Boston, Massachusetts NA Meetings

NA Meetings in Boston

Boston offers one of the fullest NA schedules in New England. You’ll find groups meeting throughout the week in various neighborhoods. There’s enough variety that you can attend an open discussion one night and a step study the next day.

Residents from Cambridge and the surroundings suburbs often head into Boston for the variety of meetings here. But if there’s no meeting when you need one, you can also look into the regular meetings in Cambridge and Worcester.

What an NA Meeting Is Like

NA meetings fall into a few basic categories. First, they can be open or closed. Open meetings welcome anyone, including family members who want to come to support you or learn more about the program. Closed meetings are reserved for individuals who want to stop using drugs (or already have).

Within these categories, you’ll find three basic formats. Speaker meetings allow one person to tell their story. Discussion meetings facilitate a group conversation about a specific topic. Step studies work through the 12 Steps in detail over time.

Regardless of the format, the ground rules remain the same. There’s no charge to attend. You don’t have to have any sobriety time logged to attend. And you don’t have to say anything.

For more info on how the fellowship works, you can check out this Narcotics Anonymous overview. And this Support Groups for Narcotics Addiction page offers alternatives to NA.

Getting to a Meeting Here

Meetings in Boston are spread across the city. The T and bus lines will get you to many meetings without a car. Meetings in the South End, Downtown and neighborhoods further out occur on various nights, and you can usually pick a transit line to get to many of those.

If scheduling or tranportation isn’t working out, online meetings are also available. These can be especially helpful if you don’t keep regular hours or travel for work.

When a Meeting Isn’t Enough

Narcotics Anonymous meetings offer peer support, not medical treatment. Stopping opioids or benzodiazepines on your own can be dangerous, so a clinician should be part of that process. Contact a clinician or treatment program for this medical guidance as you also get meeting support.

If you’re taking medication for opioid use disorder, including methadone, this is compatible with working an NA program. One does not rule out the other.

You can read more on Opiate Detox: Symptoms and Dangers and Methadone before deciding on next steps.