Trauma Informed Twelve Steps

1) We admitted that we are not in power when our needs and wants have become unmanageable.

2) Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity by showing how insane it is to believe that our wants are really needs.

3) Made a decision to turn our will over to the care of Good as we understand it, while retaining our need for human rights, common decency, and all matters of respect.

4) Made a fearless and searching inventory of ourselves to understand the exact nature of our human condition.

5) Honored our experience and knowledge by sharing with our Higher Power, another person, and ourselves the exact nature of our condition.

6) Humbly asked our Higher Power to help us with self-acceptance in our daily effort to heal.

7) Humbly asked our Higher Power to help with the ability to recognize and remove our shortcomings.

8) Made a list of people we have harmed and became willing to make amends by learning how and why.

9) Made direct amends, by owning our behavior when it would not cause harm to ourselves or others.

10) When we were wrong in our words, thoughts, and actions, we promptly and non-judgmentally admitted it to ourselves and to others.

11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power, asking for the insight and the will to carry the Good out.

12) Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to help others by sharing our experience, strength, and hope while practicing these spiritual principles in all of our affairs.

by Adam O’Brien LMHC, CASAC is the owner/clinician of Mutual Arising Mental Health Counseling, PLLC in Chatham NY. He works primarily with people suffering from their addictions but is also a trauma therapist working with victims of crime. In these freelance writings, he brings a variety of experiences and points of view to entertain and educate. He is an EMDRIA certified EMDR therapist and is trained in Progressive Counting. He is aiming to support other clinicians by providing consulting and trainings.