TeddysRule! A.C.A. ACoA Resource Centre * Ressources d'EAA
Materials for Twelve-Step codependency recovery: readings, meeting
signs, tips, certificates to download, newsletters, AA Big Book and
a bibliography
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home page!
In the ACA/ ACoA groups the site editor has attended over the years, this has been one
of the most often cited pieces of literature. Portia Nelson's simple
"Autobiography in Five Short Chapters" captures beautifully the
stages we go through in approaching, and later working through our recovery.
Some call it an affirmation and others a prayer, but for most members
a key point in the meeting is the joining of hands at the closing. The
message that we are not alone and that we can (and at times may need to)
find and rely on strength outside ourselves is one of the main gifts that
the program can bring to those who work it.
In recent years, this has become one of the best known and most often
recited prayers in Western society. While in part, this speaks to the
prevalence of Twelve-Step programs, much of its success lies in its simplicity
and the pure request for help from our Higher Power that it contains.
Relationships are an inescapable theme in this program, whether they be
with friends, our families and partners, our Higher Power or often most
importantly ourselves and that part of us we call the "inner child".
Some 75 years ago, the author Kahlil Gibran wrote poetically in his text "On
Marriage" of how to avoid what today we would call "becoming enmeshed"
with our partners in life.
Just for Today is a classic 12-step program reading that holds
as true for A.C.A./ACoA as for the other recovery programs that went
before it.
What a self-help group can do for you (if you let it) is
a simple reading with a clear message. It's
especially relevant if you're debating getting started on a program of
recovery -or- when the going gets rough and you're looking for some
encouragement in continuing what at times can seem to be an upwards climb.
One bonus to working the program in Canada's National Capital Region
is the monthly newsletter "A Chit Chat", edit by Paul B. We
now have Paul's permission to offer this bulletin on-line and (thanks to
a recent scanner repair), the list of back issues available is
steadily growing. Check out what's available now by clicking on the
button below!
Provided here is a template, or script, for a regular (discussion
group) meeting of Adult Children Anonymous. Along with the other core
readings provided on this site, this
should1
be sufficient for an experienced member acting as chairperson to guide a
complete meeting.
1. The readings available on-site
should preferably be accompanied by longer readings on particular
characteristics and steps to guide the small group discussions, which
will hopefully be posted here in the future. In the absence of these,
the first entries on the site's book list, under
Texts (frequently) Read at Meetings,
are the sources for most of this material.
n.b. While making basic meeting material
accessible on the Web was a primary
objective in creating this site, be aware that the template here
presents one way- not the only way- of holding a meeting. This is
better explained in the "Site Status" and "But we don't
do it that way in our group
" parts of the
Policies section.
As the site evolves, the editor's intent is to provide additional
material of assistance to groups, including templates for other types
of meetings and tools to simplify the logistics of keeping a group
running smoothly. p.s. Special thanks to Gerry for keying in the initial
text for this
(as used by Ottawa's Monday Night "Courage to
Change" Group)
After coming to A.C.A. meetings for a while, you will unboubtedly hear
of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which forms the source
and inspiration for that program. If you would like to find out more
about this source, you can
read the Big
Book on-line; however, be aware that it's title is quite descriptive.
If you are using Windows, a much simpler way is to view a special version
of the second edition (provided below), which has been completely indexed
and created as a Windows Help file (Windows Help files cannot be viewed
through an Internet browser, but they work much in the same way, with
"hyperlinks" between topics and an index).
n.b.
The file below was obtained via the Alcoholics
Anonymous Information for Ottawa area website, which is an unofficial
site created (as this one), in the interests of service following the
Twelfth Step; it originated
with the "Serenity BBS". "It is
derived from the second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, originally
copyright and published in hardback by ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS ® WORLD
SERVICES, INC. The file comprises the first 164 pages of the Big Book,
plus Doctor Bob's Nightmare, and included also are the forewords, and
the appendices, which were added for the second edition. Thus, for
practical purposes, this is a third edition, less the preface and
stories."
Once you have downloaded the file, extract the files (with WinZip or
a similar utility) to
a local folder on your PC and then, from Windows Explorer, double-click
on the "bigbook.hlp" file to open it. If you wish, you can
create a shortcut from your desktop or Start menu and specify the
"bigbook.ico" file as the icon to use. Please also note the
information in the "readme.txt" and "copyrite.txt"
files which will also be extracted to your destination folder.
If you've arrived here with no idea where the teddy bears fit into all
this, please take a look at the description of
"Teddy Bear nights"
provided in the Tools of the A.C.A. Program section first. However, even
in the absence of teddy bears, the certificates offered here, which mark a
member's completion of one of more years of the A.C.A. program, may be
of some use to your own group.
The three images below are "thumbnails", whick link to the
real, full-size images provided on separate pages (the latter take a few
moments to load as they have been optimized for printing a crisp colour
image on a letter-sized (8½" x 11") sheet of paper. The
certificates have been made generic, so that you can write in (or add,
with a graphics program), your own group's name. If you click on one of
the full-sized images that you'd like to use, you'll get further
instructions on downloading and use. Enjoy!
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Version 1a (7.5" x 9.8") |
Version 1b (9.8" x 7.5") |
Version 2 (7.5" x 10") |
The majority of the graphics on the TeddysRule! site are original material
(the remainder were drawn from public domain sources), created and provided
both to brighten things up a bit and to be reused, in the interests of
recovery, by its visitors.
Please do not use any of these images in a manner derogatory to this site
or to any of the other organizations mentioned here.
With this version of the site, the additional images provided on the
graphics page include a variety of A.C.C./ACoA meeting signs and the
program's initials in a "brass" nameplate format. To download any
of these (as for the other images on the site), right-click on the graphic in
Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator and select "Save Image
".
[In gathering the information for this page,
I must confess to remembering
an old joke about the A.C.A. who, upon dying and going to heaven
(where else?) was presented with a choice of two doors: one marked
"Eternal Happiness"
and the other marked "Books on
Finding Eternal Happiness". It's anyone's guess as to
which one they chose (or whether they're still there trying to decide
The moral: "Don't just read - go to a
meeting"].
Joking aside, one dimension of the "discovery" phase of recovery comes
from our readings, whether they be in group or on our own. The list of
related books provided here is part bibliography, part inventory of the
books for loan you might find at an A.C.A. meeting and part cross-section
of the site editor's own holdings of recovery books (or at least the
remaining ones that haven't been given away to other members or persons
contemplating recovery). Some listings are accompanied by comments by
way of explanation, or suggestion as to where to start; however, be
selective in choosing and make up your own mind. Everyone's path is
unique.
An Adult Child Qualifies
During the opening of our meetings, each member introduces themselves
and "qualifies" ("to 'qualify' means that one
identifies with the characteristics of the adult child, the same way
an alcoholic identifies with the disease of alcoholism" -
from ACA meeting text -
Members Qualify).
This reading contains a touching description by Sinéad O'Connor,
an entertainer who struggled with co-dependency issues, of "the
problem" as it affected her own life, along with her spoken version
of the Serenity Prayer.
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