12 Step Recovery Programme

At Oasis Counselling Centre, we provide 12 Step counselling in addition to our therapeutic methodologies and procedures. In South Africa, 12 Step fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Overeaters Anonymous (OA) are well established, although they have been running here for some time shorter than the fellowships in America and England. At Oasis we have found from professional and personal experience that a 12 Step recovery programme is one that works for all addicts. Our belief is that if a client follows a 12 Step programme to the best of their abilities, they will not relapse.

A 12 Step programme is based on the understanding that recovery should be "abstinence plus change". In a 12 Step programme, the drugs/alcohol/sex etc. are not the problem, they are merely a symptom that all is not well with a person. We work with a disease model - an addict is not a "bad person" and achieving sobriety is not a matter of willpower. In fact, willpower is what gets addicts into trouble in the first place!

We see addiction as a disease - it can be arrested and can be managed, but left untreated will result in the addict either going to jail, spending their life in an institution, or death. Addiction cannot be cured, just arrested. We see the disease as progressive - left untreated it worsens. No matter how long one has been clean or sober, a relapse will lead quickly back the full-blown addiction which is just as bad, or worse, than it ever was.

The 12 Steps and 12 Step drug addiction counselling programmes work because they enable the addict to change the aspects of their life which they have the power to control, and to come to terms with what they cannot.

Firstly, the addict admits that their addiction is a problem by looking at the problems and chaos which their drinking/drugging/starving etc. has caused. Hope is created for hopeless addicts with the acquisition of a higher power - not a religious God, but one which can be as simple as maintaining spiritual principles and deciding to live by these. After the addict is accustomed to this way of life, a process of examination, understanding, admitting to wrongs and righting them, keeping check on present behaviour patterns and meditation is explored, followed by helping others with similar problems.

This sounds like an enormous feat, and it does not happen overnight. The process never ends because there is no destination, simply a journey of living life on life's terms and becoming content with oneself and the world around us. Primarily this journey leads addicts to a place where they make decisions based on what is best for them, not what feels like the "quick fix". The 12 Step recovery programmes and drug treatment facilities in South Africa have brought hope to our country's struggling addicts.

Please contact Oasis Counselling Centre in Plettenberg Bay if you have any questions regarding our 12 Step counselling programme, qualified addiction counsellors and how an about admission to rehab works.