12-step programs are well-known for the support they provide for people affected by substance abuse or addiction. They help guide your sobriety efforts by providing you with a series of actionable steps to take. While each of these steps is crucial to the process, the fourth often stands out. What is the fourth step in a 12-step program? Making a thorough account of how you and your loved ones have been impacted by your substance abuse. To learn more about 12-step recovery, contact Promises Right Step at 17135283709 or online.
How the 12-Step Process Works
12-step programs are perhaps the best-known examples of a mutual self-help group. Groups in this category form on the basis of common interests and offer peer-to-peer support to their participants. In this way, they provide an easily accessible network of people looking out for each other’s welfare and well-being.
The 12-step model, which originated with the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, provides support in a specific organizing framework. This framework requires you to undertake a sequence of 12 actions that help sustain short- and long-term sobriety. Each of these actions provides its own benefits and also contributes to your overall progress.
Since they’re peer-based, 12-step groups don’t rely on the methods used in formal rehab programs. However, participation in one of these groups can add an important resource to your recovery toolkit. For this reason, you may be encouraged to join a 12-step program during your time in rehab.
What Is the Fourth Step of a 12-Step Program?
Addiction is known for its ability to seriously harm both you and your loved ones. Much of this harm comes from common symptoms such as:
- A loss of control over your behavior
- Prioritization of substance use above other aspects of your daily routine
- Lack of perspective or concern regarding the impact of your actions
What is the fourth step in the 12-step approach? Making an honest effort to look long and hard at the impact of addiction on your life. That means examining the ways that addiction has damaged your mental and physical health. In addition, it means exploring the ways that your substance abuse has negatively altered your behavior.
Crucially, it also means taking a close look at addiction’s damaging impact on your important relationships. In classic 12-step language, these actions are collectively referred to as making a moral inventory. They play a key role in your future efforts to establish a fulfilling, functional, and substance-free lifestyle.
Continuing On to the Next Steps in the Program
What do you do after taking stock of your actions and their impact? The next several steps in a 12-step program include:
- Admitting to your shortcomings and honestly discussing them
- Accepting your defects and being prepared to change with help from your higher power
- Actually calling upon your higher power for help
As you take each of these steps, you make further progress in your program. You also broaden the scope of your recovery. In combination with formal treatment, they can help make maintenance of your sobriety a realistic, day-to-day goal.
Learn More About 12-Step Recovery at Promises Right Step
What is the fourth step of a 12-step program? Making a detailed assessment of addiction’s negative influence on you and those harmed by your actions. Completing this assessment is crucial to taking the next steps in the program.
Have more questions about the fourth step or 12-step programs in general? Promises Right Step is here to answer them. We can also show you how these programs work together with the professional resources of rehab. Just call us today at 17135283709 or contact us through our online message form.
