Recovery Journal

Latest Updates

June 2, 2010 - Expanded the section for the Recovery Journal in preparation for the upcoming version 2.0
Feb. 13, 2010 - Added section for dealing with compulsive porn surfing
Sep. 16, 2009 - Updated Alpha version of RecoveryJournal for the Mac
Sep. 14, 2009 - Add FAQ and Newcomer's Guide
Sep. 10, 2009 - Released 0.9 Alpha version of RecoveryJournal for the Mac
Feb. 10, 2009 - Site Makeover

FAQ

| Open All

Where can I find a meeting in my area?

We have links to meeting registries for either a face-to-face meeting or an online meeting.

How do I get started with a 12 Step program?

See our Newcomer's Guide for working the 12 steps.

Where are the 12 Step worksheets?

The 12 Step worksheets can be found with other tools for recovery in the Tools area under the Worksheets section.

How do I know if I need a 12 step program?

First of all, it is good to be as honest as you can with yourself. Then read some comments or listen to some audio about step 1 from different sources to see if you can identify with any of these comments.

What 12 step program is right for me?

12 Step programs have been created for a very wide gamut of addictive and dysfunctional behaviors. To determine which one is right for you, you can try an honest self-assessment, or just begin going to some meetings to see which one seems to fit. However, accessibility of face-to-face meetings may be limited for some types of addiction in many areas. So sometimes you have a choice between going to a face-to-face meeting where the addiction may not match yours exactly, or going online to see if you can find a better match for your type and level of addiction and use online materials and online meetings, or a combination of both.

For face-to-face meetings, there are several websites with meeting registries. There are also websites for online meetings and you can use our directory of recovery websites for more materials. The Recovery Groups area may be useful, especially those sites set up for Social Networking for Recovery.

| Open All

If you are new to the 12 steps and want to see how it works, please visit our Newcomer's Guide.

The 12 Steps

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Step 11 - 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 the power to carry that out
Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

This version of the 12 steps is an adaptation from the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and is intended for general use with any addictive or dysfunctional behavior.

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 300 links in our directory of recovery related 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 300 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.