STEP 12

  1. Listen to Special Edition podcast from A Vision 4 You website: Step 12: Life Will Take on New Meaning by Jo M.      
  2. Read:
    1. AA Big Book: Working with Others.
    2. AA 12 & 12: Step 12.
    3. A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step 12.
  3. In the Forward to the Second Edition of the AA Big Book, we read together that “Strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery.” We also read, “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail” (Big Book, page 89).
  4. Step 12 is about throwing yourself into working with others. Here are some suggestions to help you develop your plan for sponsoring others:
    1. Listen to A.A. Back to Basics: Steps 1-3, and 10-12.
    2. Search out and listen to other A Vision 4 You Special Editions on any topic that interests you.
    3. Call other recovered sponsors that you particularly appreciate and ask them how they sponsor. You may want to come up with some questions to guide the conversation. Here are some example questions:
        • How many sponsees do you work with at any one time?
        • How often do you speak with/meet with your sponsees?
        • How do you handle a sponsee who eats some of their red/yellow light foods while working the Steps? 
        • What other advice do you have about sponsorship?
    4. Locate and review the Food Slip Inventory found on the 12 Steps Together website. 
    5. The strategy below (A-F) may be used for working with a sponsee that picks up their alcoholic foods.
        1. Ask your Higher Power for the right words to most lovingly address the situation with your sponsee.
        2. Tell your sponsee to pause their step work for three days, while they abstain from all their alcoholic foods and behaviors and allow their mind to clear.
        3. Have your sponsee complete a Food Slip Inventory
        4. Suggest that your sponsee call 4 recovered members and ask each one about their favorite or most important part of the Dr.’s Opinion and what they do to prevent relapse.
        5. When your sponsee has three days of abstinence meet with them to discuss the Food Slip Inventory
        6. and what they learned from other members.
        7. Suggest that your sponsee resume their step-work.
        8. If your sponsee picks up multiple times, ask your Higher Power for guidance and read the paragraph below.

Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy. (Big Book, page 96)

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WORKED ALL 12 STEPS. YOU ARE READY TO LIVE IN STEPS 10, 11, AND 12 ON A DAILY BASIS.

 

 

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