[TWELVE STEPS TO RECOVERY] Adapted with permission from Alcoholics Anonymous With Guidelines on conducting a Self-Help Interactive Focus Group

 INTRODUCTION

When I served as Acting EAP Administrator at the Ministry of Agriculture Land and Marine Resources ( 1991-2008) I found it quite useful to refer several of my clients to what has been described by treatment professionals as one of the most successful Programme of Recovery known. The “Twelve Steps to Recovery” was developed by Alcoholics Anonymous which now has groups in at least one hundred countries and millions of recovered members.

Founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio by Bill Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) became the forerunner to Narcotics Anonymous and several other group interactive Programmes where the individual's recovery depends on the sharing of  similar experiences, strength and hope with each other.

My clients whose diagnosis pointed to having an Addictive Personality Disorder  found themselves unable to maintain their resolve to overcome many a self destructive habit and while many had  been exposed to these principles they had  not had much success. Usually it was found however that they did not quite understand the role that they had  to play if the steps were to work for them.

Through our in-house sessions they were able to come to the realization that  no matter how far gone their addiction had gone  if they made an honest and sincere effort, the practice of the twelve steps would help them overcome that addiction and enable them to live a normal, healthy and productive life.

These then were some of my recommendations.

"Due to the extreme difficulty in overcoming the disease of drug addiction, detoxification from a recognized treatment facility and peer support is strongly recommended.

It is important to recognize that long before you had decided that treatment was necessary everyone else had already come to that conclusion.This will help to remove the resentment you feel for those who had as you thought, been interfering  whenever they shared their concern for your way of life."

THE TWELVE STEPS RECOVERY PROGRAMME

(Adapted from A.A.)

1. We admitted that we were powerless over an addictive personality disorder; that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Took a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such persons wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. 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.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to those who are still suffering, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


On my next few posts I will treat with each step independently. 


DISCLAIMER 

This is not an endorsement of A.A. or any other recovery programme. We found however that those who were willing to keep an open mind were able to maintain their recovery and several years later were still doing very well.