ACA is different from other 12 step programs. Our purpose is to overcome the effects of being raised in a dysfunctional (alcoholic or otherwise) home. Although ACA uses the same steps as AA, the ACA steps focus on self-love and re-parenting ourselves rather than having a desire to stop practicing a particular behavior.
Our text (the Big Red Book of ACA) outlines this self-love focus in detail in Chapter 7. The spirit of this step work comes from the experiences of former ACA members , perhaps most notably the writings of co-founder Tony A.
Tony wrote his own version of the 12 steps. Although his steps are not quoted in the Big Book, his ideas about those steps are included. We include both versions of the steps here so a newcomer can get a quick overview of the ACA focus:
ACA's official 12 steps:
1. We admitted we were powerless over the effects of alcoholism or other family dysfunction, 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 understand God
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
5. Admitted to God, to our selves, 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 God 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 wherever 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 through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others who still suffer, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Tony A’s 12 Steps of Recovery
from The Laundry List
by Tony A with Dan F
by Tony A with Dan F
Published by: Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida
1. We admitted that we were powerless over the effects of living with alcoholism and that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could bring us clarity.
3. We made a decision to practice self-love and to trust a Higher Power of our understanding.
4. We made a searching and blameless inventory of our parents because, in essence, we had become them.
5. We admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our childhood abandonment.
6. We were entirely ready to begin the healing process with the aid of our Higher Power.
7. We humbly asked our Higher Power to help us with our healing process.
8. We became willing to open ourselves to receive the unconditional love of our Higher Power.
9. We became willing to accept our own unconditional love by understanding that our Higher Power loves us unconditionally.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and to love and approve of ourselves.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power, praying only for knowledge of its will for us and the power to carry it out.
The 12 Traditions
- Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on ACA unity.
- For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as may be expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern.
- The only requirement for membership in ACA is a desire to recover from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family.
- Each group is autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or ACA as a whole. We cooperate with all other Twelve-Step programs.
- Each ACA group has but one purpose - to carry its message to the adult child who still suffers.
- An ACA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the ACA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
- Every ACA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
- Adult Children of Alcoholics should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
- ACA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
- Adult Children of Alcoholics has no opinion on outside issues; hence the ACA 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, TV and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principals before personalities.
