A Woman’s Way Through the Twelve Steps Workbook

Women’s recovery can differ from men’s, and each person’s recovery is in many ways unique. That’s why Stephanie Covington has designed the A Women’s Way Through the Twelve Steps Workbook to help women and gender-expansive people each find their own path--and find it in terms especially suited to the way women experience not just addiction and recovery but also relationships, self, sexuality, and everyday life.

Deepening and extending the lessons of a book that has helped countless women and gender-expansive people, this workbook makes A Women’s Way Through the Twelve Steps that much more measured, meaningful, and clear. Unlike many ’’rewritten’’ Twelve Step interpretations for women, this workbook begins with the original Step language, preserving its spirit and focusing attention on its healing message. In sections devoted to each of the Twelve Steps, Covington blends narrative, self-assessment questions focused on women’s definitions of terms such as ’’powerlessness’’ and ’’letting go, ’’ guided imagery exercises, and physical grounding activities.

Designed to be used in conjunction with A Women’s Way Through the Twelve Steps, this workbook helps deepen and extend the lessons taught there and further empowers each woman to take ownership of her recovery process as well as her growth as a person. It is also designed to be used in conjunction with A Woman’s Way through the Twelve Steps Facilitator Guide in facilitated groups in residential or outpatient treatment programs for substance use disorder or other addictive disorders.

Stephanie S. Covington, PhD, LCSW, is an internationally recognized clinician, organizational consultant, lecturer, author, and pioneer in the fields of addiction and trauma. For more than thirty-five years, she has created gender-responsive and trauma-informed programs and curricula for use in public, private, and criminal-legal settings, across the US and globally.

Dr. Covington’s experience with addiction began with her own life: she became a social drinker who woke up numerous times over the years to no recollection of the night before. On one of those mornings, she woke up afraid, confused, and finally able to acknowledge to herself that she needed help. Thus began day one of a transformative recovery journey, 45 years and counting, that fixed her on a goal of helping other women reclaim their lives as she had.

Her extensive experience includes consulting for and developing programs for numerous US and international agencies and designing women’s services at the Betty Ford Center. She has published extensively, including ten gender-responsive, trauma-informed treatment curricula and the first manualized treatment program for substance use disorder treatment. Educated at Columbia University and the Union Institute, Dr. Covington is based in La Jolla, California, where she is co-director of the Institute for Relational Development and the Center for Gender & Justice.