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About the 12 Step Program
Twelve Step programs are well known for use in recovery from addictive or dysfunctional behaviors. The first 12 step program began with Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) in the 1930s. The 12 Step approach has since grown to be the most widely used approach in dealing with not only alcoholism, but also drug abuse and various other addictive or dysfunctional behaviors.
The first book written to cover the 12 step program was titled "Alcoholics Anonymous", affectionately known as the Big Book by program members. Following the subsequent extensive growth of twelve step programs, numerous books and other media were created to cover the steps in more detail and for different addictive and dysfunctional behaviors. An extensive chronology and background about the history of A.A. has been put together at Dick B.'s website.
The twelve steps of the program are listed above in generic form. Other groups who have adopted the 12 steps to address their own particular addictive or dysfunctional behavior have similar ideas with some variations. These steps are meant to be worked sequentially as a process of getting rid of addictive behaviors and growing in freedom and happiness, as laid out in the Twelve Promises. The general governing approach for A.A. groups was originally laid out in the Twelve Traditions, which remain the guiding principles still in use today.
There is a wealth of further information about 12 Step programs in the Wikipedia, including a list of 12 step groups, or from the over 250 links in our list of websites.
About 12Step.org
The 12Step.org web site strives to gather and produce resources that make it easier to work a 12 step program. There is no official affiliation with A.A. or any other 12 Step group. Resources on this site for working a 12 step program include the following.
- The Steps - Overview of the 12 steps with comments from various sources about how each step works.
- References - Some classic references for working a 12 step program. These include the A.A. Big Book and the N.A. Basic Text.
- Tools - Various tools to help you work a 12 step program, including free journal software and free worksheets, as well as references to other worksheets on the web.
- Meetings - We do not currently keep a registry for face-to-face meetings, but we have several references to web sites that do. We do keep a calendar of online meetings for the numerous chat rooms and other meetings in cyber-space. These are broken out by type of addiction (alcohol, drugs, codependency, etc.)
- Web Sites - Over 250 categorized links from across the web about recovery and 12 step programs. You can also leave helpful comments about a site or rate a site or suggest an additional site if it is not listed.