Grupo Gallup reaches out to Spanish-speaking alcoholics

Grupo 24 Horas Alcoholicos Anonimos Gallup, a new 24-hour Alcoholics Anonymous group, opened its doors this week at 302 W. Hill Ave. The group works mostly with Spanish-speaking individuals, but will help anybody who needs assistance with addiction-related problems. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — It's hard enough for most individuals with an alcohol or drug addiction to get the courage to seek help.

But in a community such as Gallup where English and Navajo are the dominant languages how much harder is it if the individual only speaks Spanish?

A new resource aimed primarily at Spanish-speaking people just became available in Gallup this week. It's not run by any government agency or private organization, and it's completely free. It was founded by four local men all recovering addicts who believe that reaching out to others with addictions and compulsions will help them in their own recovery.

The program, Grupo 24 Horas Alcoholicos Anonimos Gallup, opened earlier this week at 302 W. Hill Ave. The program operates out of an older home, located directly across the street from the Gallup Federal Building. Three guest speakers, two from Mexico and one from Chicago, joined about 50 community members at an open house gathering on Monday evening.

The Grupo 24 Horas AA Movement, which was founded in Mexico in 1976, is part of an off-shoot movement of Alcoholics Anonymous. According to a program directory, about 200 groups are in Mexico, and a few dozen have been opened in Ecuador, Colombia, Spain, and the United States.

Grupo 24 Horas AA Gallup is the first program to open its doors in New Mexico.

'Amost a miracle'
Ivan C. is one of the founders of the Gallup program. Like members of the traditional AA 12 Step Program, members of Grupo 24 Horas AA cannot be publicly identified by their full name. According to Ivan, he began drinking at 12 or 13 and experienced numerous bad experiences related to his addiction before he hit bottom at age 21 in Juarez, Mexico.

"I had lost everything," said Ivan, who said his first marriage was one of the casualties of his addiction.

That was eight years ago, and Ivan said he has been clean and sober ever since without a relapse. He is the AA sponsor of the other three Gallup group founders, and those members have also not relapsed since finding the program. Ivan credits that to the intensive, 24-hour nature of the program.

"That's almost a miracle," he admitted. Members attend meetings every day, he explained, support is available 24 hours a day, and for several years, AA sponsors will closely monitor the individuals they sponsor.

"There's always somebody to help," agreed Sylvia C., the guest speaker who started Grupo 24 Horas AA in Chicago. "We are open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day."

According to Sylvia, she has also not relapsed since joining the program 13 years ago. Raised in a family that operated a bar, Sylvia said she relapsed several times under other treatment programs.

"We welcome people who have problems with alcoholism and drug addiction and have the minimum desire to stop drinking and using," she said. Sylvia, who said the illness of addiction is always linked to denial, stressed the importance of having a "minimum desire" to stop using and stop suffering.

The program won't work for individuals who are coerced into joining by worried or frustrated family members, she said.

That decision, agreed Ivan, has to made by the person with the problem. "It just depends on you," he said. "If it's time to quit, it's time to quit."

Although the program originated in Mexico and most of its outreach has been to Spanish-speaking people, Ivan and Sylvia said the program is open to everyone. In the Gallup group, Ivan is bilingual, and he is interested in helping anyone who needs and wants help.

He was particularly saddened, he explained, to read newspaper accounts of the recent drug-related death of a young woman in Gallup. Each morning, he said, he asks God to give him the opportunity to talk with a young person about substance abuse and addiction.

Intense 24/7 program
Grupo 24 Horas AA like the traditional AA program is based on the 12 Steps, welcomes people of all religious or non-religious backgrounds, is completely free, is self-supporting, and is entirely funded by its members.

Groups aren't allowed to take financial donations from outside sources. "When we become responsible for ourselves...," explained Sylvia, "we work and contribute to keep the doors open."

Sylvia believes the Grupo 24 Horas AA Movement, with its 24/7 emphasis, is more intense than the traditional AA program. She believes that intensity helps members face and deal with the "very deep traumas and obsessions" in their lives. Not all members have substance abuse problems, she added, explaining some individuals join in order to face other destructive behaviors or emotional problems.

"We are not competing with AA," she said. "AA respects us as we respect them," she added. "We are just another alternative."

Because of its intensive nature, Sylvia believes Grupo 24 Horas AA is particularly helpful to individuals who come from homes with other family members that have substance abuse problems. The program provides them the needed time and space away from their equally sick family members.

Ivan believes his involvement in the program is helping to protect the new and healthy family he has established since sobriety. Although he's been clean and sober for eight years, he explained, the illness of addiction has the power to take away the life he now enjoys with his wife and three children if he doesn't work on his recovery program daily.

Grupo 24 Horas Alcoholicos Anonimos Gallup, 302 W. Hill, is open from 6 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and 24 hours on the weekends. Someone from the group can be reached 24 hours a day by calling (505) 722-9468 at the group's center or by calling the emergency number of (505) 409-1153.