When alcoholics or drug addicts reach out for help, it is the recovery community’s responsibility to be there for them. No one seeking recovery should ever be turned away from any meeting. We never know how – or when – the seed of recovery will be planted.

So many people these days are dually addicted that it is rare to find a meeting of either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous where both alcohol and drugs aren’t discussed. It is true that some AA groups do request that those attending a meeting limit their discussion to problems dealing with alcohol, but a drug addict seeking support can still attend an alcoholism-only meeting and listen, and vice versa.

There are many types of AA and NA meetings. There are closed meetings and open meetings. A closed meeting is closed to anyone not addicted and may have other restrictions also. At open meetings, friends and family may attend although they cannot participate in the discussion and they are bound by the anonymity of the program – that is, they may not discuss whom they saw or what they heard at the meeting.

There are other types of meetings available also: men-only meetings, women-only meetings, Big Book meetings, “As Bill Sees It” (an AA book) meetings, Grapevine (an AA magazine) meetings, gay and lesbian meetings, discussion meetings, and 12-step meetings, to name just a few.

Addicts beginning recovery are strongly encouraged to go to 90 meetings in 90 days. This provides a great foundation from which to move on from dealing with the immediate physical withdrawal to attending to long-term emotional, mental and spiritual recovery.

Many addicts stay clean and sober just by attending meetings. But recovery is more than that. Recovery means getting beyond the urge to drink or use drugs. It means having a feeling of neutrality towards drugs and alcohol. It means living a life free from resentments, self-loathing, regrets and fear. It means living a life of freedom, happiness, peace and serenity.

The same 12 steps are the spiritual foundation of AA, NA and every other 12-step program.

1) We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable.

2) We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood God.

4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5) We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6) We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7) We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8) We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9) We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10) We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11) We 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 other addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The “God” language discourages some people, but there are many in AA and NA who, for one reason or another, want nothing to do with traditional notions of God. So they make the group their higher power, or decide that, for them, G.O.D. stands for Good Orderly Direction or Group Of Drunks or Group of Druggies. For many, spiritual faith and healing come with time and by working the steps.

The 12 steps are presented in order for a reason. Each step prepares you for the next step. By the time you thoroughly work through steps 1 through 3, you will find the courage and strength to begin step 4. The quality of your recovery depends on progressing at your own pace.

You need to find a sponsor to help guide you through the 12 steps. The person you ask to be your sponsor should be safe, trustworthy, clean and sober for at least one year and actively working the steps. It is strongly suggested that men ask men and women ask women to sponsor them. If you don’t already know someone you can ask, a meeting is the best place to find a sponsor.

The 12 steps are the windows to our souls. They bring out into the light the darkness that rages and hides within us. They make us more whole than we have ever been in our lives. The 12 steps can make it possible for you to find inner strength, peace, serenity and freedom.

A list of meetings can be obtained online by looking up www.na.org or www.aamaine.org. Or you can call Alcoholics Anonymous toll-free at (800) 737-6237 and ask them for the location of a meeting in your area. Most meetings are also listed in your local newspaper.

– Mary H.

Please join our weekly conversation about Maine’s substance abuse problem. We welcome comments or questions from all perspectives. Letters may be mailed to Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04401. Send e-mail contributions to findingafix@bangordailynews.net. Column editor Meg Haskell may be reached at (207) 990-8291 or mhaskell@bangordailynews.net.