A.C.A. ACoA/DF * The 12 Steps for Adult Children Anonymous
The Twelve Steps, adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous, as applied to
spiritual recovery from codependency and ineffective adult child
behaviours
We have adopted the Twelve-Step recovery program from Alcoholics Anonymous with minor changes. Their twelve steps and traditions have proven effective for over fifty years in dealing with alcohol and alcoholism, helping millions to overcome the crippling effects of the disease. We use them to help us to identify and change unwanted adult child characteristics. Here are the Twelve Steps.
We admitted
we were powerless over the effects of addiction - that
our lives had become
unmanageable.
Came to
believe that a Power greater than ourselves could
restore us to wholeness.
Made a
decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care
of God as we understand God.
Made a
searching a 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 work
in partnership with God
to remove our ineffective behaviour.
Humbly asked God to help us 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 whenever 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 God,
praying only for knowledge of God's will for us
and for the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we tried to carry this message to others,
and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
All journeys begin with the first step. It is with a compassionate understanding of your suffering that we urge you to begin a recovery process. Through the reliance on our spiritual program, and using a God, as you understand God, you too can begin to change, starting from this moment on.
THE TWELVE STEPS WORK
