12 Step Program
12 Step Program
The 12-step program is the most commonly known addiction treatment method. This model for overcoming addiction has effectively helped treat the disease of addiction for over 70 years.
The Origins of the 12 Step Program
The origins of the 12-step program stem from the development of Alcoholics Anonymous in the late 1930’s. The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had a chance encounter in Akron Ohio. Both of these gentlemen for years had been struggling with alcoholism, and had found it impossible to overcome no matter what they tried. They learned however as they supported one another, the missing aspect to their previous attempts to get sober seemed to be an accountability aspect, an improved spiritual aspect, and last but certainly not least a service aspect. Wilson and Smith found that incorporating different aspects of what they used to overcome their drinking problems produced a solid foundation to the rest of their lives. In short, in an area where nothing had worked to arrest their alcoholism, they were now leading full and productive lives. A 12-Step approach to substance abuse treatment is a structured step-by-step program to help people with an addiction attain and sustain sobriety. 12-Step programs have helped many people with their recovery from drugs, alcohol or other addictions. Most 12-Step based rehabs operate on principles that are based on cognitive, emotional, behavioral and spiritual changes that will help you maintain abstinence from substance use. These changes occur throughout the process of genuinely completing each of the 12 steps toward recovery.
12 Step Programs are one way, not the ONLY way...
It is said that our recovery is based on the daily maintenance of our spiritual program. The 12-step model for addiction treatment and recovery is the program designed to help us achieve that daily maintenance. The program today is considered the mainstream of the recovery movement. It is an integral part of the alcohol and drug rehab process. The steps as they say are but suggestive only. In a world that for many of us has been a very dark and foreboding place, the 12-steps give a linear guideline for the process of recovery and a promise that should we follow these steps, that we will know freedom and we will be able to comprehend the word serenity. However, Arrow Passage Recovery offers many different treatment programs. 12 step based programs are not the only way to successfully break the chains of your addiction.