What is Narcotics Anonymous?
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit fellowship or society that offers recovery support for people struggling with drug addiction. Completely free and open to anyone with a desire to stop using drugs, NA meetings are held regularly in cities across the United States and around the world.
In Brownsville, Texas, located in Cameron County, there are several NA meeting locations for individuals seeking help and community support through addiction recovery.
Brownsville Community Center
100 E Street, Brownsville, TX 78520
- Monday at 7:30 pm (Just for Today group)
- Tuesday at 7:00 pm (Milagro group)
- Saturday at 6:30 pm (Nueva Vida group)
Central United Methodist Church
4001 Central Blvd., Brownsville, TX 78520
- Wednesday at 7:00 pm (Living Clean group)
- Friday at 7:00 pm (Nueva Vida group)
St. Mary’s Church
1914 Barnard Rd., Brownsville, TX 78520
- Thursday at 7:30 pm (Nuevos Horizontes group)
- Sunday at 6:30 pm (Un Nuevo Amanecer group)
The 12 Steps of NA
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a recovery fellowship that follows a set of guiding principles known as the 12 steps. Here is an overview of each step:
- We admitted we were powerless over addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.
- We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- We made a list of all the people we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others.
- We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it.
- We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Getting Started with NA in Brownsville
Use the meeting search on wfmh.org to find local Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings in your area. Both in-person and online/virtual meetings are available in most places.
Attending Your First Local NA Meeting in Brownsville
NA meetings come in two main types – open and closed. The table below explains the key differences:
| Meeting Type | Description |
| Open | Anyone is welcome to attend, including non-addicts seeking information about NA. |
| Closed | Only people with a drug or alcohol addiction can share at the meeting. Observers must have permission to attend. |
Arrive early when attending your first NA meeting and introduce yourself to others as a new local member. Share your experiences if you feel comfortable. You may receive welcome keychain tags at your first meeting to mark periods of sobriety milestones, such as:
- 30 days
- 60 days
- 90 days
- 6 months
- 9 months
- 1 year
- 18 months
- Multiple years
These tags serve as encouragement to continue on the path of recovery from drug addiction, one day at a time, in the local NA fellowship.