who do not share those beliefs. Some Pagans find the 12 steps themselves too reminiscent of Christian theology to be applicable to their belief systems. However, this type of conduct would not be approved by A.A. itself as any person who "has a desire to stop drinking" may declare themselves a member of A.A. The focus in alternative groups tends to be on tolerance, balance, building better boundaries, healing old wounds, making amends, taking our power back and right action. As a result, these groups tend to be more in tune with Pagan, New Age, Native American, humanistic, feminist, and Buddhist teachings, as well as with the more progressive versions of the mainstream faiths. Another issue among Pagans in recovery is the one-sided image of addicts, alcoholics, codependents, and survivors of dysfunctional families portrayed in 12-step literature and in the many books published on recovery and dysfunctional family systems since the 1980s. For example, Kasl and others in the field of addiction have long noted that characteristics of adult children of alcoholics and the list known as "The Problem" in ACA, read at every ACA meeting, focus strongly on "character defects" and do not adequately support the creation or celebration of character strengths, strengths which are often the result of surviving these very systems. Many twelve-step programs, such as Narcotics Anonymous, have special interest groups, typically meetings specifically geared towards young people, men, women, gays and lesbians, etc. Alcoholics Anonymous has also started meetings specifically for Native Americans which accommodate those views of spirituality. Pagans who are recovering alcoholics have started A.A. meetings specifically for Pagans Many Pagans seem to prefer a mutually supportive, spiritually based twelve step approach to recovery over non-spiritually based programs such as Secular Organizations for Sobriety, where one is expected to keep his or her spiritual beliefs separate from recovery, or Rational Recovery, which is not spiritually based and does not encourage members to seek support from others in recovery. Generally speaking, Pagan twelve step meetings follow the same format as other twelve step meetings except that they use Pagan friendly readings (which have not been approved by the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous or other twelve step organizations), and substitute Pagan friendly prayers for the Lord's Prayer (which is not AA Conference approved, but widely used) and the Serenity Prayer. For example, the Recovery Spiral: A Pagan Path to Healing by Cynthia Jane