12 STEPS OF ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS


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The following are the 12 Steps of Adult Children of Alcoholics (often abbreviated as ACoA). The term "adult child" is used to describe adults who grew up in alcoholic or dysfunctional homes and who exhibit identifiable traits that reveal past abuse or neglect. The group includes adults raised in homes without the presence of alcohol or drugs. These ACA members have the trademark presence of abuse, shame, and abandonment found in alcoholic homes.

For the steps below, you can click on the More button to read comments from books and websites about that step, or click on the Working button to read about or hear people working the given step, or click on the Videos button to see videos about the given step.

You can also read a summary of the ACoA program in our directory site.



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Step 1

We admitted we were powerless over the effects of alcoholism or other family dysfunction, that our lives had become unmanageable.

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Step 2

Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

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Step 3

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God.

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Step 4

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

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Step 5

Admitted to God, to our selves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

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Step 6

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

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Step 7

Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

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Step 8

Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

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Step 9

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

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Step 10

Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

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Step 11

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out.

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Step 12

Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others who still suffer, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Other
Resources

Online Meetings

List of online meetings by addiction

Adult Children

Summary of ACoA in our directory

REFERENCES