Here are the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous with gentle changes for self-injury. Having been in 12 step groups for 32 years I felt this was the best tool for recovery. They are helping and so are the slogans of 12 step groups.
The Twelve Steps for Self-Injury
(adapted from
Alcoholics Anonymous)
2.
Came to believe
that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.
Made a decision
to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.
Made a searching
and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.
Admitted to God,
to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of why we self-injure and how it has damaged our lives.
6.
Were entirely
ready to have God remove all these reasons and replace them with positive
thoughts, feelings behaviors and self love.
7.
Humbly asked Him
to remove our shortcomings so we can enjoy a recovered life.
8.
Made a list of
all persons we had harmed, including ourselves and became willing to make amends
to them all.
9.
Made direct
amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them
or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong or returned to self-injury, promptly admitted it to God, ourselves and another human being.
11. Sought through
prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we
understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to
carry that out.
12.Having had a
spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message
to other self injurers and practice these principles in all our affairs.
Slogans: Let Go and Let God.....This Too Shall Pass.....Easy Does It.....How Important Is It.....First Things First.....One Day At A Time.....Keep It Simple.....We're Only As Sick As Our Secrets.
