The Twelve Steps of RCA

Step One	Step Two	Step Three	Step Four	Step Five	Step Six
Step Seven	Step Eight	Step Nine	Step Ten	Step Eleven	Step Twelve

Step 5

We admitted to God, to each other and to another couple the exact nature of our wrongs.

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This process of doing the Fifth Step was a vehicle to self-acceptance in our coupleship. This may have been difficult because some aspects and behavior of the relationship were shameful. This was our opportunity to have our guilt and shame transformed into humility.

Call your Sponsoring Couple on the telephone and schedule an evening to share your inventory. Allow about two hours in length. Choose a safe place. Get a good night's sleep. Consume your evening meal before meeting. Do not be rushed or committed to anything else that evening/time. Get comfortable--have tea, juice or coffee available. The Sponsoring Couple has a piece of paper and pencil handy to make notes for later input. Allow the couple to share at their own pace--and keep focused. As part of this process, the Sponsoring Couple has the opportunity to practice active listening.

Start with a moment of silence and then the Serenity Prayer. Follow by reading the Safety Guidelines aloud.

We found that sharing honestly and openly with another couple was healing for both the grief and shame. We realized the coupleship was accepted, validated and appreciated in spite of the dysfunctional behaviors.

We encourage couples to record their experience in a journal. We also find it helpful for the Sponsoring Couple to provide a written impression of the Sponsored Couple's 5th Step. Feedback can be given either in the journal, in the Big Book, or in a note or a card of encouragement.

This step freed us to begin anew.

Proceed to Step Six

Step One	Step Two	Step Three	Step Four	Step Five	Step Six
Step Seven	Step Eight	Step Nine	Step Ten	Step Eleven	Step Twelve

THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. (Used with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.)