The Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) program is a 12-Step program that focuses on emotional sobriety. It focuses on the family system, addressing common behaviors and personality traits that result from childhood trauma. The program provides a safe space for people to share their experiences, strength, and hope with each other to help them heal and find freedom. While a considerable portion is focused on alcoholism, ACA or ACoA is a program that helps people who grew up in dysfunctional families. ACA is a program that helps people who grew up in homes where abuse, neglect, and trauma were prevalent.
Understanding the Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) Program
The ACA program began in 1986. It’s based on the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) principles as adapted for people struggling with the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. ACA is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or any other 12-step organization; it’s simply one of many groups that have adopted AA’s principles to address a different kind of addiction: one that many children inherit when they grow up in an alcoholic home.
ACA is a 12-step recovery program for people who grew up in dysfunctional families. Dr. Janet Geringer Woititz initially started the program. She identified the three basic characteristics of children raised in these environments: fearfulness (fear of abandonment), low self-esteem, and perfectionism.
The ACA Literature
Similarly to AA, the ACA program bases its teachings on the literature that outlines the program and helps members navigate through concepts, steps, and guidance to find long-lasting recovery:
- The Laundry List: 14 traits that define an adult child of an alcoholic.
- The Problem: Explains how children in alcoholic or dysfunctional households protect themselves by becoming people-pleasers and adapting other personality traits that continue to affect their adult lives.
- The Solution: To teach people how to become their loving parents.
- The Promises: Bits of hope and promises to help motivate people to focus on recovery.
The 12-Steps
The 12-Steps are adapted from the initial steps of AA:
- We admitted we were powerless over the effects of alcoholism or other family dysfunction and that our lives had become unmanageable.
- We believed that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- We decided to turn our will and lives over to God’s care as we understand God.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except would injure them or others.
- We continued to take personal inventory and promptly admitted it when we were wrong.
- We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening from these steps, we tried to carry this message to others who still suffer and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
What to Expect from ACA Meetings
ACA has the adult child and family members attend separate meetings held throughout the week and weekend schedules at several locations. ACA also offers an online group where you can talk with others about your experiences growing up in an abusive/dysfunctional home.
Meeting types and formats are designed to help members feel comfortable and safe. Some meetings are open to anyone, while others have restrictions such as men-only, women-only, young adult, or teen-only.
Each meeting starts with an introduction to the meeting and a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.
A member might read a portion of The Problem or an item from The Laundry List. Another one will read The Solution, and a third member will read an item from The 12-Steps. The meeting’s host will also explain the style of the meeting and will talk a little bit about what to expect.
Most meetings focus on learning about the steps, identifying The Problem, and learning how to live with The Solution, one day at a time.
The idea of these meetings is to reinforce the learnings of ACA:
- I didn’t cause the addiction
- I can’t control the addiction
- I can’t cure the addiction
These are huge lessons for many and can take quite some time to understand. The ACA was created to help people identify the problems that have arisen from their upbringing and offer a path to a solution.
Consider Joining an ACA Meeting Near You
The Adult Children of Alcoholics program is designed to help you find your way out of the pain and confusion of being raised in an alcoholic or dysfunctional family. It will give you tools to break the cycle of abuse, neglect, and abandonment that has been passed down through generations. It can bring you peace and joy in your life and the ability to live free from fear, guilt, or shame.
If you or someone you know grew up in a household with substance use disorder, consider seeking an ACA meeting near you to start your recovery journey.
