Moving Beyond 12-Step Recovery! Are You Ready?

Moving Beyond 12-Step Recovery! Are You Ready?

How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober? This episode of The Freedom Model for Addictions takes that question and turns it on its head, arguing that most people never needed a life-long recovery identity in the first place. Alcohol and drug use are framed very differently here.

Mark Sheeran and Michelle Dunbar call out what they describe as the "recovery cult" around 12-step programmes, saying their issue isn’t with people in Alcoholics Anonymous, but with the ideas being taught. They talk through their decades in AA, how they became sceptical, and why they now see addiction as a temporary problem rather than a life-long disease.

You’ll hear Mark share painful memories of his mother becoming “completely, totally devoted to AA” and putting the fellowship above her twelve children, while Michelle recalls being taken to meetings from the age of nine and later being told she’d “die” for falling in love in early sobriety. Their stories highlight how an AA-centred life can end up replacing family, friends and ordinary responsibilities. A big chunk of the conversation focuses on powerlessness.

They promise to "show you that you've never been powerless" and argue that people decide to change before they ever step into a meeting, but then get taught to give all the credit to the programme rather than their own choices. They describe AA as "Bill Wilson's book of fiction" and say much of the ideology creates confusion, fear and lifelong self-doubt.

The episode builds towards their live event, "Move Beyond 12-Step Recovery", aimed at those who feel they’ve outgrown meetings or are stuck in a cycle of so‑called "chronic relapse". The message is blunt but hopeful: there’s nothing wrong with you, and you can move on from a recovery identity. If you’ve ever sat in a meeting thinking, "This feels off, but I don’t know why," this conversation might be the nudge you’ve been waiting for.