The Twelve Concepts

Just as the Twelve Steps are guides for personal recovery and the Twelve Traditions are guides for group unity, the Twelve Concepts are guides for World Service.

These Concepts serve as a path for Twelfth Step work on a world service level, and show how the DA groups, the World Service Conference, and the Debtors Anonymous General Service Board work together to carry recovery in DA to the still suffering debtor.

  1. The ultimate responsibility and authority for Debtors Anonymous World Services should always remain with the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship as expressed through the DA groups.

  2. The D.A. groups have delegated complete administrative and operational authority to the General Service Board. The groups have made the Conference the voice and conscience for the whole Fellowship, excepting for any change in the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and in Article 10, the General Warranties, of the Conference Charter.

  3. As a traditional means of creating and maintaining a clearly defined working relationship between the groups, the World Service Conference, and the Debtors Anonymous General Service Board, it is suggested that we endow these elements of world service with a traditional “Right of Decision” in order to ensure effective leadership.

  4. Throughout our Conference structure, we maintain at all levels a traditional “Right of Participation,” ensuring a voting representation.

  5. The traditional Rights of Appeal and Petition protect the minority opinion and ensure the consideration of personal grievances.

  6. The Conference acknowledges the primary administrative responsibility of the Debtors Anonymous General Service Board.

  7. The Conference recognizes that the Charter and the Bylaws of the Debtors Anonymous General Service Board serve as governing documents and that the Trustees have legal rights, while the rights of the Conference are spiritual, rooted in the Twelve Traditions. The Concepts are not legal instruments.

  8. The Debtors Anonymous General Service Board of Trustees assumes primary leadership for larger matters of overall policy, finance, and custodial oversight, and delegates authority for routine management of the General Service Office.

  9. Good leaders, together with appropriate methods for choosing them at all levels, are necessary. At the world service level, the Board of Trustees assumes primary leadership for DA as a whole.

  10. Every DA service responsibility should be equal to its service authority as defined by tradition, resolution, or DA’s Charter.

  11. While the Trustees hold final authority for DA World Service administration, they will be assisted by the best possible staff members and consultants. Therefore, serious care and consideration will always be given to the compensation, selection, induction to service, rotation, and assignments for special rights and duties for all staff with a proper basis for determining financial compensation.

  12. The Conference of Debtors Anonymous will observe the spirit of the Traditions, taking care not to become powerful and wealthy; having sufficient operating funds with a prudent reserve; having no authority over any other members; making important decisions by discussing and voting on issues wherever possible by substantial unanimity; not acting in a punitive way; not inciting public controversy; never performing any acts of government; and finally, always remaining democratic in thought and action.

© 2005 Debtors Anonymous General Service Board, Inc. Registered D.A. groups have permission to copy these for distribution to its members. Rev. 8/2004 DA World Service Conference (Concept 12) Rev. 8/2005 DA World Service Conference (Concept 2) Rev. 8/2006 DA World Service Conference (Concepts 5 & 6)

The Twelve Tools

Recovery from compulsive debting begins when we stop incurring new, unsecured debt, one day at a time. (Unsecured debt is any debt that is not backed up by some form of collateral, such as a house or other asset.) We attain a daily reprieve from compulsive debting by practicing the Twelve Steps and by using the following Tools.
  1. Meetings We attend meetings at which we share our experience, strength, and hope with one another. Unless we give to newcomers what we have received from D.A., we cannot keep it ourselves.

  2. Record Maintenance We maintain records of our daily income and expenses, of our savings, and of the retirement of any portions of our outstanding debts.

  3. Sponsorship We have found it essential to our recovery to have a sponsor and to be a sponsor. A sponsor is a recovering debtor who guides us through the Twelve Steps and shares his or her own experience, strength, and recovery.

  4. Pressure Relief Groups and Pressure Relief Meetings After we have gained some familiarity with the D.A. program, we organize Pressure Relief Groups consisting of ourselves and two other recovering debtors who have not incurred unsecured debt for at least 90 days and who usually have more experience in the program. The group meets in a series of Pressure Relief Meetings to review our financial situation. These meetings typically result in the formulation of a spending plan and an action plan.

  5. Spending Plan The spending plan puts our needs first and gives us clarity and balance in our spending. It includes categories for income, spending, debt payment, and savings (to help us build cash reserves, however humble). The income plan helps us focus on increasing our income. The debt payment category guides us in making realistic payment arrangements without depriving ourselves. Savings can include prudent reserve, retirement, and special purchases.

  6. Action Plan With the help of our Pressure Relief Group, we develop a list of specific actions for resolving our debts, improving our financial situation, and achieving our goals without incurring unsecured debt.

  7. The Telephone and the Internet We maintain frequent contact with other D.A. members by using the telephone, e-mail, and other forms of communication. We make a point of talking to other D.A. members before and after taking difficult steps in our recovery.

  8. D.A. and A.A. Literature We study the literature of Debtors Anonymous and of Alcoholics Anonymous to strengthen our understanding of compulsive disease and of recovery from compulsive debting. In A.A. literature we can identify with many of the situations described by substituting the words “compulsive debt” for “alcohol.”

  9. Awareness We maintain awareness of the danger of compulsive debt by taking note of bank, loan company, and credit card advertising and their effects on us. We also remain aware of our personal finances in order to avoid vagueness, which can lead to compulsive debting or spending.

  10. Business Meetings We attend business meetings that are held monthly. Many of us have long harbored feelings that “business” was not a part of our lives but for others more qualified. Yet participation in running our own program teaches us how our organization operates, and also helps us to become responsible for our own recovery.

  11. Service We perform service at every level: personal, meeting, Intergroup, and World Service. Service is vital to our recovery. Only through service can we give to others what so generously has been given to us.

  12. Anonymity We practice anonymity, which allows us freedom of expression by assuring us that what we say at meetings or to other DA members at any time will not be repeated.

© 2005 Debtors Anonymous General Service Board, Inc. Revised 2005 Registered D.A. groups have permission to copy these Tools for distribution to their members.

The Twelve Promises

In the program of Debtors Anonymous, we come together to share our experience, strength and hope so that we may recover from the disease of compulsive debting. When we work D.A.’s Twelve Steps and use the D.A. Tools, we begin to receive these gifts of the program:
  1. Where once we felt despair, we will experience a newfound hope.

  2. Clarity will replace vagueness; we will intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us.

  3. We will live within our means, yet our means will not define us.

  4. We will begin to live a prosperous life, unencumbered by fear, worry, resentment or debt.

  5. We will realize that we are enough; we will value ourselves and our contributions.

  6. Isolation will give way to fellowship; faith will replace fear.

  7. We will recognize that there is enough; our resources will be generous and we will share them with others and with DA.

  8. We will cease to compare ourselves to others; jealousy and envy will fade.

  9. Acceptance and Gratitude will replace regret, self pity and longing.

  10. We will no longer fear the truth; we will move from hiding in denial to living in reality.

  11. Honesty will guide our actions towards a rich life filled with meaning and purpose.

  12. We will recognize a Power Greater than ourselves as the source of our abundance; we realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not; they are well within our means. When we work this program with integrity and to the best of our ability, one day at a time, a life of prosperity and serenity will be ours.

(Approved August 19, 2001, 15th Annual World Service Conference)
Registered D.A. groups have permission to copy this page for distribution to its members.
Debtors Anonymous General Service Office
PO Box 920888
Needham, MA 02492-0009
800-421-2383
email: office@debtorsanonymous.org
Debtors Anonymous.org