Twelve Step Sponsorship

Twelve Step Sponsorship is the first truly comprehensive look at sponsorship, a role recovering people benefit from both as sponsees and ultimately as sponsors. Sponsorship is a rich and enduring part of tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous. Twelve Step Sponsorship delivers both the theory and practice--how to do it and why--in a clear, step-by-step presentation. Written by the author of Getting Started in AA, a widely acclaimed guide for the newcomer to the program of AA, Twelve Step Sponsorship is the first truly comprehensive look at sponsorship, a role recovering people benefit from both as sponsees and ultimately as sponsors. Twelve Step Sponsorship includes informative sections that deal with: finding a sponsor and being a sponsor. Twelve Step Sponsorship offers a welcome reinforcement to the tradition of "passing it on" from one generation of sponsors to the next.

“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” -STEP 12 of the TWELVE STEPS Sponsorship is a key construct in A. A. and other Twelve Step groups, and the twelfth step is the foundation of the sponsorship dynamic essential to recover – both for the sponsor and the sponsoree. This book addresses the concern of many in the A. A. community that sponsors have lost some skills in working with alcoholics. By offering tools for helping others find recovery and new life through the Twelve Step program, Joe McQ has created a guide for sponsors to use in working with others. By refocusing his readers on the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and their message, McQ appeals for a return to the roots and essence of the A. A. program. Moreover, he issues a strong call to action, for return to the fullness and the integrity of the miraculous recovery program.

A 75th anniversary e-book version of the most important and practical self-help book ever written, Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is a special deluxe edition of a book that has changed millions of lives and launched the modern recovery movement: Alcoholics Anonymous. This edition not only reproduces the original 1939 text of Alcoholics Anonymous, but as a special bonus features the complete 1941 Saturday Evening Post article “Alcoholics Anonymous” by journalist Jack Alexander, which, at the time, did as much as the book itself to introduce millions of seekers to AA’s program. Alcoholics Anonymous has touched and transformed myriad lives, and finally appears in a volume that honors its posterity and impact.

A handbook for newcomers to Alcoholics Anonymous providing program principles and historical references.

Twelve Steps to recovery.

A Sponsorship Guide for 12-Step Programs offers the reader far-ranging suggestions, based on concrete experience, for the most common issues and dilemmas that arise when one agrees to become a sponsor in any 12-step program. Seventeen sponsors (with collective recovery time of over 250 years) share their experience and insights as they describe common situations sponsors face and relate the solutions they used. This is the first book of its kind--for sponsors, by sponsors. Divided into three main sections--"Sponsorship Basics," "Working the Steps with a Sponsee," and "Common issues that Come Up"--this book will be of use to anyone who has agreed to be a sponsor, or anyone who does not have access to a sponsor. A Sponsorship Guide is like having a sponsor in a book.

An interpretation and guide to the 12 steps of Acoholics Anonymous.

The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. Many might consider that such a remarkable individual as Bill Wilson, who was the primary author of AA literature, would be able to deal with many of life's problems on his own. Reading The Soul of Sponsorship will illuminate and answer the question of how Father Ed, an Irish Catholic Jesuit priest who was not an alcoholic, was able to be of such great help to Bill Wilson. Part of AA's Twelfth Step reminds us "to carry this message to alcoholics," and The Soul of Sponsorship illustrates how sober alcoholics still need the principles of the Twelve Steps brought to them by friends, sponsors, and spiritual advisers. Some of the problems faced by Bill Wilson were:depression in recoverydependency issueswhether or not to experiment with LSDthe place of money and power in AAknowing God's plan and willlearning from mistakesFather Ed taught Bill the importance of "discernment." In Father Ed's Jesuit tradition, discernment was a gift, passed down to him from St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, who described his own struggle with discernment in Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Twelve Steps of AA and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius presuppose that there is a caring God whose will can be known. The act of tuning in to God's action at one's center is discernment. The big question is, how do you know your Higher Power is speaking and revealing Himself through your feelings and desires?What Bill learned from Father Ed can be found in books and articles he wrote for AA. For the good of AA and himself, Bill learned to listen to his desires, be aware of his inner dynamics, and tune into the action of God within. Doing this meant learning to recognize and identify his personal movements -- those inner promptings and attractions often called emotions or affections -- which are part of ordinary human experiences. The person who helped Bill grow in discernment was Father Ed, the Jesuit priest with a cane who limped into the New York AA clubhouse one sleet-filled November night in 1940.The two "fellow travelers," Father Ed Dowling and Bill Wilson, gave each other perhaps the greatest gift friends can give: calling on each to know who he is -- before God.