Twelve Step

American  

Or 12-step

adjective

1. of or based on a program for recovery from addiction originating with Alcoholics Anonymous and providing 12 progressive levels toward attainment.

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twelve-step British  

adjective

1. of or relating to a method of treatment for addiction which consists of twelve stages and stresses the need for patients to acknowledge their problem and to take personal responsibility for it

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Other Word Forms

• 12-stepper noun

Etymology

Origin of Twelve Step

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

"A patient's treatment plan may include medication, seeing a trauma specialist or getting more support from Twelve Step meetings, depending on an individual’s needs."

From Salon

The "twelve step" groups and programs are unquestioningly very helpful to a self-selecting group of people.

From Salon

While long-distance Twelve Step recovery has existed since at least World War II, and moved to email and online chat and video with the rise of the internet, much of Twelve Step recovery still relies on in-person meeting.

From New York Times

John Lehman, a consultant for the Recovery Outcomes Institute, a research agency and mentorship program, told me, “What emerged in Delray Beach was a very robust Twelve Step community, a lot of A.A. and N.A. meetings. Those meeting rooms were filled with individuals who were coming from all over the world to live in recovery residences, and it flourished—it just grew—and people were doing really well.”

From The New Yorker

Unity on Union opened in 2011 in response to two events: The closing of the Twelve Step Shop on Phinney Ridge; and Latimer’s meeting a woman who was living in “clean and sober” housing that was anything but.

From Seattle Times