The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions are reprinted and adapted with permission
of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt
this material 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 which are patterned after AA,
but which 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. Make 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 meditations 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.
The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous - Short
Form
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.
2. 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.
3. The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups
or AA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose-to carry its message to the alcoholic
who still suffers.
6. 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.
7. Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service
centers may employ special workers.
9. Alcoholics Anonymous as such, ought never be organized; but we may create
service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name
ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. 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.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding
us to place principles before personalities.
The CoDA World Fellowship 