Overeaters Anonymous Meeting Summary

The support group I attended was Overeaters Anonymous, also known as OA. The Overeaters Anonymous meeting was designed to assist people with eating disorders such as compulsive overeating, under-eating, food addiction, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, or over exercising. OA has a similar mission statement as Alcoholics Anonymous. However, they replace Alcoholics Anonymous with Overeaters Anonymous, Alcohol with food and being an alcoholic with being an overeater. OA is a voluntary meeting for individuals seeking assistance with their compulsive eating. OA is a non-profit organization with over 8,500 meeting groups in over 50 countries. The only requirement for joining OA, is that the individual has a desire to change and stop eating compulsively. …show more content…
The meeting began similar to the first meeting. However, there was a few newcomers. When it was time for our discussion, a member asked a question; “What is a trigger food?” A newcomer began to cross talk and answered his question. The group leader then interrupted the newcomer and explained to the group the rule about abstaining from cross talk. According to Jacobs (2015), “There are several ways to handle a talkative member….There are a couple of strategies that involve the whole group. One is to address the group with the hope that the talkative member hears the message. It is early in the life of the group, and the leader wants to curb the rambler’s talking but at the same time not seem critical of the member. Therefore, the leader decides to deliver the message to the entire group by looking at everyone as she speaks.” (p.406). However, I do not believe this method was beneficial for the newcomer in the group. The newcomer was not aware of the rules and guidelines of the meeting because it was her first attendance to the meeting. Once the group leader noticed the cross talk, she should have let the newcomer finish, then explained the rules of the meeting. In this instance, I believe the group leader should have been more patient with the newcomer because the group leader failed to read the rules and guidelines prior to the discussion. Due to the group leader’s approach the …show more content…
At the beginning of each session all the groups read the preamble and the serenity prayer of OA. They also provided a time for OA related announcements.
In OA, the group’s members’ ability to use their experiences to help each other in difficult moments. “One of the unique advantages of group counseling is that clients can learn from one another” (Corey et al., 2014, p31). Each member provided their telephone numbers and email addresses in case a member needs someone to talk to. The group also provided the opportunity to become a sponsor to those individuals, who still need assistance with their compulsive

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