Addiction can be difficult to overcome, however, there are ways to make your journey easier. First, you should attend an addiction treatment center that can provide you with the tools you need to make big changes in your behavior and lifestyle. Then, once you finish your program, you still have to continue working to recover.
The best way to maintain your recovery is to join a support group community. Most people opt for 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. They are the most common, which makes it easy to find a group that you feel comfortable in.
Twelve-step programs use 12 steps to help you make a transformation in your life that supports recovery from addiction. The benefits of attending 12-step groups include having a community for support, gaining structure and accountability, improving your overall life, and having opportunities to help others.
- What twelve-step programs are
- Why you should choose a twelve-step program
- The benefits of 12-step programs
What are 12-Step Programs?
Twelve-step programs are peer-based support groups that help you recover from drug and alcohol addiction or behavioral addictions like sex or food. There are several different types, including Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA), and more.
These groups provide a safe and supportive environment to share knowledge, build connections, and maintain sobriety. The main goal is to help you have a spiritual experience that brings positive behavioral changes and improves your overall life.
The 12-steps of AA and NA include:
- Admitting we are powerless over alcohol or drugs and that our lives have become unmanageable
- Believing that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity
- Deciding to turn our will and lives over to God as we understand him to be
- Making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
- Admit to God, ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
- Become entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character
- Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings
- Make a list of all those we have harmed
- Make direct amends to those people wherever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others.
- Take a personal inventory and promptly admit it when we are wrong
- Through prayer and meditation, we improve our consciousness and connect with God. We do this to understand Him, praying only for His knowledge to give us the power to carry that out.
- Have a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, carry this message to other alcoholics, and practice these principles.
While the 12 steps have a focus on God and spirituality, you do not have to be a part of a certain religion. You can use anything as your higher power, including the universe or even the ocean.
What are the Benefits of Attending 12-step Programs in Recovery?
Community
Joining a 12-step program provides you with a community that you can trust, rely on, and gain knowledge from. Many people in recovery make lasting friendships with people that they meet in groups like AA or NA.
Accessibility
12-step programs are the most popular type of addiction support group. Because of this, they are widely available in just about every city in the country. In most places, you can find a 12-step meeting going on during every hour of the day.
Having access to a support group whenever you need it makes it easy to receive support when you are struggling to stay sober. If you are having a bad day, you can find a 12-step meeting to help you regroup and receive support. It also means you can fit your recovery meetings into any type of schedule you might have.
Structure and Accountability
Going to meetings regularly provides you with a type of structure in your life that can be priceless in early recovery. Feelings of boredom and isolation can lead you to relapse. However, if you are attending a 12-step program, you can resolve these feelings through the community these support groups offer.
Additionally, your peers in the 12-step group will keep you accountable. They will expect to see you once a week and ask where you are if you miss a meeting. This can make you less likely to relapse, as others are counting on you.
Improving Your Life
While the 12-steps are meant to help you overcome addiction, they also improve your overall quality of life. They teach you how to rely on spirituality to get you through tough times. Even further, you will learn how to deal with your own wrongdoings and repair relationships that you have negatively impacted through your behaviors.
Opportunities to Give Back
Lastly, 12-step programs give you a chance to help others. For example, when you complete the steps, you are expected to help newcomers complete them through sponsorship. This can give you a sense of purpose and motivate you to continue bettering yourself for the sake of your sponsees.
Get Connected to a Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center
If you or a loved one suffers from addiction, it’s time to seek professional help. At The Best Treatment Center, we offer a combination of individualized and evidence-based treatment. In other words, you can rest assured that we will offer all of the tools and support you need to achieve long-term recovery.
Contact us today to learn more about our drug and alcohol treatment center and how we incorporate the 12 steps into our program.
