Alcohol And Substance Abuse 12 Step Programs (AA/NA/CA/MA) And Other Peer Support Groups

Membership

Recovering addicts with long periods of sobriety lead the groups, but any drug or alcohol dependent person with a sincere desire to recover is welcome to attend.

• Because addiction knows no class boundaries, members in any given twelve step group are drawn from all walks of society including rich and poor (In fact, twelve step groups may be one of the most democratic institutions in the entire world).
• Membership in twelve step groups is free and no fees need ever be donated to the group in exchange for participation. However, as in the case of collection in a church setting, donations are encouraged.
• Meetings are common (occurring multiple times per day in most communities! – there are a lot of drug and alcohol dependent people in the world).

Meeting Format

Twelve Step group formats vary.

• Testimonial meetings are popular (wherein persons present at the meeting are invited to talk about their experiences with addiction).
• Reading meetings are also common (wherein readings that illustrate the twelve steps are performed).

The Twelve Steps

Here are the Twelve Steps in the original form from Alcoholics Anonymous. Groups that are focused on drugs reword them a bit but retain their essential meanings.

The ideal of a Twelve-step group is that each of it’s members grows to believe and then live through deeds each of the twelve steps.

Submission to a Higher Power

As is readily apparent with even a quick glance, the steps are based firmly in principles of submission to a higher power, the asking of forgiveness for wrongdoings, and efforts to make amends for wrongdoing. The men who founded AA were Christians, and the message of their twelve steps is steeped in Christian concepts of sin and repentance.

Find a Meeting Hear from others on their journey through addiction and recovery

While this message is eagerly received by many drug and alcohol dependent persons, (and rightly so – because it is practical; it works to help sustain abstinence and to promote healing and recovery), there are many other people who rebel against the idea of submission to authority in any form and who come to resent the ‘preachy’ quality of some AA group members. Some use their disenchantment and discomfort with twelve step groups as an excuse to avoid attending. This is a shame.

The twelve steps require submission to a power higher and greater than ones’ self. This power need not be God – it can instead be submission to ‘Good Orderly Direction’: the idea that it is literally impossible for ones’ self to stop drinking or drugging, so long as one clings to the idea that they can ever again take a drink or drug, and must now change the way one lives to avoid alcohol and drugs.

Preachy AA members aside, AA offers a deep and valuable method to remain drug and alcohol-free, regardless of your beliefs in God or your position about authority. The best clinical advice possible is to attend AA or a related group frequently, (Daily is not too much!) and work the steps as best you can. If preachy members get in your way, find a different meeting that isn’t so preachy.

Sponsors

Twelve step participants are helped in learning and acting out the steps by a sponsor, who is a same-sex recovering person with sober time under his or her belt.

• New members to a twelve step group are strongly encouraged to find a sponsor as soon as possible, as the one-on-one attention that the sponsor can provide is thought necessary to the working of the steps.
• To get a sponsor, new members to a group must ask someone present to act as one for them, and that person must agree to act as a sponsor.
• Sponsors typically encourage their members to call them while they are craving but before they act on those cravings so that the sponsor can help the member to not relapse.
• Sponsors also often give their members twelve step homework to complete and guide the members in when it is time to move from step to step.