A small glossary

Twelve-step fellowships have a private vocabulary that can feel impenetrable to newcomers. This page demystifies it. None of the words is technical; they are just unfamiliar. After a few meetings, all of these will sound ordinary to you.

The program

The Twelve Steps

A sequence of twelve actions or admissions, originally written by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939, that members work through with a sponsor. The Steps move from admitting powerlessness (step 1) through inventory and amends (steps 4–9) to a daily practice (steps 10–12). AWNA uses the Twelve Steps with one small adaptation to step 1. Full text →

The Twelve Traditions

A separate sequence of twelve principles describing how the fellowship as a whole behaves — anonymity, autonomy, non-affiliation, self-support. The Steps are about personal recovery; the Traditions are about how the room stays alive across decades. Full text →

The Big Book

The book Alcoholics Anonymous, first published 1939, written by AA's founder Bill Wilson and a number of early members. The foundational text of the 12-step movement. AWNA uses the Big Book as its primary literature, alongside the Twelve and Twelve. Available free online from AA.

The Twelve & Twelve

Shorthand for Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, a separate book by Bill Wilson (1953) with deeper commentary on each Step and Tradition. Read after the Big Book by most members.

Membership & meetings

The rooms

A collective term for 12-step meetings. "I've been in the rooms for two years" means a member has been attending meetings for two years. AWNA meetings are online, but the language survives.

Sponsor

An experienced member of the fellowship who has worked the Twelve Steps and is willing to walk you through them. Available between meetings for support, particularly during cravings or difficult moments. Not a therapist, not a counsellor, not in charge — a fellow recovering person who has done the work.

Sponsee

The newer member whom a sponsor works with. Members are usually both — sponsoring someone with less time, while being sponsored by someone with more.

Share

A member's contribution during the open-sharing portion of a meeting. Usually 2–3 minutes. About what is working in their recovery, a step they are on, a craving they sat with, or a gratitude. Members do not interrupt or respond directly to each other's shares.

Crosstalk

Interrupting another member's share with comments, questions, advice, or feedback. Considered inappropriate in 12-step meetings. The "no crosstalk" rule is a form of safety — it lets a member share without being argued with.

Chair (verb & noun)

A member who opens and runs a particular meeting. The role rotates among members. Chairs do not lead in the sense of teaching; they keep the hour gentle, on time, and on purpose. AWNA's guide to chairing is at /readings/how-to-lead-a-meeting.

Qualifying

A longer share — usually 15–20 minutes — in which a member tells their story: what it was like, what happened, what it is like now. Usually given at a meeting specifically structured around it. AWNA does not require members to qualify; many never do.

Coin / chip / token

A small marker given at AA meetings to mark lengths of sobriety — 30 days, 60 days, six months, one year, multiples of years. AWNA does not formally distribute coins; many members count their abstinence quietly without external markers.

Recovery, sobriety & slipping

Abstinence

Complete non-use of the substances the fellowship abstains from. In AWNA: alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine, and sugar and carbohydrates. Abstinence is the membership condition; recovery is the process that abstinence makes possible.

Sobriety

In AA, the state of not drinking. In AWNA, the broader state of not using any of the five substances. Often used interchangeably with abstinence, though some members reserve "sobriety" for the cumulative practice and "abstinence" for the daily fact.

Slip

A single instance of using a substance after a period of abstinence. Distinguished from relapse. A slip is one cigarette, one cookie, one drink. Members are encouraged to bring slips into the room rather than hide them; see When you slip.

Relapse

A return to ongoing use after a period of abstinence. Usually built from a slip that was not addressed. The fellowship treats relapses without judgment but with realism — they are common, recoverable, and rarely surprising in retrospect.

Dry slip

A day where a member is abstinent but has stopped practising the program — skipping meetings, avoiding the sponsor, isolating. Dry slips often precede actual slips by weeks. Members are encouraged to notice and name them.

Cross-addiction (or substitution)

The phenomenon by which putting down one substance leads to escalation of another. Quitting alcohol and increasing sugar; quitting nicotine and increasing eating; quitting cannabis and starting drinking. AWNA was largely founded for people who recognised this pattern. Read more →

The spiritual vocabulary

Higher Power

A spiritual concept used in 12-step recovery. Any source of strength or wisdom greater than the individual member. Members define their own Higher Power — it may be God in a religious sense, a sense of universal goodness, the fellowship itself, nature, or something else entirely. The program asks not that members believe a particular thing about God, but that they stop trying to be one.

God as we understood Him

A phrase that recurs in the Twelve Steps. The Steps were written in a religiously-shaped era and use the word "God"; the inserted clause as we understood Him was deliberate, opening the term to whatever the member finds true. Atheists, agnostics, polytheists, and members of every religion attend 12-step rooms.

The Serenity Prayer

A short prayer read at the close of most 12-step meetings. "God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." AWNA's version of this prayer, with reflection on each line, is at /readings/closing-prayer.

Anonymity

A founding principle of 12-step fellowships. Members are not identified by full name in public, in press, or in social media as members of the fellowship. The point is twofold: to protect members from social consequences, and to keep individual personalities from becoming the centre of the program. See Tradition Twelve in our Traditions.

Singleness of purpose

The principle that the room focuses specifically on the fellowship's substance(s) and does not branch into other behavioural addictions, lifestyle topics, or general life advice. AWNA reads Our Primary Purpose at every meeting to reinforce this.

Carry the message

The twelfth step's directive — to share the program with others who still suffer. Not evangelising; just being available to a newcomer, sponsoring when asked, telling one's story honestly. In AWNA the message is specifically the substance recovery message: nothing that affects us above the neck.

Related fellowships

AA — Alcoholics Anonymous

The original 12-step fellowship, founded 1935. For alcohol recovery. The source of the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and the Twelve Traditions that all other fellowships adapt.

NA — Narcotics Anonymous

Founded 1953. For recovery from drugs of any kind. NA recognises that drugs vary widely and does not focus on a single substance within the drug category.

OA — Overeaters Anonymous

Founded 1960. For compulsive eating, binge eating, and food-related issues. Members define their own abstinence with a sponsor. Broader and more flexible than the food-addiction fellowships.

FA / CEA-HOW — Food & sugar addiction fellowships

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous and Compulsive Eaters Anonymous — HOW. Fellowships addressing sugar, flour, and processed-food addiction with stricter abstinence than OA. Often a good fit when food is the only problem.

NicA — Nicotine Anonymous

Founded 1985. For nicotine in any form. Mostly online; smaller fellowship than AA. Compared with AWNA →

CAA — Caffeine Anonymous

Small dedicated fellowship for caffeine dependency. Primarily online. Compared with AWNA →