In this introductory video, therapist Hannah Rose, LCPC, launches a 14‑session Insight Timer course that applies the Twelve‑Step framework to codependency, caretaking, and rescue dynamics. She explains who the course is for—people who recognize the need to let go but lack practical tools—and outlines the course’s structure (an intro, a session for each of the 12 steps, and a closing). Rose references her viral 3‑minute Insight Timer clip “The Tao of Letting Others Struggle,” which draws on a Taoist principle (Wu Wei) and a line from the Tao Te Ching about the greatest help being the cessation of over‑helping. She shares her personal recovery story (15 years in a 12‑step program, sober since August 28 2011) to establish credibility. The video provides a brief history of the original AA 12 steps (1939) and their adaptation across many fellowships (Codependents Anonymous, Al‑Anon, etc.). Rose emphasizes self‑care (the oxygen‑mask metaphor), spiritual awakening, and the goal of finding inner peace rather than fixing others. She recommends Melody Beattie’s The Codependent’s Guide to the 12 Steps and encourages listeners to pause, reflect, and take the material one day at a time.
Chapters
Hi everyone! Welcome to my first course on Insight Timer. This course is for you if you intellectually understand that you need to let something go, but don't know how to do it. If you struggle with watching the people that you love suffer, which is very human and empathetic, and don't know what's your responsibility and what's their responsibility. This course is for you if you find that your life feels unmanageable, not because of what you've got going on, but because of the people in your life and their needs and their expectations and their problems. We're essentially going to unpack the 12 steps, look at their practical applicability, specifically when it comes to Caretaking, fixing, rescue dynamics, and more. I had created a video that was 3 minutes long for Insight Timer called The Tao of Letting Others Struggle, and it went viral. It seems like so many people said, this is exactly what I needed. Oh my goodness, I needed to hear this. Wow, I've never heard something like this. And in that 3-minute video, all I really did was read a line from the Tao Te Ching that said, since he has given up helping, he is people's greatest help. Yeah, something like that. Since he has given up helping, he is people's greatest help. And then the commentary in the back of the book said the most help that we can be for someone else is to trust them to resolve their own problems. And the questions I posed were straight from Codependents Anonymous, and they were, what would you have to look at in yourself if you stopped trying to help or fix or manage an outcome? What would you have to face? Fear, powerlessness, discomfort, grief. And then I touched on the importance of putting the oxygen mask on yourself before you put it on anyone else. And so in this course, which will probably be 14 sessions—an introduction, each step, and then a closing session—I am going to. Practice trusting my intuition, practicing Wu Wei, the Taoist concept of flowing from the present moment, action by inaction, not necessarily planning or preparing, and just speaking from the heart. That means that I may mince my words, or I may forget to touch on something and bring it up the following session, but I'm really excited just to be here with you and to be authentic. And as vulnerable as possible and practice modeling that these principles found in the 12 steps are not just theoretical. They have so much practical application. And as a brief introduction to the origination of the 12 steps, the first published 12 steps were the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous created by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob. And those were published in the basic text of AA, which is colloquially referred to as the Big Book, in 1939. Since then, the 12 steps, which largely remain similar in their wording, have been adapted and created for so many other fellowships like Codependents Anonymous, Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, and so many more. Now, I have been an active participant in a 12-step program for just over 15 years at the time of this recording. I got sober when I was 20 years old on August 28th, 2011, and right now it's 2026. And for me, the 12 steps have been a bridge to not only sanity and manageability, but also healthy relationships. Boundaries, looking at caretaking dynamics, looking at my relationship with myself, and most importantly, my relationship with something greater than me. The 12 steps are deeply spiritual in nature, and the point of any 12-step program is to have a spiritual experience. We'll get to this, but in the 12th step, it says it starts with. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps. And then it continues on. So I'm really excited to look at the 12 steps and their practical applicability, specifically when it comes to codependent dynamics. A book that I will probably refer to often is The Codependent's Guide to the 12 Steps by Melody Beattie. I highly recommend it. But feel free to pause these video sessions at any point if you want to take notes or write some prompts, because so much of this journey is about the exploration you're willing to do outside of listening to this course. And as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, half measures availed us nothing. Are we willing to go to any lengths to access a feeling of deep peace and groundedness and freedom from our own suffering? This course will not guarantee— will actually probably do the opposite of guarantee that you're going to fix your loved ones, you're going to rescue them and save them. But what this course will do, if you allow it, is help you to find peace and serenity no matter what is going on around you. I also recommend doing these one day at a time instead of all in a row. Of course, if it calls to you to continue listening after this, go for it. But I think it's helpful when we're able to really go slowly and let the information sink in. So I will see you tomorrow for step 1, which is we admitted that we were powerless and our lives had become unmanageable. I'll see you then.
