Seven Reasons Why You Should Know About the 12-Steps, Even If You Don’t Find Them Helpful in Your Recovery
The 12-steps are a tool that every Peer Support Specialist should know about. This doesn’t mean you agree with the steps or use them with clients, but you should know about them for the following reasons:
1. Many clients will have used the 12-Steps and so you want to know the tools they have used. You can see from the table below that there are at least 39 separate organizations that use a version of the 12-steps as a key resource for their members. AA is the largest of all self-help organizations, with over 2 million members in at least 180 countries, with 123,000 regular meetings each week. Others are much smaller, but still represent additional people who have used the 12-steps and who may become your clients.
2. A huge number of people have found it helpful. In the US alone, an estimated 30 million people have participated in AA, and surveys have found that most people report participation being helpful (Schulte, Meier & Stirling, 2011). Empirical research suggests that participation in AA is associated with abstinence as well as better treatment engagement, better self-efficacy and better quality of life (Kelly, Humphreys, & Ferri, 2020; Tracy & Wallace, 2016; Adelman-Mullally, Kerber, Reitz & Kim, 2021; Leurent, Ducasse, Courtet & Olie, 2024).
3. It has a language that many clients will use – you want to know that language so that you can quickly understand your clients and better connect with them.
4. Approximately 60% of public treatment programs report that 12-step programming is a central part of their program (Roman, & Johnson, 2004). This suggests that most of your clients who have participated previously in treatment are likely to know the 12-steps and to have some of these concepts integrated in how they think about recovery.
5. The 12-steps appear to be adaptable. Many of these organizations have changed the AA 12-steps to better match the needs and experiences of their members. The varied versions still reflect the core process of recovery described in the 12-steps. The changes are more focused on form and content. If they can change the 12-steps, you may find that you can use adapted versions as well in your work.
6. The 12-steps frame recovery as a “spiritual” endeavor. Most clinicians are not trained in thinking or talking about spiritual or religious aspects of life, and so are at a disadvantage when it comes to talking with clients from this perspective. This is particularly unfortunate, given that most clients see themselves as having interests in spiritual aspects of life and want to be able to talk about spirituality in mental health treatment, and yet have a sense that mental health clinicians are not comfortable talking about this. The 12-steps can give you and your clients a religiously neutral language to talk about spiritual aspects of recovery.
7. There are clever strategies embedded in the 12-steps that may be helpful in your work. I would suggest you review the steps, thinking about what they are encouraging people to do. What are the psychological strategies behind those steps and how do they help. The principles behind the steps can deepen your understanding of what people need and inform your efforts to be helpful.
List of organizations that have adapted the 12-steps
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
https://www.aa.org/find-aa
Al-Anon
https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/
Alateen
https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/find-an-al-anon-meeting/
Cocaine Anonymous (CA)
https://ca.org/meetings/
Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA):
https://www.crystalmeth.org/meetings/?tsml-time=upcoming
Dual Recovery Anonymous
https://draonline.org/meetings/
Families Anonymous
https://familiesanonymous.org/meetings/meeting-directories/
Heroin Anonymous
https://heroinanonymous.org/meetings1/
Marijuana Anonymous (MA)
https://marijuana-anonymous.org/find-a-meeting/
Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
https://na.org/meetingsearch/
Nar-Anon
https://www.nar-anon.org/find-a-meeting/
Nicotine Anonymous
https://www.nicotine-anonymous.org/find-a-meeting.html
Pills Anonymous
https://www.pillsanonymous.org/copy-of-find-a-meeting
Co-Dependents Anonymous
https://coda.org/find-a-meeting/
Depressed Anonymous (DA)
https://depressedanon.com/meetings/f2f-da-meetings/
Dual Recovery Anonymous
https://draonline.org/meetings/
Emotions Anonymous (EA)
https://emotionsanonymous.org/find-an-ea-meeting/general-information.html
Neurotics Anonymous
https://www.neuroticosanonimos.us/
Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA)
https://www.nsfoundation.org/sa/index.html
Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous (ABA)
https://aba12steps.org/product/meetings-groups-home-groups/
Bettors Anonymous
https://bettorsanonymous.org/meeting.html
Clutterers Anonymous (CL)
https://clutterersanonymous.org/meetings/calendar-of-all-events/
Debtors Anonymous (DA)
https://debtorsanonymous.org/meeting-search-virtual/?mytz=Y&myoffset=-6
Eating Disorders Anonymous
https://eatingdisordersanonymous.org/meeting/
Food Addicts Anonymous
https://faacanhelp.org/meetings/
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (
https://www.foodaddicts.org/find-meeting-next
Gamblers Anonymous (GA)
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/locations
Overeaters Anonymous (OA)
https://oa.org/find-a-meeting/?type=0
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA)
https://saa-recovery.org/meetings/
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA)
https://sca-recovery.org/WP/meetings/#online
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)
https://slaafws.org/meetings/
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA)
https://www.sa.org/meetings/
Sexual Recovery Anonymous (SRA)
https://sexualrecovery.org/find-a-meeting-2/
Workaholics Anonymous (WA)
https://workaholics-anonymous.org/meetings/
Chronic Pain Anonymous
https://chronicpainanonymous.org/meetings/
Parents Anonymous
https://parentsanonymous.org/programs/
Parental Alienation Anonymous
https://parentalalienationanonymous.com/meeting-schedule/
Survivors of Incest Anonymous
https://siawso.org/
Physicians Anonymous
https://physiciansanonymous.org/
Racists Anonymous
https://www.meetup.com/Racists-Anonymous-Meetup-Group/events/
REFERENCES
Adelman-Mullally, T., Kerber, C., Reitz, O. E., & Kim, M. (2021). Alcohol abstinence self-efficacy and recovery using Alcoholics Anonymous®: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 59(12), 33-39.
Kelly, J. F., Humphreys, K., & Ferri, M. (2020). Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programs for alcohol use disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3).
Leurent, M., Ducasse, D., Courtet, P., & Olie, E. (2024). Efficacy of 12-step mutual-help groups other than Alcoholics Anonymous: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 274(2), 375-422.
Roman, P. M., & Johnson, J. A. (2004). National treatment center study summary report: Private treatment centers. Athens, GA: Institute for Behavioral Research, University of Georgia.
Schulte, S. J., Meier, P. S., & Stirling, J. (2011). Dual diagnosis clients' treatment satisfaction-a systematic review. BMC psychiatry, 11, 1-12.
Tracy, K., & Wallace, S. P. (2016). Benefits of peer support groups in the treatment of addiction. Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, 7, 143-154.