Your recovery journey is one of if not the most important times in your life. This means finding the right program and people to surround yourself with is crucial to your recovery. The 12-Step model has been seen as a great way to work through treatment and recovery and, hopefully, your successful long-term sobriety.

At Spero Recovery, we strive to use 12-Step programs to meet your needs and help improve your quality of life.

What Is a 12-Step Program?

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) started the 12-Step model to help people overcome their addiction through the use of peer support. Now, this type of program is used to treat other substance use disorders and mental health conditions.

There isn’t a timeframe that you necessarily have to complete the program within. As long as you continue to work the steps and attend meetings, you are still working on your recovery and maintaining your sobriety.

A large part of overcoming addiction through this type of program is surrendering yourself to a higher power. This higher power does not have to have a religious aspect. For example, the responsibility, support, and accountability that your 12-Step group members provide can be what you use as your higher power.

What Are the Twelve Steps?

The AA Big Book lists the Twelve Steps as:

1. Acknowledge that you are powerless against your addiction.
2. Put faith that your higher power can help you overcome your addiction.
3. Relinquish control over to your higher power.
4. Evaluate your past to determine the changes you want to make.
5. Admit the mistakes of your past to others, your higher power, and yourself.
6. Be open to hearing necessary character correction from your higher power.
7. Ask your higher power to make these corrections.
8. Create a list of those you wronged while under the influence and be willing to make amends to those people.
9. Act on making amends to those you have wronged, unless during so would further hurt them.
10. Evaluate your decisions and continue to make changes where necessary to get to the place you’re striving to.
11. Look toward your higher power for support and enlightenment.
12. Continue to pass along the 12-Step message to others.

How Can a 12-Step Program Benefit My Recovery?

Twelve-Step programs can help your recovery journey in a variety of ways. These programs:

• Ease the need for control: They help you understand that your substance use disorder is a mental health condition that you need help to control.
• Prevent relapse: When you enter a 12-Step program, you are entering an already sober community that you can lean on and feel your sobriety is safe in. This helps prevent relapse because it gives you a safe place to turn to.
• Keep you accountable: They help you take accountability for your actions while under the influence of the substance and make amends with those you wronged. This allows you to find forgiveness from others and yourself.
• Build a support system: The program provides a support system for unbiased people who have experienced similar circumstances as you. This, in turn, can make you feel more comfortable confiding in others and that you aren’t alone.
• Teach life lessons: Listening to peers who are working the steps as well can help you determine how to handle similar situations in your life and learn new coping mechanisms.
• Provide resources: Twelve-Step programs provide access to free supportive meetings whenever you need them.

The Spero Recovery Difference

Spero Recovery is a non-profit residential recovery program that implements a 12-Step model to strengthen recovery. We use grants and donations to be able to make effective treatment affordable and accessible to everyone, including uninsured and underinsured individuals.

Alumni of our program are used to mentor and run the experiential treatment programs. Experiential treatment encourages participating in activities to help you recover. Some activities include:

• Hiking
• Cooking classes
• Meditation
• Woodworking

Group programs allow clients to feel more trusting and supported, which can help them form better connections and feel more confident in their treatment.

Finding the right program to fit what you need to prosper in recovery can feel impossible. You need to find somewhere that you feel you belong and where you can fully heal. There are other factors that contribute to your choice of program, such as cost and whether the program is inpatient or outpatient. Twelve-Step programs can be found in inpatient, residential, or outpatient settings. They also help you work through the steps of recovery and provide you with a supportive community. If you feel like you are struggling to find the right program for you while in recovery, reach out to Spero Recovery at (303) 351-7888 today to learn more about our 12-Step model.