Step 9: Making It Right
Step 9 — Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Responsibility. I went to those people directly and repaired the harm — except where doing so would cause new harm.
This is where recovery leaves the notebook and walks out the front door. Direct means direct: face to face where possible, specific about the harm, no excuses attached, and no dumping confessions that only relieve you while wounding someone else. Some amends are money. Some are changed behavior sustained over years. Timing matters, and a sponsor's judgment before each one is worth gold. Track each amend below from planned to done.
What to read alongside Step 9
📚 Companion reading: Big Book pages 76–84; the Twelve and Twelve's chapter on step nine.
How amends are actually made — and when they'd do harm.
What working Step 9 looks like
These are the reflection questions 1more24 asks you at this step. The answers underneath are written examples — one person's, invented for this page.
For your next amend: what exactly will you say, what do you owe, and how will you keep it from causing fresh harm?
Which amends can't be made directly (someone deceased, unreachable, or where contact would injure)? What's a living amend you can make instead?
Invented, not anyone's real writing — and it couldn't be. Every member's journal is encrypted with their own password, so this application cannot read a single word of it. Step 9 asks 1 more question once you're signed in.
Working Step 9, not just reading it
1more24 gives this step a private journal, reflection questions written for it, and a companion who knows where you are in the work. Everything you write is encrypted with your own password — nobody else can read it, not even us. Free and open to all.