12 step recovery

12 step recovery is based on a popular approach to treating alcohol and other addictions. 12 step recovery programs were originally, and perhaps most famously, used by Alcoholics Anonymous. However many organisations associated with all kinds of addictive behaviour and drug use now use a 12 step recovery program.

12 step recovery is based on a form of self-help.

What are the stages of 12 step recovery?

The 12 step recovery process may be slightly modified depending on the type of addiction being treated and the treatment centre that you attend. Other organisations which have adopted 12 step recovery programs have often changed the 12 step wording and focus a little to remove religious language. These 12 step recovery programs still emphasise that belief in a higher power is what's important − it doesn't have to be in a particular god and atheists are still welcome in most 12 step recovery programs.

However, as a good guide these are the 12 steps originally published by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Step one of 12 step recovery: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable. (Many believe that step one is the most important stage of 12 step recovery.)

Step two of 12 step recovery: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step three of 12 step recovery: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Step four of 12 step recovery: A searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step five of 12 step recovery: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step six of 12 step recovery: We're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step seven of 12 step recovery: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step eight of 12 step recovery: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step nine of 12 step recovery: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step ten of 12 step recovery: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step eleven of 12 step recovery: 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.

Step twelve of 12 step recovery: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The 12 step recovery process

12 step recovery can be carried out through outpatient meetings (link to 12 step meetings article) or through a residential stay in a 12 step treatment centre.

Stays in a 12 step recovery treatment centre will usually last at least a month, while outpatient meetings will usually be attended at least once a week.

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