RCA 12-Step — Free Couples Recovery Support Groups
Recovering Couples Anonymous (RCA) is a free 12-step fellowship for couples who want to restore healthy communication, caring, and intimacy in their relationship. While RCA welcomes all couples, it has long been a meaningful resource for couples affected by sex addiction and other forms of compulsive behavior — partners who are doing their own individual recovery work and also want to do recovery work together. RCA meetings are held in person and online across the United States.
What to Expect
RCA meetings are attended by couples rather than individuals. A typical meeting runs about an hour and a half. Couples sit together, read RCA literature, hear a brief share from another couple, and then take turns sharing as a couple about how they’re applying the 12 steps to their relationship. The focus is on the relationship itself — the patterns of communication, the rebuilding of trust, the work of being honest and vulnerable with each other in a structured way. Confidentiality is foundational; what’s shared in the meeting stays in the meeting. Many couples in RCA are also working their own individual recovery programs in fellowships like SAA, SLAA, S-Anon, or COSA.
Who This Group Is For
RCA membership is open to any couple — married, partnered, cohabiting, or living separately — who wants to recover their relationship. The fellowship welcomes couples of any orientation or configuration. RCA is particularly meaningful for couples where one or both partners are in recovery from sex addiction, compulsive behavior, or other forms of addiction, and who want a structured framework for rebuilding the relationship after disclosure, betrayal, or long periods of disconnection.
Why Peer Support Works
Rebuilding a relationship after sex addiction or another major rupture is some of the hardest work a couple can do, and it rarely happens in isolation. RCA gives couples a steady, ongoing community of other couples doing the same work — couples who have been further along the road, couples in the middle of the hardest stretch, and couples just starting. Hearing another couple share honestly about their week is often the most useful piece of recovery work a couple can do together that week.
How to Join
RCA is free and self-supported through member contributions. Find a meeting at recovering-couples.org, which lists in-person, phone, and online meetings throughout the week. The site also includes RCA literature, information for newcomer couples, and guidance about how RCA fits alongside other 12-step programs. Meetings are open to any couple with a desire to recover their relationship; no referral or eligibility paperwork is needed.