Using the Twelve Steps

Relapse Prevention Tools

How the Steps Can Help

The Twelve Steps of DRA help us stay focused on our dual recovery. They are simple, affirming, and practical. We find that the more we embrace the Twelve Steps as a tool for living, the more we get out of them. In time we learn to practice the principles set out in the Steps in all of our affairs.

They offer a simple plan for recovery. The Twelve Steps of Dual Recovery Anonymous are adapted from the traditional Twelve Steps, based on the personal experiences of men and women in dual recovery and on the principles of personal freedom and choice.

The Twelve Steps of DRA are specifically designed to help members to stop using alcohol and other intoxicating drugs, maintain their recovery and prevent relapse.

They encourage members to develop and follow a healthy and constructive plan to manage their emotional or psychiatric illnesses.
By practising the Twelve Steps for dual recovery, members find that they are better able to improve the quality of their lives.

The Twelve Steps of DRA are designed to help members in several ways:

Acceptance:

We learn to accept the dual disorder of chemical dependency and emotional or psychiatric illness, and to accept the need to develop and practise a personal programme for dual recovery that focuses on recovery from both illnesses.

Help:

We choose a source of help and decide to use it for our dual recovery. That source of help may be referred to as a Higher Power or any other name that feels comfortable.

Identify Assets and Liabilities:

We identify the personal assets (attitudes, actions, and experiences) that can strengthen our dual recovery. We also identify the personal liabilities (attitudes, actions, and experiences) that can pose a risk to our dual recovery.

Change:

We work with a personal source of help (Higher Power) to strengthen our assets for dual recovery and remove the liabilities that pose a risk for our dual recovery.

Mend Relationships:

We identify people who have been negatively affected by our dual disorder and, through dual recovery, work to mend those relationships.

Maintain Dual Recovery and Prevent Relapse:

We continue to strengthen our personal assets and remove our personal liabilities by working with our Higher Power on a daily basis.

Helping Others:

We share with others who experience dual disorders the message of how dual recovery is possible.

The Twelve Steps Of Dual Recovery Anonymous*

We admitted we were powerless over our dual illness of chemical dependency and emotional or psychiatric illness - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Higher Power of our understanding could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, to help us to rebuild our lives in a positive and caring way.
Made a searching and fearless personal inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our liabilities and our assets.
Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all our liabilities.
Humbly asked our Higher Power to remove these liabilities and to help us to strengthen our assets for recovery.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admitted it, while continuing to recognise our progress in dual recovery.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power, praying only for knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others who experience dual disorders and to practise these principles in all our affairs.

*Adapted from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous®
*The Twelve Steps of AA are reprinted and adapted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism only - use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities that are patterned after AA, but that address other problems, does not imply otherwise. THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS* 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people where ever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought thorough prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

There are two useful books which can help us progress with incorporating the principles of the Steps into our lives. One is a an in-depth study of the Steps and their meaning, called "The Twelve Steps and Dual Disorders", and the other is a companion work book of the same name. They were written by Tim Hamilton and Pat Samples. [link to both of these?]