Much of the information presented here is summarized from an article entitled 'Recovery's Next Step' by Mark G. Judge printed in the Jan/Feb 1994 issue of "Common Boundary" on the 60th birthday of AA. This article presented the opinions of various people in the addiction/recovery field on whether the 12 Steps of AA are outdated and irrelevant or the doorway to new forms of spirituality and social change. I will be focusing on the part of the article dealing with Dr. Charlotte Kasl and the 16 Steps. You can get a back issue of "Common Boundary" by calling 1-800-548-8737 or by sending $5.00 to Common Boundary, 5272 River Rd., Suite 650, Bethesda, MD 20816. It is an excellent article - perhaps your local library has it.

DISCLAIMER: While the focus of Charlotte's works that I've chosen to highlight appear to be predominantly pro-feminist views, the 16 Step model is holistic and humanistic and for everybody regardless of gender.  I've presented the material *as I understand it* which may or may not be exactly as Dr. Kasl intended. Reading her materials yourself would be best to get a fuller view.

Charlotte states from working with many women and minorities, that the 12 Steps, while they are helpful, are also anachronistic, sexist, and mired in fundamentalist Christian dogma. She feels that AA's message of ego deflation is not the ONLY path to recovery and that most women she has worked with had very little ego strength; that many are battered, in bad relationships, are incest survivors and the 12 Steps had them constantly looking to their faults and taking blame for things.  Dr. Kasl insists that to be successful, recovery must incorporate a criticism of the political and patriarchal system that fosters addiction. Her version of the steps encourage addicts and people with dependency issues to "take charge of their lives and examine beliefs, addictions and dependent behavior in the context of living in a hierarchical, patriarchal culture".

Dr. Kasl believes that alcoholism has a genetic base, but feels that codependency, drug addiction, and 'process addictions' such as shopping result from our capitalist culture which "creates addiction because it rests on making people feel insecure, unlovable, and ashamed in order to have them purchase all kinds of things - allegedly - to make them feel attractive, powerful and lovable."

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Charlotte also re-frames the label of 'codependency' from its current pathologized view, stating that the traits cited are women's basic programming in this society... "It is oppressive programming and we need to look at the source." She takes issue with traditional codependency literature such as "One Day at a Time" in Al-Anon, or the chapter "To Wives" in "Alcoholics Anonymous" where "we see a multitude of blame-the-victim statements in many guises and forms....The chapter "To Wives" written by Bill W. sounds like popular women's magazines telling women how to navigate in a man's world, keeping "him" comfortable and maintaining peace at tremendous cost to self. Nowhere does it say: Be honest, Be yourself, Be true, Find your power, Don't be abused, or Abuse is not your fault." Dr. Kasl suggests the Internalized Oppression concept versus the term codependency.

An excellent article on internalized oppression: Healing from the Effects of Internalized Oppression.

1. We affirm we have the power to take charge of our lives and stop being dependent on substances or other people for our self-esteem and security.

Alternative:  We admit/acknowledge we are out of control with/powerless over _________ yet have the power to take charge of our lives and stop being dependent on substances or other people for our self-esteem and security.

2. We come to believe that God/Goddess/Universe/Great Spirit/Higher Power awakens the healing wisdom within us when we open ourselves to that power.

3. We make a decision to become our authentic selves and trust in the healing power of the truth.

4. We examine our beliefs, addictions, and dependent behavior in the context of living in a hierarchal, patriarchal culture.

5. We share with another human being and the Universe all those things inside of us for which we feel shame and guilt.

6. We affirm and enjoy our intelligence, strengths, and creativity, remembering not to hide those qualities from ourselves or others.

7. We become willing to let go of shame, guilt, and any behavior that keeps us from loving ourselves and others.

8. We make a list of people we have harmed and people who have harmed us, and take steps to clear out negative energy by making amends and sharing our grievances in a respectful way.

9. We express love and gratitude to others, and increasingly appreciate the wonder of life and the blessings we do have.

10. We learn to trust our reality and daily affirm that we see what we see, we know what we know, and we feel what we feel.

11. We promptly admit to mistakes and make amends when appropriate, but we do not say we are sorry for things we have not done and we do not cover-up, analyze, or take responsibility for the shortcomings of others.

12. We seek out situations, jobs, and people that affirm our intelligence, perceptions, and self-worth and avoid situations or people who are hurtful, harmful, or demeaning to us.

13. We take steps to heal our physical bodies, organize our lives, reduce stress, and have fun.

14. We seek to find our inward calling and develop the will and wisdom to follow it.

15. We accept the ups and downs of life as natural events that can be used as lessons for our growth.

16. We grow in awareness that we are sacred beings, interrelated with all living things, and we contribute to restoring peace and balance on the planet.

Charlotte Kasl, PhD. copyright 1991 (materials must retain copyright if reproduced) 

Charlotte encourages you to change the wording of any step to suit you.

Thank you for your interest in this powerful, life-affirming, balanced, holistic way to approaching 'uncovery' issues. (To 'recover' is to cover over again.) I started using these Steps in August 1996 in a weekly Women's 16 Step Discovery and Empowerment group that I started and facilitated for two years, on an email list and on an online forum. They have been a powerful tool on my healing journey.

The following books by Charlotte Kasl, PhD are highly recommended and readable. Order them directly from Dr. Kasl's website. Or, purchase decent used copies from Half.com and Amazon.com, too.

MANY ROADS ONE JOURNEY: MOVING BEYOND THE 12 STEPS (Introduction of the 16 Steps, an in-depth look at the 12 Step Tradition pros and cons, a reevaluation of the label of codependency and an examination of the hierarchal patriarchal culture we live in and how it fosters addictions.)

WOMEN, SEX AND ADDICTION: A SEARCH FOR LOVE AND POWER (A powerful book examining women and societal conditioning, relationships, sexual addiction, sexual codependency, with an excellent chapter on codependency sobriety.)

FINDING JOY: 101 WAYS TO FREE YOUR SPIRIT AND DANCE WITH LIFE (A nice alternative to the myriad Daily Meditation type books out there.)

YES, YOU CAN! A GUIDE TO EMPOWERMENT GROUPS (Based on the 16 Steps from MANY ROADS ONE JOURNEY this book is an excellent detailed guide on starting and maintaining an empowerment group and includes guidelines, formats, and exercises on each step and input from successful groups.)

VIDEO TAPE: 16 STEPS FOR DISCOVERY AND EMPOWERMENT (A 90 minute video in which Charlotte Kasl talks about the fundamentals of empowerment and the 16 Steps - a good introduction to the 16 Steps from their creator. My Monday night group used this to kick off the group on it's first night. It's a good resource to have for newcomers.

Related articles and books:

A web page with examples of internalized oppression, blame the victim mentality.

The Incest Survivors' Afteraffects Checklist by E. Susan Blume can also apply to survivors of childhood abuses such as battering, or adult children of families where there is a history of alcoholism. Incest is especially common in alcoholic families, although not all alcohol-involved abuse is attributable to the disease of alcoholism. Incest perpetrators often apply the same defenses to their behavior as those used by alcoholics: denial, minimizing, and projection of blame. Additionally, perpetrators, just like victims, may dissociate the abuse. Still, incest is always the responsibility of the abuser. Although incest perpetrators are often described as 'sick' , for the most part, this behavior is a choice - intentional, planned, and purposefully hidden.

The checklist can also be found in this book Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women by E. Sue Blume.

Betrayal of Innocence: Incest and Its Devastation; Revised Edition by Susan Forward and Craig Buck.

The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships by Patrick J. Carnes.