12 Steps of TSA

 

1. We accepted we were powerless over the trauma and abuse we survived and the unmanageability created by their effects on various aspects of our lives.

2. We came to believe a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity and inner peace.

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a loving Higher Power.

4. We made an honest inventory of ourselves, identifying our strengths, the abuse, and trauma we had sustained and the resultant confusion and contradictions in our lives. We made a commitment to recover to the best of our ability. 

5. We found freedom by sharing our inventory with our Higher Power and another human being and accepted the responsibility to use all tools available to recover.

6. Having identified both functional and dysfunctional character traits, we became willing to have our Higher Power remove those that no longer served us and help us develop more positive ones.

7. We humbly asked our Higher Power to help us eliminate the debilitating consequences of the trauma.

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, including ourselves, our inner family, and others and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. We made direct amends wherever possible, except when to do so would cause physical, mental, emotional or spiritual harm to ourselves or to others.

10. We continued to take responsibility for our own recovery and when we found ourselves reverting to old patterns of thinking and/or behavior still dictated by the trauma, we promptly admitted it and sought ways to stop the regression. When we succeeded, we promptly enjoyed it.

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power and with ourselves, asking for knowledge of our Higher Power’s will for us and the power to carry it out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps and the work we are doing in recovery, we carried this message to other trauma and abuse survivors, being sure to continue in our own recovery. We practiced these principles in every part of our lives.

 

12 Promises of TSA

1. We will know peace, freedom and happiness

2. We will acknowledge the past and will not let it control our present

3. We will comprehend safety and serenity

4. We will find a connection with other trauma survivors, feeling useful and hopeful as we share our recoveries

5. We will develop a relationship with a loving Higher Power, a God of our own understanding who is working in our lives

6. We will no longer keep secrets, but will honestly share who we are with others

7. Self-hatred will disappear

8. Hypervigilance will subside

9. We will learn to rest and sleep without fear

10. Self-acceptance and self-love will gradually prevail

11. We will intuitively know who we can trust and will form healthy relationships

12. We will realize that by being conscientious and diligent in recovery, working the steps with others and in conjunction with our Higher Power, we are becoming the persons we are supposed to be.  

 

12 Traditions of TSA

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1. Our common welfare comes first. Personal recovery depends on TSA unity. 

2. For our group purpose, there is one ultimate authority, a loving Higher Power. Our leaders are trusted servants, charged with doing footwork. They may write and implement guidelines and handle logistics, seeking help from their Higher Power and from an established advisory board if needed.

3. The requirements for membership are: 

   • Abstinence from mind-altering drugs and processes. (This does not include antidepressants or mood stabilizers but does include alcohol, marijuana, street drugs, prescription sedatives, narcotics and stimulants and addictive processes.)

     • People using mind-altering drugs are encouraged to attend 12 step groups such as AA or NA and are invited to join us when they are drug-free and working steps with a sponsor in their primary program.

     • Those with addictions to processes such as sex, relationships, work, food, gambling or others are encouraged to work the appropriate 12 step program and join us when they are actively working their recovery program and interested in an additional layer of recovery.

   • Participation in and familiarity with a 12 step support groups. Ability to implement the 12 steps to deal with resentments and anger, identify and handle character traits, make amends when appropriate and work on conscious contact with a Higher Power are all important when embarking on trauma work.

   • Willingness to work the TSA steps with a TSA sponsor who has previously worked them. 

   • Keeping in mind that the TSA steps are our foundation to recover from the effects of the trauma and abuse we sustained, we also encourage using any and all appropriate tools available to us.  

4. Each TSA group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or TSA as a whole.

5. Each group has two primary purposes: to recover from trauma and to carry the message of trauma recovery to other survivors.

6. TSA ought never to endorse or promote any outside enterprise.

7. TSA should work towards being self-supporting, declining any contribution that could compromise its integrity. 

8. TSA was begun as a mutual help group, established by but not led by professionals. There are professionals among our membership and on our advisory board and we are encouraged to use them if internal problems threaten the integrity of TSA as a whole.

9. We are a non-profit mutual help organization. We acknowledge that as we grow, we will need committees and service boards and may need paid workers.

10. TSA has no opinion on outside matters. Our name ought never to be brought into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. While we encourage personal anonymity at a public level, we realize we cannot attract if we are unknown. 

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our principles, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

 

Copyright TSA  2018