The Twelve Steps
of Co-Dependents Anonymous a.k.a. CoDA
- We admitted we were powerless over others - that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have god remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our concious contact with God as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other co-dependents, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Click the following underlined for more information Codependency
Why Group meetings? Why Inner Child work? How will this help me?
Children learn to use denial, distortion, and other defenses that deceive in order to survive and to protect themselves in a hostle and uncaring world. These defenses will shape their lives in adulthood in ways that recreate the childhood they so want to put behind them. This does not automatically correct itself just because a child grows up. As people become more informed about the nature of their problems, they are in a better position to do something about them. We can move beyond that childhood, repair the damage done, and enjoy a reality that is not dependent on denial, distortion, and illusion to sustain itself. As understanding increases, so does the awareness that one has choices. As long as the past remains misunderstood, it controls the present in dysfunctional and maladaptive ways.
Through information and the sharing of expereinces, we can begin to unravel the past. Support groups can provide entry into a more honest reality than one has previously expereinced. Recovery is a way to rework the old solutions so that they do not keep recreating an unhealthy past. This will help us move beyond a mere existence and be more concerned with the quality of life. 
~ from Beyond The Illusion by Susan Balis ~
"It's only me that can sabotage my recovery"
