearance and social life. Each person is accountable for its own health, control its own eating habits and the time devoted to exercising. Can we all be responsible to the decisions of a group of people? The answer, that shared by several is probably not. Nevertheless, in the last few years, this medical condition that increases the likelihood of a range of diseases in which excess body fat has accumulated to the point that it may have an unfavorable effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and increase health problems (Wikipedia, par.2). Obesity-related diseases are common these days, for each person there are significant risks of exceeding their own limits. It is difficult knowing that there is a person that can endanger their health, but continue with the same bad habits that can cause permanent damage. Obesity is becoming a problem that slowly gets out of hand, but little is being done to counter its growth. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. Also, their symptoms are complex and specific to each person. Finally, society should not accept obesity as a disability. Therefore, obesity it is a growing food dependency problem that must be prevents and fights rather than consider a life style.
I attended an open Overeaters Anonymous meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. Members gathered in the basement of Overbrook Presbyterian Church on N. High St. in Columbus, Ohio at 7:00 p.m. The meeting lasted a little over an hour. Upon entering the room, everyone sat around a large, rectangular table that was sparsely populated for the size of the group. The number of members fluctuated between twelve and fifteen, as some individuals came in late and others came and left before the conclusion of the meeting. By way of demographics, all group participants were middle-age. The ratio of females to males in attendance was approximately 4:1 and the perceived leader of the group was female.
I had been assigned to a 96 year old patient with a diagnosis of failure to cope. Prior to entering the patient’s room I had made a mental assessment through my personal research and verbal report that he was known to be a non-compliant agitated patient. Although the patient was already labeled as a difficult patient I did not allow this to cloud my own personal judgment when meeting with the patient. While providing morning care I began to engage with the patient through conversation and shortly learned that the patient was still grieving the loss of his wife from 9 years ago, they had been married for 65 years. By showing empathy and listening to the patient explain his story I was able to develop a therapeutic relationship with the patient where trust was built and nursing care was provided efficiently. I wanted to further explore the impact empathy has on nursing care in such setting as acute care, and how vital this is to the human
Firstly, I am a Bay Area native, daughter, friend and sister who deeply cares and thrives off my passion and the connections I make with the people around me. This passion towards the connections and impact I make with people and for people stems from growing up with two sets of relatives, one biological and one adopted. Due to being adopted, by parents sent me to a girls adoption group where I met other girl’s my age and was able to find support for not only talking about my adoption, but dealing with internal and external struggles by obtaining tools to better deal with hardships and to communicate with others. I can honestly say that I am a better person because of the support of the group and I feel that it is a big part of the person
In today’s society, there is a spotlight on the topic of staying healthy and fit. In the recent years weight loss programs have become increasingly popular, for example, Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig. These companies drive their business on improving unhealthy dietary habits. But, this increasing popularity is due to numerous large sized drink and meal options becoming available. Higher intake of calories and sugars eventually causes obesity. Although eating is essential for survival, what you eat is a personal choice. Many government officials have made strides to improve America’s obesity problems; both Mayor Bloomburg and Michelle Obama have approached this topic. Rather than a public health issue, obesity is a personal responsibility.Government
Millions of Americans and people worldwide are overweight or obese. Obesity develops when “calories consumed exceeds calories expended” (“Obesity and Genetics”). “Obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970’s,” and in the present day it is estimated that “two – thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese” (Ogden). Being overweight or obese highly increases the risk of deadly health problems, therefore this statistic states that the majority of the United States population is at risk of obtaining life–threatening diseases. Around forty years ago obesity would not effect this abundant number of people; however today’s society consumes more fast food in addition to spending most of their hours doing sedentary activities (Green). There are now many causes of obesity such as environment, genetics, bad habits, culture and economic level. Obesity has many negative impacts on the human body. It can very likely cause diabetes, joint pain, sleeping problems, depression, and many hazardous diseases (“Explore Overweight”). In contrast to this, there are some possible solutions to obesity such as physical activity, dieting, and surgery. Obesity is a widespread epidemic that unfavorably affects the body, but with exercise fused with dieting the disease could be kept to a minimum.
I visited the Ronald McDonald House on September 15, to meet a family that was staying there because they had a very ill child. I was there to interview Mr. and Mrs. Davis who’s had their five-year-old son, John was at Children’s Mercy Hospital. The Davis family was there because John has leukemia and needed chemotherapy. When I first met John, I was at a loss for words. I saw a five-year-old boy that didn’t have any hair (like me) and was thin like a cable wire. I thought it was great that John got to say with his family on good days. What amazed me so much was his spirit and thrust for life. Because they had faith in their little boy getting better, his parents were very much the same. I asked them what made them so upbeat and positive. They told me that they were getting the best treatment around and being close to him everyday really helped. I didn’t quite understand what they meant and asked them to explain. They told me that staying at the RMH with their son meant everything to the whole family. Instead of being in a hospital bed, or hotel room, the Davis’s kept close and were able to do everything that a family would do. Such things included playing with toys, having meals together, taking walks, enjoying closeness with one’s family, and all in the comfort of a home.
Ricky reports engaging in eating very large amounts of food in short periods of time in a way that feels out of control. He reports this overeating behavior occurs multiple times a day, every day. Ricky has been engaging in his behavior since college and has continued to the present day. Other than feeling lonely, Ricky has not reported another immediate trigger for his behavior. Rick describes feeling “stoned” or “numbed out” after having the extreme overeating episodes. Also Ricky reports engaging in this overeating behavior at night when he is alone at home, when he feels bored and thinking about how alone he is and wishes he had gotten married and had children. It is hypothesized that boredom can be another trigger for the overeating behavior. According to APA (2013) boredom can be a trigger for recurrent episodes of binge eating. Before going to sleep, Ricky engages in the overeating behavior to ensure that he numb and won’t think about upsetting things.
Those who are overweight and obese not only impact themselves but they also impact their peers and fellow citizens. The responsibility of American’s to help those who are suffering from obesity is absent. This is understandable, considering we are not responsible for the actions of others. However, change arrives when other’s no longer stand idly by watching suffering. Those who suffer from addictions or psychiatric abnormalities experience greater success in getting back on...