The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes how the authors recovered from alcoholism. Based exclusively on these guidelines, you will work the steps in eighteen weeks using William H. Shaberg’s A Step Work Group Guide: Big Book Format workbook. It is recommended that you work in a group of ten people. Directions for forming a group are included in the first lesson. It is also recommended that each group member get a journal to answer questions in, so you may share them at your group meeting. You will also need a copy of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which you can get from your affiliate group or from most book sellers.
This version is a completely self-administered class. It is not facilitated by a teacher. There is no zoom support. You may use this to create and manage your own group.
For more details about the course CLICK HERE.
Bill C. –
For the past 35 years, I have been taking men through the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. We frequently work one-on-one, reading through the Big Book together and that has typically been a life changing experience for both of us.
I have also had considerable experience taking small groups of men though the Steps using several different Step Guides. So, when Bill sent me this Step Work Group Guide several years ago – asking for suggestions on how to improve it – we put together a group and went through the 18-week process.
That process proved to be so much more usable, useful and comprehensive than anything we had ever done before that we have adopted it as our regular format ever since. Our suggested edits have been relatively minor.
Because people commit to the entire 18-week schedule and then actually do the Twelve Steps (after some reading, some homework and some lively discussion about what that all means), we have seen incredibly intimate bonds develop between the group’s members. Definitely a spiritual experience!
Over the years, Bill’s constant requests for edits to improve this Guide – and his willingness to judiciously make those changes – has allowed the format to evolve and improve in a remarkably collaborative way. I believe it has now reached the point where the Guide is more than ready to be published and circulated as widely as possible.
Conscientiously working the 12 Steps should be a profound experience. This workbook has proven to be an excellent tool for helping us generate that experience – over and over again.
I recommend it highly. It worked for me!
Bill C., Torrance, CA
Nancy D. –
I have done the Steps a few times, and recently completed them again with a group of caring women using this Step Work Group Guide. The Guide helped us immensely in really getting at the issues and in understanding the solution. To be so open with others who are sharing their souls in a safe place is a tremendously healing experience.
It always amazes me, no matter how many times I work the Steps, that it somehow always feels brand new. Something is uncovered and with relief I crack open and heal even more deeply. This is true self care, the kind of care I need to do again and again because there is always more to be revealed.
Nancy D., Morro Bay CA
Hilary M. –
I recently had the opportunity to go through this Step Workbook with six other women. We have varying lengths of sobriety from 2 to 38 years and each of us had a unique experience. We were all surprised how deep the 18 weeks were and how we bonded in a way that was simply beautiful. We plan to stay in touch with a monthly meeting. I have been sober for many years and done the steps many times but this Workbook took my sobriety to a new level. I am planning to do it again in a year or two so that I can stay engaged with my program. I am forever grateful to both Bill W. and Bill S.
Hilary M., Los Angeles CA
Ellen S. –
I am so glad I chose to participate in this group. Despite my 38 years of sobriety, I realized I had never really worked the Steps. I had read the books, gone to Step meetings, met with my sponsor, but I never worked them like this. What an amazing experience!
Ellen S., Fairfield CT
Marlene P. –
With over 40 years in AA, I’ve utilized numerous tools created by participants in our lifesaving, life-enhancing community. None has proven more enriching than this workbook. While remaining true to our founders’ principles, it offers members–old and new–the opportunity to deepen their program experience and knowledge in a small-group environment. After completing the workbook, I felt reinvigorated and recommitted to my program, and blessed to have made some new lifelong friends in the process. Kudos for the time and energy spent in creating this invaluable recovery resource.
Marleen P., Boca Raton FL
Paul G. –
When I moved to Maine several years ago, I brought the Step Work Group Guide with me and almost immediately formed a group. That proved to be good for the group and allowed me to quickly build strong relationships with local A.A. men who were really interested in working on their recovery. In the past 10 years, we have done several Step Work Groups up here.
Working the Steps in a small, committed group gives everyone a chance to better understand the Steps and then incorporate them into an ongoing life of sobriety. These groups have certainly helped me understand and better live “the spiritual program of action” that is outlined for us in the Big Book.
I highly recommended for both newcomers and old-timers.
Paul G., Trenton ME
Jay S. –
Watching someone change and grow spiritually is a joyful experience. I have had the privilege of working with many people one-on-one, but working the Steps together in a group has proven to be a multi-layered and deeply soulbonding experience.
That is the great service this book provides. It allows people to go through the spiritual exercises offered in the Big Book together; providing them with a transformative experience despite the fact that no one person is leading them.
I have heartily recommended this Guide to friends all over the globe and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. One of those was the Meyerton Group in South Africa. While speaking with one of the elders there about how to encourage members to make more amends, I recommended they form a Step Work Group. They did indeed do this and soon discovered just how spiritually invigorating the process of making amends can actually be.
Groups like this are simple and great fun. I unreservedly recommend this Guide to anyone who wants to increase their spiritual awareness, but especially to those who have not had the pleasure and privilege of walking through the book with another person.
Jay S., Sedona AZ
Stuart W. –
I was 16 years sober and had worked the Steps all the way through at least ten times when we formed the first Step Work Group. That was 20 years ago and this Guide has turned out to be the most powerful experience in guiding me towards the revolutionary spiritual awakening that the founders speak about in the Big Book.
Stuart W., Fairfield CT