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At Rehab Clinics group we have always recommended Alcoholics Anonymous services to every person that reaches out to us for help with alcohol addiction and rehab. Alcoholics Anonymous is a free service that anyone with alcohol issues can benefit from.
The organisation runs on the foundation of addicts working together and helping one another in their recovery when battling addiction. Continuing to remain sober following rehab can be challenging, and Alcoholics Anonymous gives former alcoholics continued support.
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith in 1935. Bill Wilson was an alcoholic and used his difficult situation to form a group that even to this present day helps thousands of alcoholics across the world in finding the strength and resolve to fight their addiction.
Bill Wilson stopped drinking after having a spiritual experience, which inspired him to create the ’12 Steps’ upon which the organisation’s principles are based.
To attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, you must first stop drinking and want to become sober long-time. Meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous are about supporting recovering alcoholics in their ongoing sobriety, so they can look forward to a sober future free from thoughts of consuming alcohol.
If you are still struggling with alcohol consumption, it is best that you contact us at Rehab Clinics Group to discuss alcohol rehab options. Alcoholics Anonymous has no formal leadership, and meetings are usually organised by an ex-alcoholic who wants to help other people in their recovery.
When you attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting you receive guidance based on the foundation’s 12-Step methodology. You also receive instruction on the 12 Traditions, which are designed to help you stay on track and not become distracted by outside temptations of alcohol when you are away from your Alcoholics Anonymous gathering.
The 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous has a Big Book containing inspiring recovery stories, spiritual mantras and the 12 Steps and Traditions. The 12 Steps are spiritual-based pledges that are designed to help alcoholics remain sober and to prevent them from relapsing.
The 12 Steps are:
- We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
- 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 we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for the knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
These 12 Traditions intend to give alcoholics confidence in their recovery, while assuring them that their time with Alcoholics Anonymous remains private at all times.
The 12 Traditions are:
- Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.
- For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
- The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.
- Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.
- Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
- An AA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
- Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
- Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centres may employ special workers.
- AA, as such, ought never be organised; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
- Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
- Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
- Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous was founded in 1953 in Los Angeles, with thousands of group meetings taking place every day across the globe. It was founded on the basis of Alcoholics Anonymous because of the success of the organisation. To be a member of Narcotics Anonymous, you must have a strong intention to overcome your drug addiction. Narcotics Anonymous caters to all drug addicts, no matter what you are addicted to.
Like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous is an organisation in which all members are drug addicts with the intention of helping and supporting one another in recovery. Meetings take place with a key speaker, who invites participants to share their stories of drug addiction and their journey to rehabilitation.
In these meetings, members are encouraged to only share what they feel comfortable sharing. Stories are told one person at a time, and members are encouraged to speak to each other after sessions to boost motivation and develop a sense of community.
Like Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Narcotics Anonymous meetings are based on spiritual mantras and putting faith in an un-named ‘higher power’. Some people may decide to replace this ‘higher power’ with the term ‘God’, but that is their choice completely.
Get in touch with us today at Rehab Clinics Group for more information on Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous support groups in your local area, as well as options for rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction. Call us on 03301 596 494, or Text HELP To 83222.
