Topic: 12Step

By focusing on the welfare of someone else, James had gotten the full benefit of the Ninth Step.

Reclaiming holidays doesn’t just keep them from becoming relapse triggers– it can also offer chances to live the joy in recovery.

This is also an opportunity to work on an all-important issue in early recovery: personal boundaries.

And I needed that gift of desperation to allow the rest of the Steps to work in my life, as I worked them.

It’s a good question to put to a newcomer, in AA/NA or in therapy: “How much work are you willing to put into this process?”

When I first got into counseling, I had this sneaky feeling that it couldn’t possibly be that simple.

People attend AA for a variety of reasons, in different stages of readiness, and with diverse objectives in mind.

You might as well write ‘I don’t want you to go to AA’ in big letters on the wall behind the therapist’s chair. It’s about that obvious.

AA and NA weren’t designed by professionals and they do not operate like professionally-developed behavioral therapy programs.

12 Step literature suggests that sponsors stick with advice on how to work the Steps, rather than stray into realms better left to trained professionals.