12-step meetings are free support, everywhere. They keep you accountable and free.
The 12 Steps
A path of spiritual recovery, honesty, and transformation
What Are the 12 Steps?
The 12 Steps are a spiritual program of recovery developed by Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935. They provide a path through admission, faith, surrender, self-examination, confession, willingness, humility, amends, continued growth, spiritual contact, and service. While rooted in AA, the 12 Steps are now used by many 12-step fellowships to help people recover from addiction, trauma, and compulsive behaviors.
"If you want what we have and are willing to do what we did, then here are the steps we took..."
The 12 Steps — Click to Learn More
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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 alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Working the Steps Takes Courage
The 12 Steps are not meant to be walked alone. Connect with a sponsor, join meetings, and find community. Recovery is real, transformation is possible, and you deserve support every step of the way.
"Together we can do what we cannot do alone."