The Twelve Steps of SAA

The 12 Steps summarize a system of actions designed to bring us into a relationship with a Higher Power of our understanding. Many people in the program use the word "God" to define this power.  When we first joined the program we were relieved to discover we did not need to consider another’s conception of God.  Our own conception (no matter how limited) was sufficient to help us make the first approach at connecting with a Power that could restore us to sanity.  For the sake of simplicity, we use the word "God" in our meetings and our literature when referring to this Power.

After we have worked the 12 Steps and our relationship with a Higher Power has been initiated, we continue to grow by applying the principles we have learned to all areas of our life. Continued spiritual growth is essential to our sustained sobriety.

These are the 12 Steps in their summary form.

1.  We admitted we were powerless over addictive sexual behavior - 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 other sex addicts and to practice these principles in our lives.

Taking these actions has brought us to a place of freedom far beyond anything we could have imagined. This way of life was about much more than just staying abstinence. We have come to sense a feeling of contentment, joy, and peace enter our lives without which sobriety would be meaningless. This transformation is described in the promises of Step 9.

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development we are going to be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 83-84

The promises of the program assure us that we can be happy and satisfied no matter what life sends our way. Our experience has repeatedly shown us that these promises never fail to manifest themselves in the life of an addict who has taken these 12 Steps and continues to apply the principles to his/her life—one day at a time.

We meet regularly as a group so that the newcomer who is still struggling to gain sobriety might find us.  Our focus in the meeting is always on the solution . If you really and truly want to quit your compulsive sexual behaviors for good and all, we are convinced that we have a way out that works.