Steps of Recovery

These constitute what is for many the “only way” to recover, and restore us to a normal way of thinking and living.

The 12 Steps can be considered in 3 main groups:

  • Steps 1,2,3 = Trust God (God of your understanding/higher power)
  • Steps 4,5,6,7,8,9 = Clean House (i.e. take stock of your personal inventories and start cleaning up)
  • Steps 10,11, 12 = Help Others

12 Steps of Recovery

Step 1

We admitted that we were powerless over gambling and that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living.

Step 3

We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Power of our own understanding.

Step 4

We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this power of our own understanding.

Step 5

Admitted to ourselves, God and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 6

We were entirely ready to have these defects of character removed.

Step 7

Humbly asked God (of our understanding) to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8

Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 10

Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Step 11

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Step 12

Having made an effort to practice these principles in all our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers.