The group was formed in southern California in 1953. This was a group of addicts on their road to recovery who found that sharing their stories gave other addicts strength and the ability to stay clean. "Today N.A. exists in over 40 countries, comprising a total of more than 12,000 groups" (Nichols, Henry. 1988). The success of an individual being able to remain clean within the model of NA is the model of support structure, belief system and choices that the recovering clients focuses on daily. N.A. and groups help teach the client that they need to change people, places and things in their previous social setting that encompassed the use of drugs. N.A. is composed of 12 steps, the most important step in N.A. and any other model for recovery is the 1st step which is "to admit we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable" (Henry, 1998). The rest of the steps that the intern interacted with were built upon this main step. Learning to pray, meditate and focus on the spiritual aspect of the 12 step program is key in N.A.
BEHAVIOURS OBSERVED DURING INTERNSHIP.
During internship the intern came across many types of behaviors, working with addicts in a recovery environment provides the opportunity to learn and guided the intern in discovery of particular patterns and behaviors. Trying to grasp those behaviors found to be a difficult task because some of the client behaviors were at times similar to one another, and at times seemed completely different. The student did seem to identify the common themes of behaviors identified within each addict. .
The drug use combination and side effects on the psychological aspect of the mind was different for every client. It was frustrating at times for the intern to be able to identify those behaviors outside of the "normal" behaviors noticed in interaction. There was no rational explanation for the behaviors of the addicts that she was involved with during the internship.
