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Guide to This Guide
Our reference for this study of the 12 Steps is the first 103 pages of Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition, the basic text (xi: 2) for the program and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. The notations are to page and paragraph, as in (64: 0, 1), i.e. (64) page 64; (: 0) the partial paragraph at the top of the page; (1) the first full paragraph on that page; etc. Quotes from the Big Book are in italics.


Please ignore anything in the group sessions or this handbook that you feel contradicts what you find in the Big Book.


As a study group we will cover:
Preface and Forewords
“Doctor’s Opinion” Step 1.
Chapter 1. Bill's Story Step 1
Chapter 2. There Is a Solution Steps 1 and 2
Chapter 3. More About Alcoholism Steps 1 and 2
Chapter 4. We Agnostics Step 2
Chapter 5. How It Works Steps 3 and 4
Chapter 6. Into Action Steps 5 through 11
Chapter 7. Working With Others Step 12




In the Steps by the Big Book sessions, we read paragraph by paragraph. We pause at commas and stop at periods. We turn the declarative statements of the Big Book into questions to ourselves. We constantly ask: “What does this mean for me in my life?” These inquiries become prompts to questions we may explore with others.
In essence, this manual is a cut and paste scrapbook of pithy suggestions – concise and helpful insights that can have an immediate effect on how we study and work the Steps. The session material is drawn from the Big Book, and AA literature, such as Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12&12), with focus questions and comments borrowed verbatim without attribution from meetings, others in recovery, and from several published and recorded recovery sources. Any errors that appear in this guide belong to those of us who compiled it.
This workbook is divided into three parts: Part I covers Steps 1, 2 and 3; Part II examines Step 4; Part III looks into Steps 5 through 12. Each part begins with notes on aspects of the Steps in question. Outlined points of reflection follow. Optional material and sample definitions are in brackets […]. Finally, there are worksheets that are intended to help you focus your writing on each Step. On the following pages you will find the basic workbook session outline and an optional group session format.