What is Narcotics Anonymous?
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs have become a major problem. Members meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This program, which is patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, emphasizes complete abstinence from all drugs. There are no fees for membership.
| Narcotics mettings | Address | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Ladies Night Group Irvine | 11 Goddard, Irvine, California, 92618 | |
| Saturday, 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM | ||
| University United Methodist Church | 18422 Culver Drive, Irvine, California, 92715 | |
| Sunday, 8:00 PM | ||
Irvine Valley Group
- Address: 2525 Main St, Irvine, CA 92614
- This group holds open discussion meetings daily at noon and 8 pm. The noon meeting is open to addicts only, while the 8 pm meeting is open to anyone with a desire to stop using.
Back to Life Group
- Address: 2 Mareblu, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
- This group meets every Tuesday at 8:00 pm. The 1.5 hour meeting consists of speaker meetings every week. Newcomers are welcome.
Costa Mesa Thursday Night
- Address: 625 W 19th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
- This group meets every Thursday at 7:30 pm. The meeting consists of open NA discussion.
The 12 Steps of NA
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit fellowship for recovering drug addicts. NA members follow a set of guiding principles called the 12 steps to help achieve and maintain addiction recovery. The 12 steps are:
- Admit powerlessness over addiction and that lives have become unmanageable.
- Come to believe a Power greater than oneself can restore sanity.
- Make the decision to turn your will and life over to taking care of God as understood.
- Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself.
- Admit to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Become entirely ready to have God remove all defects of character.
- Humbly ask God to remove your shortcomings.
- Make a list of all those harmed and become willing to make amends.
- Make direct amends with such people whenever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others.
- Continue to take personal inventory and promptly admit mistakes.
- Seek through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God as understood, praying only for knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, try to carry this message to other addicts and practice these principles in all affairs.
Getting Started with NA in Irvine
Use the meeting search on methadone.org to find local meetings in your area. Both in-person and online/virtual meetings are available in most places.
Attending Your First Local NA Meeting
NA meetings in Irvine, Orange, California can be either open or closed. Open meetings welcome anyone interested in recovery, while closed meetings are for addicts only.
| Meeting Type | Description |
| Open | Anyone is welcome to attend |
| Closed | For addicts only |
Arrive early and introduce yourself as a new local member. Share your experiences if you feel comfortable. You’ll receive welcome keychain tags at your first meeting to mark major sobriety milestones.
Common keychain tags include:
- 30 days
- 60 days
- 90 days
- 6 months
- 9 months
- 1 year
- 18 months
- Multiple years
The keytags provide encouragement to keep making progress in your recovery journey. Attending meetings regularly and connecting with other members is an important part of sustaining sobriety.
