Working the 12 step programme
Do the 12 steps actually work?
A question that can provoke a plethora of responses depending on the opinion of the individual asked. It’s not always as straightforward as a simple yes or no.
My early experience with a 12 Step programme was with Alcoholics Anonymous way back in the early 1980’s. Did I want to stop drinking or taking drugs? No. So why did I go? I remember one particular evening when I was filled with despair, more than what I usually felt. My life was spiralling out of control, my then husband threatened to kick me out of our home and take our two-year-old daughter away from me permanently; I got scared, so scared that I contacted Alcoholics Anonymous who agreed to send someone round to talk to me. These kind people took me to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and I hated it, I believed it to be a cult, I left notes around the house informing whoever found them that in the case of my disappearance “they had got me”. Bottom line was I didn’t want abstinence; I wanted to get the family off my back and wanted to learn how to control my drinking and drug use. I also recoiled at the word God, furthermore, I latched onto it to justify why AA and the 12 Steps were not for me.
God???
Religion????
I only actually heard the “God” word about twice but it gave me the excuse I was looking for.
Fast forward 17-18 years and I’m sat in a 12 Step Drug and Alcohol treatment facility, forty years old, homeless, divorced and my two children no longer in my care. I had heard my story told by other men and women when I first went to Alcoholics Anonymous all those years ago but in my arrogance, I believed that would never happen to me. I had been in the system for multiple years and was desperate
On July 18, 2018, I will celebrate 18 years of recovery from alcohol and drugs. I have no doubt that without meetings and a programme I would not be where I am physically and emotionally. The Steps are a guide to living, about doing the right thing, about being considerate of others, to learn to love yourself and to become a productive member of society and so much more. If I am asked to name just one thing that the 12 Steps have given me, then my reply would be the gift of freedom and anyone who is or has been trapped in the cycle of addiction will know exactly what I am talking about.
So do the 12 Steps work? Yes, they do if you want them to.
Amanda Thomas
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from Western Counselling https://www.westerncounselling.com/blog/recovery-2/do-the-12-steps-work/
via Alcohol
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