Recovery Road

Accepting Ourselves and our Addiction

First Year Sobriety: When All that Changes is Everything, Guy Kettelhack draws on the voices of women and men who are navigating the unknown territory of their first year of sobriety. This excerpt includes the personal accounts of Marcia and George, two people in recovery who still find themselves occasionally overwhelmed with rage.

The Power in Powerlessness

In her book A Woman's Guide to Recovery, Brenda Iliff gives expert advice, caring support, and personal stories of women who have found their way out of the mess of addiction and into new lives marked by healing and recovery. This excerpt discusses the paradox of the First Step, exploring how we can find true power through admitting our powerlessness.

You are Not Alone: Joining "The Great We" of Recovery

In her book Mindfulness and the 12 Steps, Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart offers support for recovery, drawing on her personal experience and a wide range of knowledge in psychology and spirituality. In this excerpt, she points out that "we" is the first word of the Twelve Steps and makes a case for the importance of connection and community as spiritual resources for healthy recovery.

Back to Basics: What Does Unmanageable Mean?

In this excerpt from his book, Step Up: Unpacking Steps One, Two, and Three with Someone Who's Been There, bestselling author and sober alcoholic Michael Graubart explores the word unmanageability as it appears in Step One, and how our impulse to control everyone and everything is at the heart of our struggle with alcoholism and other addictions.

Twelve Ways to Revitalize Your Recovery

In this excerpt from the revised edition of his classic book A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps, Dr. Patrick Carnes offers practical advice for revitalizing a recovery that may feel stalled or stuck and reminds us that the gifts of recovery are always meant to be shared.