San Jose NA Meetings, Counseling, & Support

The 12 steps are designed to take someone from a state of addiction and hopelessness to a state of empowered recovery. This transformation happens through honesty, surrender, righting wrongs, being of service to others, and engaging in spiritual practice.

The steps help people with addiction make honest assessments of their condition and come to terms with the fact that they are powerless over drugs and/or alcohol and that because of their addiction, their lives have become unmanageable. NA members are able to get out of denial and start being honest with themselves and others. Moving on through the steps, members develop a relationship with a higher power that they define for themselves. They are taught that their higher power is the one who can relieve the insanity they have been living, and that surrendering to that power is essential. Those are the first three steps. 

The next three steps are all about self-awareness, confession, and recognizing shortcomings. Working with a sponsor, someone who has longer recovery and has experience going through the 12 steps, is critical for these steps. 

Next, members have to deal with the wreckage of their pasts. They have to face their wrongdoings and do their best to make them right. The goal of these steps is to deal with the past to alleviate the guilt and shame that most addicts feel. The last three steps are considered maintenance steps. They involve consistently evaluating daily behavior and fixing the parts members got wrong. Through prayer and meditation, they strengthen their relationship with their higher power, and they work to help other addicts find the peace they have. 

Ultimately, members who work all the way through the 12 steps of NA find a new way to live – without drugs or alcohol.