Our Relationship with the Fellowships
Stepwise Recovery exists because the Twelve Steps saved the lives of the people who created it. This isn’t rhetoric or marketing language. It’s the simple truth that sits at the heart of everything we do. Many of us were lost, hopeless, and facing a future we didn’t believe we’d have. The fellowships gave us a way out.
Many members of the Stepwise team are active in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, and other Twelve Step fellowships. We attend meetings, we work with sponsors, we serve in our home groups, and we carry the message in our daily lives. We know what it means to be sponsored, to do the work, and to find freedom through rigorous honesty and service to others.
We see ourselves as partners with the fellowships, not competitors. Our guides are designed to complement the literature and wisdom that already exists within the fellowship — the official texts and approved recovery literature that have guided millions. We don’t claim to replace these foundational works. Instead, we offer substance-specific guidance and additional tools for understanding, grounded in the unchanging principles of the Twelve Steps.
We actively encourage everyone who engages with our guides to explore meetings, connect with a sponsor, and engage with their recovery community. The fellowship is where the real work happens. It’s where you’ll find the people who have walked your path, who understand your struggle without judgment, and who can show you that recovery is possible because they’re living it. No guide — however carefully written — can replace the fellowship and the experience of working the Steps with a sponsor you trust.
The fellowships gave us our lives back. These guides are our way of carrying the message further. They represent our gratitude for a programme that worked when nothing else would.
Respecting Anonymity
The Twelve Traditions place deep emphasis on anonymity and humility in recovery. The principle that the message must always come before personal recognition resonates deeply with the Stepwise team. We take it seriously in everything we do.
In keeping with these traditions, the Stepwise Recovery team maintains personal anonymity at the public level. The people who create, develop, and sustain this organisation are not named or photographed in our public materials. This isn’t about hiding or avoiding responsibility. Rather, it’s about honouring a principle we believe in: that the message is infinitely more important than the messenger.
When you’re reading a Stepwise guide, the wisdom comes from years of collective recovery experience, not from the personality or credentials of any individual author. The insights reflect patterns seen across sponsorship relationships, recovery work, and the lived experience of many people in recovery. We don’t name names or trade on personal recovery stories because that would contradict the very principle we’re trying to uphold.
“The message is more important than the messenger.”
This approach also protects the fellowship itself. By maintaining anonymity, we ensure that our work is clearly separate from any individual’s personal recovery story or standing within a fellowship. It reduces the risk of any confusion between Stepwise Recovery as an independent organisation and the fellowships themselves.
Respecting Anonymity
Stepwise Recovery Guides are independent publications. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, or any other Twelve Step fellowship. This independence is important, intentional, and deeply respected by our team.
You might wonder: if we respect the fellowships so much, why aren’t we part of them? The answer is that our independence allows us to serve people in ways that even the most flexible fellowship structure cannot. Our independence isn’t a rejection of the fellowships — it’s a recognition that there’s essential recovery work that happens outside of them, and that work matters.
Because we are independent, we can address multiple substances specifically. A single guide can acknowledge the unique challenges of opioid addiction, while another can speak directly to stimulant use. Fellowship literature must serve everyone, but our guides can go deeper into substance-specific territory.
Our independence also means we can incorporate modern understanding from neuroscience, psychology, trauma-informed approaches, and contemporary research. The Twelve Steps are timeless, but the context in which we live and recover is constantly evolving. We can update examples, language, and explanations to reflect current understanding while keeping the Steps themselves completely unchanged.
We are able to serve those who can’t yet access meetings or who live in areas where fellowship meetings aren’t available. We can create resources for family members, healthcare professionals, and others in the recovery ecosystem. We can respond quickly to emerging public health needs. Most importantly, we maintain our own service structure, allowing us to make decisions based on what we believe serves the still-suffering addict best.
“Partners, not competitors.”
This independence doesn’t diminish our respect for the fellowships. It allows us to work alongside them, carrying the message in different ways to different people, all pointing back to the life-saving truth of the Twelve Steps.
How We Honour the Steps
The core principles of the Twelve Steps are honoured faithfully in every Stepwise guide. We do not dilute, reinterpret, or claim to improve upon these principles. Their essence has endured for decades because it works.
What we bring is substance-specific language and context around those principles. We provide examples relevant to specific addictions. We add modern understanding from psychology and neuroscience. We use inclusive language that acknowledges the full spectrum of recovery pathways. The spiritual progression of the Steps remains intact, presented in our own words whilst preserving the meaning that has guided millions into recovery.
