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800-819-2978How to Walk the 12 Steps Down Recovery Road
Doing the steps is an integral part of the 12 step recovery program. Fortunately, the steps can be broken down into simple smaller pieces so you can understand them easily. This makes the process a bit easier to comprehend, if not to actually do them.
Finding the Road to Recovery
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, many treatment centers engage in 12 Step Facilitation Therapy, which is designed to increase your chances of recovery in a 12 Step program by helping you realize:
- Addiction is a disease
- You need help
- Being actively involved in a 12 step program is to your benefit
To find a treatment center that has 12 step therapies, call 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) . We are happy to answer all of your questions and we believe that you have every chance of making a recovery from substance abuse.
1. Admission
Admit there is a problem. Sit down and think about how your addiction affects you. Recognize that the addiction is the one in control and not you.
2. Hope
Be motivated to seek positive change.
Take hope that you are not alone, and with help, you can succeed. In the first step, you became aware of your need for help, now it is time to believe that help is available.
3. Belief
Believe that you can succeed in your recovery. Commit yourself to the program, believing that it will work.
4. Bravery
Be brave enough to look inside yourself and recognize your faults. When you work this step, you see your faults, fears, and problems plainly.
5. Honesty
Be honest with yourself and at least one other. Talk about your faults to someone, admitting them aloud helps to make them more real to you and, therefore, easier to contemplate and correct.
6. Motivation
Be motivated to allow change into your life as you are completing this step. You have to allow the new positive forces in your life to help motivate you to change.
7. Humbleness
Actively recognize your faults and change them. You are humble enough to admit you have them and motivated enough to change them. Allow others to help you with this change. You are not alone in a 12 step program.
8. Discipline
Have the discipline to admit your wrongs. Make a list of everyone you have harmed and consider ways to correct it.
9. Forgiveness
Act on the list that you made in step eight. Talk to each of those that you have harmed and find out how to best right the wrongs that you committed. The exception to this is when your attempt to fix it causes further harm.
10. Acceptance
Accept your failings including relapse. Learn that you will make mistakes and how to correct them immediately, rather than making excuses for them. This is a continual process of self-evaluation and improvement.
11. Knowledge
Know that you have purpose and actively pursue that purpose. Know the right thing to do, and make an effort to do it.
12. Service
Getting to step 12 doesn’t mean that you are finished. You continue to work on yourself and help others start on the recovery road.
According to the Veterans Affairs Department, several studies show that 12 step programs when started early in the treatment process have significantly better outcomes than when 12 step treatment is delayed. An early introduction onto the 12 step path increases your chances at recovery success. To find a 12 step treatment program that is right for you, call 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) .