What is the 12-step approach?
As part of our alcohol rehab programme, we use the 12-step model of recovery to help clients stop drinking, and stay stopped. The 12 Steps were created by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), to help individuals overcome alcoholism and get sober. The 12-step programme was so successful that it led to the development of many support groups, and from these, a variety of 12-step programmes have come into existence for a range of addictions and compulsive behaviours. These range from Cocaine Anonymous to Gambler’s Anonymous and they use the same 12-step methods in each programme.
Here at the Providence Projects, we have seen the benefits of using the 12-step approach to treat addiction since our doors opened in 1996. Thousands of individuals across the country have found the programme immensely helpful. The programme provides a framework in which the individual can try to understand their addiction and their recovery.
Attendance at 12-step meetings is a requirement at our private rehab clinic. These support groups provide a safe space for recovering addicts and alcoholics to meet, share experiences, and find connection, identification and support from other alcoholics and addicts. Getting into good habits whilst in rehab means you are more likely to attend 12-step support groups after you leave. Adjusting to independent living after drug rehab or alcohol rehab presents a whole new realm of challenges. Many people struggle with the loss of the structure, routine and safety of a residential rehab centre. 12 step support meetings help you with this transition, and build your sober support network which you can carry with you throughout your recovery.
12 step meetings are also a great opportunity for recovering addicts to find a sponsor – someone also in recovery who you can turn to for advice and guidance. Sponsors provide a fundamental source of support for those in recovery, a sounding board against which you can explore your thought process, feelings and behaviours, from someone who has trod the same path as you before. Support groups are also available for families and loved ones, such as Al-Anon or Nar-Anon.
Another benefit of recovery meetings is the opportunity they provide to forge real connections, of depth and weight, with other recovering addicts and alcoholics. Active addiction is a lonely and isolating disease, and most individuals have lost connection to others throughout their illness. Meetings are a forum to re-establish these connections with other people, to develop a sense of community in ‘fellowship’, and build trust, loyalty, and friendship with others who have shared experiences to you. Meetings are regarded by many as a crucial factor when maintaining your recovery, and a sense of being connected to the world and to those around you.
Meetings help overcome the isolation and loneliness of active addiction. The negative and self-destructive thinking of an addict or alcoholic can be so chronic, that once isolated and alone, they are at serious risk of relapse. Their thinking might tell them that they don’t even have the disease of addiction, or that they no longer need meetings after building up a period of sobriety. By attending 12-step meetings, the addict is challenged by the wisdom and shared experience of the group. Meetings serve as a counter-balance to the addict’s self-defeating and destructive patterns of thinking.
We’re Here to Help
Remaining sober takes hard work, determination, discipline and sustained effort. We try to instill these values in our clients during their time in alcohol rehab, with the aim that they leave equipped with the skills to remain sober long-term.
If you or a loved one would like more information on alcohol, drug or gambling addiction, and how our private rehab clinic can help, then please call us today on 0800 955 0945. You can speak to one of our expert team of addiction counsellors who would be happy to discuss your options. Alternatively, send us a text or fill out our online contact form, and someone will be in touch shortly.
