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Narcotics Anonymous is a community of people who support each other to achieve and maintain a drug free life. The only requirement for participation in NA is a desire to stop using drugs. There are no membership fees, and each group is self supporting. NA is not allied with any religion, institution or other organisation. NA exists solely so that its members can support each other to stay drug free and to help others achieve and maintain a drug free recovery and lifestyle.
In NA we are not concerned about what drugs people may have used, what they have done in the past or what their personal status might be. We are only interested in what they want to do to change their life and how we can help. Addiction cuts across all segments of society and age groups, affecting people in differing ways. In the beginning, many who come to our meetings think they are different and will not belong, but on attending meetings and hearing others talk about their experiences they often realise how similar these are to their own.
NA is currently referred to in the UK as a Mutual Aid organisation. NA helps addicts to stop taking drugs, get well and change the quality of their lives. We mutually help each other. We consider those that are new to NA to be the most important people in our meetings because we have learnt that helping others is a gift that reinforces our motivation and desire to stay drug free.
NA offers support for life – it is a community of people who have overcome their drug problem, and who are freely available to help those who also have the desire to live life drug free. It costs nothing to be a NA member, you are a member of NA when you say you are. There are no waiting lists for NA – if people want to attend a meeting, they just need to show up. There are no “musts” in NA. We don’t keep records of who goes to our meetings. Our members cross all spectrums of society, and range in age from teenagers to OAPs. Everyone is equal and equally welcome.
How difficult we find it to be honest! Many of us come to NA as confused about what really happened in our lives that it sometimes takes months and years to sort it all out. The truth of our history is not always as we have told it. How can we begin to be more truthful?
Many of us find it the easiest to be honest in prayer. With our fellow addicts, we sometimes find that we have a hard time telling the whole truth. We feel certain that we won’t be accepted if we let others know us as we really are. It’s hard to live up to the “terminally hip and fatally cool” image so many of us portrayed! In prayer, we find an acceptance from our Higher Power that allows us to open our hearts with honesty.
As we practice this honesty with the God of our understanding, we often find that it has a ripple effect in our communications with others. We get in the habit of being honest. We begin to practice honesty when we share at meetings and work with others. In return, we find our lives enriched by deepening friendships. We even find that we can be more honest with ourselves, the most important person to be truthful with!
Honesty is a quality that is developed through practice. It isn’t always easy to be totally truthful, but when we begin with our Higher Power, we find it easier to extend our honesty to others.
For many of us, needing others’ approval—or seeking validation—is perched near the top of our character defects list. We have lived in constant fear of making the wrong choices and others knowing our faults, weaknesses, and mistakes. We did everything we could to avoid being judged and actively, sometimes obsessively, sought others to tell us we were worthy, lovable, desirable, or cool. After a lifetime of self-deprecation, self-pity, and self-harm, how do we gain self-acceptance?
Self-awareness is key to self-acceptance. Working our Steps sparks that awareness. By sharing our inventories, assessing our defects, and struggling not to act on them, we gain a new perspective: We have been our own most vigorous judges and harshest punishers, not others. We harmed ourselves with the delusion that others’ approval would make us satisfied with being ourselves. The emptiness we feel cannot be filled by validation from others. We have to find it within ourselves.
Understanding what doesn’t work is a good place to start. And soon, we see that self- acceptance is an inside job that doesn’t happen with a flip of a switch. We work hard to accept ourselves as we are now, so we can make the changes we want to see. We can lovingly reintegrate parts of ourselves we used to disown because they were of no use to us in active addiction. Recovery helps us revamp mistakes into learning experiences rather than excuses to rag on ourselves and quit trying. As we continue to take personal inventory, we discover how we want to live our lives, who we want to spend them with, and what makes our hearts sing.
Self-acceptance allows us to value someone’s insight without living for their approval or, for that matter, bowing to their condemnation.
Virtual-space meetings (blue), physical-space meetings (orange), and hybrid meetings (purple) are viewable below.
For navigating to a physical-space meeting – using the Map button will provide you with precise GPS co-ordinates.
NA Meetings can be attended by anyone who thinks they may have a problem with substance abuse. You don’t need to make an appointment, just show up.
“NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.” – From the NA White Booklet.
As of Tuesday 7th June 2022 We now have an Open Format meeting of NA in Belfast. It operates on the first Tuesday of every Calendar month at 77 University Street Belfast.
“Open NA meetings are just that—open to anyone who wants to attend. Some groups have open meetings once a month to allow nonaddict friends and relatives of NA members to celebrate recovery anniversaries with them. Groups that have open meetings may structure their format in such a way that opportunities for participation by nonaddicts are limited only to short birthday or anniversary presentations. Such a format allows the meeting to retain its focus on recovery shared one addict to another. It should be made clear during the meeting that NA groups do not accept monetary contributions from nonaddicts.” – From the Group Booklet
If you are a GSR, Secretary or trusted servant of a group, please use the form below to update/edit the meeting listing for meeting list accuracy.
If you are searching for a meeting to attend, please find the meeting list below. You don’t need to make an appointment, just show up.
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