The Twelve Steps Of Dual Recovery Anonymous*

1. We admitted we were powerless over our dual illness of chemical dependency and emotional or psychiatric illness - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Higher Power of our understanding could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, to help us to rebuild our lives in a positive and caring way.
4. Made a searching and fearless personal inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our liabilities and our assets.
6. Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all our liabilities.
7. Humbly asked our Higher Power to remove these liabilities and to help us to strengthen our assets for recovery.
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 wrong promptly admitted it, while continuing to recognize our progress in dual recovery.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power, praying only for knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others who experience dual disorders and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
    
    

    The 12 Traditions of Dual Recovery Anonymous

    1. The primary purpose of D.R.A. is to carry the message of recovery to men and women who experience a dual disorder.
    2. D.R.A. has two requirements for membership; a desire to stop using alcohol and other intoxicating drugs, and a desire to manage our emotional or psychiatric illness in a healthy and constructive way.
    3. We welcome men and women of all personal beliefs, our program is one of personal freedom and choice.
    4. Our groups and service work are guided by the principles of the 12 Steps of D.R.A.
    5. Each group is independent, to better meet the recovery needs of our members. We are sensitive to the well being and unity of other groups and to D.R.A. as a whole.
    6. To maintain our primary purpose, we avoid all outside distractions. We need not become involved in financial entanglements, lend the D.R.A. name for outside activities and issues, or become drawn into public controversy.
    7. Every DRA group ought to be self-supporting.
    8. D.R.A. is a volunteer, self-help organization. To carry out our service work, we may employ special workers, form committees and coordinate projects.
    9. Our individual dual recovery depends on D.R.A. unity. We carry the message through our personal recovery and our service work.
    10. D.R.A. is a non-professional program. We do not provide chemical dependency, mental health or other social services. D.R.A. has no opinion regarding the appropriate use of medications or other methods of managing our symptoms.
    11. In D.R.A. we share an equal partnership in dual recovery. Our traditions and service work help us maintain the integrity of our program, to provide for others and to enhance the unity of D.R.A. as a whole.
    12. Personal anonymity is the right of every D.R.A. member. We practice anonymity at the level of public media.
        
        

        Preamble

        DRA is an independent, self-help organization. Our goal is to help men and women who experience a dual illness. We are chemically dependent and we are also affected by an emotional or psychiatric illness. Both illnesses affect us in all areas of our lives; physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually.

        The primary purpose of DRA is to help one another achieve dual recovery, to prevent relapse, and to carry the message of recovery to others who experience dual disorders.

        DRA has two requirements for membership; a desire to stop using alcohol and other intoxicating drugs and a desire to manage our emotional or psychiatric illness in a healthy and constructive way.

        DRA is a nonprofessional self-help program. There must always be a clear boundary separating the work of DRA from the work of chemical dependency and mental health professionals. The DRA fellowship has no opinion on matters of diagnosis, treatment, medication, or other issues related to the health-care professions.

        The DRA fellowship is not affiliated with any other self-help organization or Twelve Step program. DRA has no opinion on the way other groups address the problems of dual disorders and dual recovery. We do not criticize the efforts of others.

        The DRA Central Service Office will offer support to others who wish to start DRA meetings and who wish to work with other groups to carry the message.
        

        Accepting Differences

        Newcomers and visitors may ask, Can a DRA program help me even with the type of symptoms that I have? Such feelings are not uncommon. We need to help newcomers recognize that a variety of symptoms are possible with a dual illness. There is no single type of dual disorder.

        Our chemical problems also vary. For example:

        	One man used alcohol, while another used many different drugs.
        	One woman got high daily, while another got high only once a month.
        	Some of us have been in treatment programs several times for our chemical dependency, while others have received outpatient care while living at home.
        	Some of us have been clean and sober for a long time, while others have yet to become abstinent.

        We have found that this is also true when we consider the symptoms of our specific psychiatric illness and worry that they will set us apart from others. For example:

        	Some of us use prescription medications to control our symptoms, while others have symptoms that need no medication.
        	Some of us have struggled for many years with our psychiatric illness, while others have just begun to experience the onset of symptoms.
        	Some of us have experienced changes in our ability to perceive reality clearly and have experienced hallucinations, whether they come in the form of hearing voices or seeing visions.
        	Some of us have felt increased energy or have experienced changes in our ability to think and make judgments. We may have also found that our thoughts sometimes race and seem to go out of control.
        	Some of us have felt a loss of energy, a loss of enjoyment of life, and have perceived life from a negative perspective. Perhaps our sleeping patterns and appetite have changed as well. We may have become suicidal. We may find that we have difficulties with our thoughts and concentration.

        These lists are far from complete, but they point to a common bond: both men and women are affected by different types of no-fault illnesses whose symptoms can disrupt the ability to function and relate to others effectively. Some of us feared that we were becoming hopelessly impaired. We came to believe that we would never be “normal” again. Many of us have experienced great shame and guilt. We believed that our emotional or psychiatric illness and chemical dependency were our fault. Some of us have become secretive. We tried to keep our drinking and drug use a secret, and later some of us felt a need to keep our recovery and Steps a secret. We also felt our psychiatric illness must be kept secret, especially if our recovery program included prescription medication.

        We seemed to run out of ways to protect our feelings and self-esteem, and to protect ourselves from the attitudes of those around us. Many of us gradually went into a closet of denial. If there are any among us who have felt as though they were living in that closet, we welcome you. We want you to know that the fear, isolation, and secrecy, no longer need be a part of your life.                                 
                                           Thanks,Liz

Reprinted with permission by DNR of Nashville TN.