How does 12-Step facilitation of treatment relate to your personal theory of life? What parts could you integrate if desired?
I have many feelings running through my head about the 12-step process. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I am also going to my AA meeting for my paper this evening so I have been thinking about it all day. I think the other thing that made me a bit hesitant was the whole, ‘Surrendering to God’ piece. Once I read into it a bit more and realized that it was more about surrendering to something greater than ourselves I was a bit more into it. I do not practice religion but I definitely believe that there is a higher power out there somewhere. Initially I was under the impression that a large part of the group was based in religion and I didn’t like that. I am still not quite sure how I feel about all the ‘Him’ and ‘God’ references that are in so many of the steps, but I think that if I remember that it is more about spirituality and not religion I will be good. What about people that do not believe in a higher being? Are they not allowed to go? There are people out there that have serious beliefs that do NOT include a type of God…what about them? Is there a Godless AA somewhere?
How does 12-Step facilitation of treatment relate to your preferred counseling orientation? What parts do you see that you could utilize for treatment?
I am a big believer in groups. I work in a middle school so groups can be pretty difficult to run, however, I still believe they can be very helpful if run properly. Emotions and feelings can be shared in a safe and confidential way. While it is not a group in the sense of an actual counseling or psychoed group, having the support of people is a huge part of the healing process and AA and NA both have those. I bet if you spoke to people who attend these meetings and have been sober for x amount of days/weeks/months/years, they would all say something like, ‘I couldn’t have done it without the other members.’ Getting the support of those surrounding the impacted individual is very important for the success of treatment. AA and NA both provide strong systems of support which makes these meetings very powerful.
gtolcott 
Hi,
You articulated many good points that many people not familiar with AA believe. I too thought these things about the whole “God” and “Him” thing. I don’t like how much of an emphasis there is in the literal 12 Steps, but in reality, there isn’t that much of an emphasis on god in the actual meetings. Many people are atheist who go to AA and NA and that’s fine. Whenever god is mentioned in the steps, it is always followed with “how we understand him”. This emphasizes the subjective nature of god and spirituality. Also, there are “secular AA meetings”, such as SMART Recovery. And I agree with you, I’ve been to many AA meetings, and I believe that the biggest aspect of AA that helps people is the peer-support and sense of community to those who may feel lost or who have been abandoned by all others in their life.