Customer Reviews

Twelve Step Sponsorship: How It Works

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read this book after reading "A Sponsorship Guide for 12-Step Programs" by M.T. Both are very good books. The book by M.T. offers a more casual approach, IMO, to Sponsorship than does this book by Hamilton B. It also offers a variety of viewpoints. "Twelve Step Sponsorship: How It Works" gives very specific and direct answers to many questions that Sponsors and Sponsees have about their Fellowship and how to maintain a Sponsor/Sponsee relationship while working all of the 12 Steps together. The second half of the book does present a meeting study guide for a Sponsor to use, with suggested readings for the Sponsee, suggested questions, and even offers a discussion of the questions the Sponsee should answer prior to a meeting with the Sponsor and at the meeting. As far as a manual for a Sponsor of any 12 Step program, this is the book to use. The author primarily targets those in AA, but is very sensitive to the needs of those in other recovery programs and the Appendix includes the 12 Steps of other Fellowship Groups. I can highly recommend this book, which also gives guidance on how you, the Sponsor, will know when your Sponsee has completed a Step and how to procede with them to the next step. Hamilton B. also offers advice on how to help your Sponsee move to the next step if they become reluctant to move to the next step.

L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
Author: Prayer Steps to Serenity The Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition [Paperback]

This book is very useful and easy to understand. It's very helpful and has documented years of success in sponsoring other who are in recovery. THe author shares his "experience, strength and hope" in this practical guide to working the 12 Steps. It's adaptable to any 12 Step program. I use it often and continue to find answers to questions as a re-read and study the contents.

I have been sober in AA for 31 years and have been going to AA daily for that length of time. I recently was given this book and was totally amazed at how ''right on target'' all the information was! It's 'tried and true AA' ....I purchased 6 books to give to each of my sponsees so they get get the rewards I have gotten from the book.

Unfortunately, there will always be people who attempt to dissect and dispute the success of Alcoholics Anonymous, of which sponsorship plays a vital part. Alcoholism is a deadly disease. Because of the anonymity of the twelve step programs, no "success rates" can be researched or documented with any validity or reliability and cannot be taken seriously. However, members of AA are not particularly interested in proving anything to anyone, except to be a living example of the program.

This book explains clearly and succinctly how sponsorship works in leading sponsees through the twelve steps. The benefit of being a sponsor enhances one's spirituality even more than actually doing the twelve steps. I can honestly say that the twelve steps have saved my life and being a sponsor helps me keep which has been so generously and freely given to me.

I do not believe that Mike McF has any personal experience with the twelve steps, other than perhaps observing meetings. Recovery does not lie in attending meetings and attempting to dissect the steps intellectually. No wonder his understanding of the steps is so skewed and hateful!! The steps must be experienced. Being powerless ends the battle that is so self-defeating and it opens the door to finding where we truly have power. Seeing others with years of successful recovery (stopping drinking is not successful recovery because as Bill Wilson says "our alcohol is but a symptom.....we must get down to causes and conditions") is inspiring. I believe that a casual observers unfortunate distorted explanation of what a higher power really is in one's life indicates the desperate need to find a higher power. And really working the program, not just attending meetings and analyzing why it could not possibly work, shows an incredible change of lives that is inspiring to me, always.

Having a higher power is part of the human condition throughout the centuries, and those who have found it have greatly enhanced and rewarding lives. A major part of sponsorship is leading a sponsee through the steps so that they may find a higher power for themselves. This book does an excellent job of explaining when to move to the next step and overcoming roadblocks. Please do not take a reviewer seriously who is determined to "prove" that Alcoholics Anonymous does not work. It is annoying for us who have seen the miracles for ourselves and I pity those who waste energy attempting to prove this wonderful program wrong.

This is an excellent resource for sponsors. Even someone with a number of years of sobriety can learn a lot about how to best work with a new sponsee. It also helps in working the steps yourself!alcoholi

If you honestly want to be set free from the addiction of alcohol this book is an excellent resource. It simply teaches both the sponsor and the sponsee how to apply the proven 12 step process as a way to enter into recovery. With God's help and this book you are free!

First let me say - I have read this book and think it is excellent. It is helpful to me as a sponsor and as a sponsee. The first part talks about what sponsorship is about and also what it isn't. The first half of the book is for someone looking for a sponsor and what they should look for. The second half of the book is for Sponsors and has some good guidelines for being a sponsor culled from the experience and wisdom of numerous people besides just the author. I was a little skeptical at first because it is not AA literature, but it is a Hazledon book which is acceptable. Being a sponsor in AA is not a professional role, so having a book like this can be helpful because what most people know about being a sponsor they learned from their sponsor. As AA as a community continues to evolve and grow, and old timers die, it's good to have additional wisdom for guidance. This is just my opinion, I do not speak for AA.

this book takes the mystery out of the 12steps,It is practcal and has earned a place on my bookshelf as a continuing resource. I found it more useful and more current than the Big Book since my 12step programs deal with issues other than Alcoholicism.It's format is also useful since I can prime myself on whatever new step my sponsees are working on. I believe Bill S would approve this book and the wisdom covered in its pages.

This book will be valuable to all those involved in any 12 step recovery program. Feel it is especially valuable to those who are new to either sponsorship or being sponsored as it offers good guidelines for both.

I would recommend this book to anyone who uses twelve steps to sponsor. Every book I have gotten on amazon has been in good shape and arrived in good time.