Newcomers Guide

FAQ

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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.

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Newcomers Guide

So you think that you might be interested in or desperate for (or somewhere in-between) working a 12 step program? How do you get started?

The first place to start is to get acquainted with at least the first step. Read through the comments to see what it is all about and comments about the other steps as well.
See if you can find a face-to-face meeting in your area. There should be people in those meetings with varying levels of experience, sobriety and wisdom. Don't be afraid of going. You may be amazed at the warm reception that you find. Many people have said that they finally felt like they were coming home when they went to a meeting. They no longer felt alone. Other good resources are online meetings or online social networks for recovery. They may be a little less personal, but oftentimes are more convenient, especially if there are not face-to-face meetings in your local area for your type of addiction.
Do your best to find a sponsor or at least someone with whom you can have accountability. You will probably have to go to a few meetings and/or join some online social networks for recovery, ask a few questions and see who might be available and willing to be a sponsor or accountability partner. Use your best judgment in finding someone who will help you work your program of recovery.
Work the steps of the program, beginning with step 1. Your sponsor or others in a meeting should be able to help you with this. There are also resources and tools on this website and other websites for helping you to work the program. There are 12 step worksheets for helping you to write out the steps. There is Recovery Journal software for answering questions about the steps in a software journal format along with keeping a journal for other uses. The worksheet questions have also been prepared for use with a commercial journaling software package called LifeJournal. There are online references for some standard texts like the Alcoholics Anonymous' Big Book and the Narcotics Anonymous' Standard Text. And there are numerous links to other web sites that cover different aspects of recovery, for different types of addictions and with different perspectives.
The sooner that you start asking yourself the right questions and giving yourself honest answers, the better your life will be. The sooner that you begin working the steps, then the sooner that you can see the 12 promises come about in your life, like numerous others before you.

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