The 12 Wondrous Steps of AA, NA, GA, OA & CA

The original 12 Steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous

(link to – 12 step process practical interpretation by Houghton House’s Dr Webb)

Since 1995 Houghton House Group has offered high quality, specialist treatment for those suffering from alcoholism and or drug dependency.
Over time we have become the leading authority in treating and beating addiction in South Africa with and adapted 12 Steps method.


Original 12 Steps

  • We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  • Came to believe that 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.

12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

  • 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 Him 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 Him, praying only for knowledge of His 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 alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Guiding Principles of the 12 Steps

In some cases, where other twelve-step groups have adapted the AA steps as guiding principles, they have been altered to emphasize principles important to those particular fellowships, and to remove gender-biased language.

The Twelve Traditions accompany the Twelve Steps. The Traditions provide guidelines for group governance. They were developed in AA in order to help resolve conflicts in the areas of publicity, religion and finances. Most twelve-step fellowships have adopted these principles for their structural governance.


The 12 Steps Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are as follows:

12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

  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 non-professional, but our service centres may employ special workers.
  9. AA, as such, ought never to 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 to 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.

Over 24 years of experience at Houghton House Rehabilitation Centers in Gauteng

The Houghton House programme has been refined and shaped within the 12 Steps to manage a wide variety of patients in terms of demographics and diagnoses. The experienced multi-disciplinary team of experts include doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists embrace multi-disciplinary, research-tested addiction treatment methods. and a full spectrum of care for individuals from all walks of life, including substance abuse evaluations, educational services, outpatient treatment, residential care, halfway house accommodation or recovery support.

More often than not, addiction occurs with other dual diagnosed and pre-existing psychological issues, such as depression or anxiety. Houghton House addresses these underlying issues with a  clinically integrated approach enables a sustainable recovery.


For more information on dealing with alcohol or  substance abuse and getting yourself into rehab to start a new life, call Houghton House now:

office hours:  011 787 9142

24/7 emergency help line: 079 770 7532

Click on the green envelope below and fill in our contact form, and one of our professional staff members will get back to you via email or phone, respecting your anonymity at all times.Anxiety Disorder, Substance Induced Anxiety Disorder, Best Addiction Rehabilitation in South Africa

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