NOVEMBER 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 37
12 STEPS:
PATH TO RECOVERY
BY EDEN LAIKIN
The secret that tens of thousands
of people have used to recover from
drug and alcohol addiction since
1935 has been revealed.
The program, which many medical
professionals describe as having
the greatest impact on addiction, is
based on 12 simple steps that anyone
can practice at meetings with the
help of others like them.
“No one thing is going to work
for everyone, but I think more often
than not, the 12 steps give people a
new way to live, without restrictions
and covenants,” says Dr. Thomas Jan
of Massapequa, who has been treating
substance abusers with various
addiction medication therapies for
25 years.
His patients are required to also
be in a treatment program. He
thinks 12-step programs have the
highest success rate for long-term
sobriety.
“It changes the core problem,
which has nothing to do with alcohol
or drugs,” he says. “Addiction has to
do with thinking. It’s a disease of
attitudes and behaviors.”
The premise upon which the
12-step program of Narcotics Anonymous
(NA) is based, and which
members agree has saved their lives,
is this: The therapeutic value of one
addict helping another is without
parallel.
First and foremost is admitting
that you have a problem and that you
need help from others. Develop a belief
in a power greater than yourself;
stay away from people, places and
things associated with your using;
and make peace with actions you
took while actively enslaved by the
disease of addiction.
Barry, a social worker, believes a
12-step program gave him a life and
recommends the programs to his
clients.
“Thank God for the straight talk
in 12-step meetings,” he says. “I received
the support, understanding,
and honesty that I could not get from
others who did not understand the
illness, even if they loved me. I continue
to go now, 27 years later, not
because it worked for me in the past,
but because it continues to work for
me in growing my spirituality and
seeing how many of my attitudes and
behaviors still stem from the self-destructive
aspects of the disease.
“My entire task as a helper has
been to foster the 12-step approach:
Working to find recovery and happiness,
as an inside job, will lead to
healthy and lasting relationships,
circumstances, etc — not the other
way around,” he continues.
Others in recovery agreed that
12-step recovery worked for them.
“By doing the 12 steps, I’ve grown
and changed the person that I
was,” says Kenny, with 30 years in
THE
OPIOID
CRISIS
recovery. “I had people around me
at the meetings who were going
through the same thing that I supported
and who supported me and
my goals.”
He isn’t alone.
“NA changed my life because I
had no life using,” says Susan. “I was
poor, no education, no guidance,
no morals, no love of life, no love of
anyone else’s life either. I walked into
my first meeting in July of 1987.
“A couple of members basically
told me to learn how to listen instead
of yapping and I’m grateful I did,”
she continues. “I am now educated,
morally and spiritually fit, love my
life, love others, have a God, have a
family, not too poor, and had a career
beyond my wildest dreams. Yes, the
12 steps work.”
PRESS HEALTH
The 12-step program has proven a reliable method in battling the opioid epidemic. (Shutterstock)
24/7
HELPLINES
Narcotics Anonymous
Nassau 516-827-9500
Suffolk 631-689-6262
Alcoholics Anonymous
Nassau 516-292-3040
Suffolk 631-669-1124
THE 12 STEPS
Step 1: I can’t.
Step 2: A higher power can.
Step 3: Let that higher power.
Step 4: Look within.
Step 5: Admit wrongs.
Step 6: Ready self for change.
Step 7: Seek a higher power’s help.
Step 8: Become willing.
Step 9: Make amends.
Step 10: Daily inventory.
Step 11: Pray and meditate.
Step 12: Give it away.
Condensed and reworded from the
original