The Recovery Files · Workbooks
NA Step Work
The Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous, one workbook at a time
These workbooks walk through the Twelve Steps as Narcotics Anonymous practices them. Each one explains the step, has readings and check-in questions, and gives you exercises to write out and share with your sponsor. A Basic Text study guide sits alongside them.
Work the steps in order, at your own pace, with a sponsor or your home group.
These are The Recovery Files' own workbooks. They are not produced or endorsed by Narcotics Anonymous World Services.
These workbooks support professional treatment and are not a substitute for it. In a crisis, call or text 988, or call SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357.
Start here
An overview of NA before you begin the steps.
Basic Text Study Guide
A study companion to NA's Basic Text
A guided walk through the main themes of NA's Basic Text: who is an addict, NA's view of the disease, the Twelve Steps in four stages, and the Twelve Traditions. It ends with ten worksheets; have your own copy of the Basic Text alongside it.
Inside: who is an addict and what NA is · the disease of addiction · Steps 1–3 · Steps 4–6 · Steps 7–9 · Steps 10–12 · the Twelve Traditions · recovery, relapse and spirit · 10 worksheets
33 pages
Surrender
Admitting the problem and finding something to lean on.
Step 1: Powerlessness and unmanageability
The foundation of recovery
Admitting that addiction has beaten you, and seeing how far into your life it reached. This workbook looks at the physical craving and the mental obsession, why surrender is strength, and builds your Step One from your own history.
Inside: understanding Step One · the two-part disease · surrender as strength · your Step One inventory · exercises including a history of failed control and your surrender story
33 pages
Step 2: Coming to believe
A power greater than ourselves
What it means to be restored to sanity, and how to come to believe in something greater than yourself when trust has been broken. It invites you to build your own understanding of a higher power.
Inside: understanding Step Two · the insanity of addiction · from despair to faith · building your own understanding · what sanity looks like · exercises including a personal insanity inventory
40 pages
Step 3: Making a decision
Turning it over
What turning your will and life over actually means, what it doesn't, and how the decision gets made again each day. It also shows how Step Three opens the door to the action steps that follow.
Inside: understanding Step Three · self-will · what turning it over is and isn't · a daily practice · the doorway to action · exercises including a self-will inventory
51 pages
Inventory and honesty
Looking at yourself honestly and saying it out loud.
Step 4: Searching and fearless moral inventory
Know thyself
The inventory at the heart of the steps: resentments, fears, harms done and the patterns behind them, along with your strengths. It's the longest workbook in the set and takes you through each part.
Inside: what a moral inventory is · resentments · fear · character defects and patterns · from inventory to freedom · exercises including resentment and fear inventories
69 pages
Step 5: Admitted to God, ourselves and another
From secrets to freedom
Sharing your inventory with your higher power, yourself and another person. This one covers why secrets keep you sick, how to choose who hears your Fifth Step, and what happens afterward.
Inside: why Step Five matters · the three admissions · why secrets keep you sick · choosing your listener · after Step Five · exercises including preparing what to share
50 pages
Change and amends
Becoming willing to change, then repairing the damage.
Steps 6 and 7: Entirely ready, humbly asked
Character change
Becoming willing to let go of defects you have relied on, and practicing humility. It looks at why we cling to familiar patterns and how character actually changes.
Inside: what being entirely ready means · humble asking · why we cling to defects · what humility is and isn't · how character changes · exercises including a defect payoff and cost analysis
51 pages
Steps 8 and 9: Amends
Making things right
Making the list, becoming willing, and making amends — direct, living and indirect — and knowing when not to. It includes amends to yourself and a financial amends planner.
Inside: making the list · direct amends · types of amends · amends to self · the promises · exercises including an amends progress tracker
59 pages
Maintenance and service
Keeping it going, day by day, and passing it on.
Step 10: Continued personal inventory
Daily maintenance
The daily practice that keeps recovery from drifting: noticing defects as they show up and admitting wrongs quickly. It builds a structured daily inventory and a recovery maintenance plan.
Inside: the maintenance step · the danger of drifting · how to do Step Ten · defects in daily life · freedom through vigilance · exercises including a structured daily inventory
58 pages
Step 11: Prayer and meditation
Conscious contact
Prayer and meditation as practices you can actually do, whatever your beliefs. It explores different methods, learning to listen, and what steady practice brings.
Inside: understanding Step Eleven · the nature of prayer · learning to meditate · the gifts of practice · exercises including a meditation methods lab
46 pages
Step 12: Spiritual awakening and service
Carrying the message
Recognizing the change in yourself, carrying the message through service and sponsorship, and practicing the principles in every part of life.
Inside: the culmination and the beginning · the spiritual awakening · service as survival · principles in all your affairs · the Step Twelve life · exercises including sponsorship readiness
41 pages
For families: Al-Anon Step Work has the Twelve Steps for people who love someone with an addiction.
Al-Anon Step Work → · Back to the Toolkit · Back to the top ↑