12 step meetings

12 step meetings are based 12 step programs, a popular approach to treating alcohol and other addictions. 12 step meetings were originally, and perhaps most famously, used by Alcoholics Anonymous. However many organisations associated with addictive behaviour now use 12 step meetings.

12 step meeting content

Each 12 step meeting may be slightly modified depending on the type of addiction being treated and the treatment centre that you attend. Other organisations that hold 12 step meetings sometimes change the 12 step wording and focus a little to remove religious language. These 12 step meetings still emphasise that belief in a higher power is what's important − it doesn't have to be in a particular god and atheists are still welcome at 12 step meetings.

However, as a good guide these are the 12 steps originally published by Alcoholics Anonymous. These steps are what 12 step meetings will be built around. The rate at which each step will be tackled will depend on the program you're following and your progress and preference.

Step one of 12 step meetings: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable. (Many believe that step one is the most important stage of the 12 step meetings.)

Step two of 12 step meetings: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step three of 12 step meetings: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Step four of 12 step meetings: A searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step five of 12 step meetings: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step six of 12 step meetings: We're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Step seven of 12 step meetings: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step eight of 12 step meetings: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step nine of 12 step meetings: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step ten of 12 step meetings: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step eleven of 12 step meetings: 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.

Step twelve of 12 step meetings: 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.

The 12 step meeting process

12 step meetings can be held at 12 step treatment centres, or just in any hired room.
12 step meetings will usually be attended at least once a week. You can attend 12 step meetings as regularly or infrequently as you choose though.

At 12 step meetings you can remain anonymous if you choose to do so and you don't even have to give your name, or your real name. There is a stereotype of having to stand up at a 12 step meeting and tell your own story of addiction. If you prefer to just listen at 12 step meetings you can do that, and that is common for the first few visits.

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