The Twelve Steps are the core of the SRA recovery program. By studying them and practicing them in our lives, many of us have been able to stop our destructive sexual behavior and begun to live rich and fulfilling lives.

We learn to use the steps by reading about them, discussing them at meetings (particularly “Step Meetings”) and talking about them with our sponsors and other members. The principles they embody are universal and applicable to everyone whatever his or her personal creed.

  1. We admitted we were powerless over our sexual obsessions—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 God.
  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 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 understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s 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 those still suffering, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

© SRA General Services Board, 1991 with permission from AA.

We are grateful to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous for the permission to adapt the AA Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Preamble.

The Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and the Preamble are reprinted and adapted with the permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., AA Grapevine, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt does not mean that AA is affiliated with this program. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism; use of the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and Preamble 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 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. 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 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.