We incorporate our Six-Lens Framework as an additional tool for understanding — not a replacement for any existing approach. This framework emerged from years of sponsorship experience, witnessing what helps people move through the Steps with greater clarity and deeper insight. It’s an aid to understanding, a different angle on the same unchanging truth.
The principles of honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness run through everything we create. These are the spiritual principles at the heart of the Twelve Step programme, and they guide our work. When we’re uncertain about how to present something, we ask ourselves: does this honour the principles of the Steps? Does this serve the still-suffering addict? Does this respect the traditions we hold dear?
This is how we honour the Steps — by protecting their integrity, by presenting them faithfully, by surrounding them with support and explanation, and by dedicating our work to the same purpose the Steps serve: helping people find freedom from addiction.
Our Commitment to Service
Recovery taught us that service keeps us clean. Service is how we give back. Service is how we stay connected to the primary purpose of the programme — to carry the message to the addict who still suffers. Service is transformation, not obligation.
The Stepwise Recovery guides are our service. They represent our commitment to the next generation of recovering addicts — people who are still searching, still suffering, still hoping that recovery is possible. Every guide we create, every resource we develop, every decision we make about accessibility and outreach comes from this principle of service.
The 1-in-10 Pledge sits at the heart of our service commitment. For every ten guides distributed, one is donated freely to someone who cannot afford to pay. This reflects the tradition that recovery was freely given to us, and it must be freely given to others. We will never allow financial circumstances to prevent someone from accessing recovery resources. That would betray everything the programme stands for.
We are committed to listening to the recovery community. We welcome feedback from people in recovery, from family members, from healthcare professionals, and from the fellowships themselves. Our guides are living documents that improve based on what we learn from those who use them. Service means remaining open, remaining humble, and remaining willing to change when change would better serve those we’re trying to help.
A Note on Language
We use the word “programme” throughout our guides — not as a stylistic choice, but as a reflection of our identity as a UK-based recovery resource. The language we use reflects the community we serve.
We refer consistently to “the Twelve Steps” and “Twelve Step fellowships.” We never claim to be a fellowship ourselves. We are guides, resources, tools — all in service of the fellowship and the Steps, but separate from them in structure and function.
We use inclusive language throughout our work. We acknowledge that recovery takes many forms. For some people, the Twelve Steps are the path. For others, recovery includes medication-assisted treatment, therapy, harm reduction, or other approaches. We hold the Twelve Step framework as a proven, transformative approach whilst recognising that stigma and gatekeeping serve no one.
Our language respects all paths to recovery. We’re not here to judge anyone’s journey or to claim that our way is the only way. We’re here to present the Twelve Steps clearly, faithfully, and compassionately to anyone who might benefit from them. And we’re here to say: whatever your path, you deserve support, dignity, and hope.
Recovery saved our lives. The fellowships gave us a home when we had nowhere else to turn. The Steps gave us a way out when we thought there was none. We carry this gratitude in everything we create.
If our guides help even one person find the connection they need to begin their recovery journey, we’ve fulfilled our purpose. If they lead someone to a meeting, to a sponsor, to a moment of clarity — that’s the Twelfth Step in action. That’s the message being carried. That’s what recovery is meant to be.
We are recovering addicts, grateful for the programme that saved us, dedicated to carrying the message forward in every way we can. This Tradition Statement is a promise to everyone who engages with our work: we will honour the principles we hold dear, we will respect the fellowships that made us, and we will never lose sight of the primary purpose that guides every choice we make.
Legal Notice & Trademark Acknowledgements
Stepwise Recovery is an independent publication. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (A.A.W.S.), Narcotics Anonymous World Service Office, Inc., Cocaine Anonymous World Services, Inc., or any other Twelve Step fellowship or organisation.
“Alcoholics Anonymous,” “A.A.,” and “Big Book” are registered trademarks of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. “Narcotics Anonymous” and “NA” are registered trademarks of Narcotics Anonymous World Service Office, Inc. “Cocaine Anonymous” is a registered trademark of Cocaine Anonymous World Services, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. Reference to these organisations and their trademarks is for informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement, affiliation, or approval.
While our guides draw inspiration from Twelve Step principles, all content represents our original interpretation and substance-specific adaptations based on lived recovery experience. The recovery principles discussed in our guides are presented in our own words. For official fellowship literature, please visit www.aa.org or www.na.org.
Our guides are for educational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals for medical concerns.