Carrying the Message

My name is Chuck, and I’m a recovering sexaholic. I’ve been sexually sober since June 3, 2013. When I was 12, I began looking at various magazines, seeking out pictures of women in them, and I would sneak them home to act out. At 13, while babysitting, I found pornographic magazines and began looking at women as sex objects. Then I found Internet pornography, followed by chatting with promiscuous adults. I was pushing boundaries because I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it.

My addict could not get enough lust! We say in this fellowship that one of three things is going to happen to us: We will find God, we will die, or we will go to jail. My addiction took me to jail, so for me it was either die or find God!

I was finally ready to admit that I had an addiction and I could not do it alone. While incarcerated, I was in a “cognitive behavior treatment program.” We were not allowed to talk about lust as an addiction (the therapist said) because there is no physical withdrawal. Nor could we talk about spirituality, because it was a federal facility.

When I came to SA, I was ready to try something else. I went to my first meeting September 2009, and I heard that this is an addiction and that there is a spiritual solution. These things made me feel like I belonged. At my second meeting I got a sponsor and began working the Steps, because I could not do it alone! I also started to do service work and I began sponsoring others, which definitely helped keep me sober and led to my recovery.

I began sponsoring others face-to-face, then long distance by phone, and then by mail with those in prison. I joined SA’s Correctional Facilities Committee (CFC), later becoming Intergroup CFC Chair, and then the SA Southeast Region (SASERA) CFC Chair. Now I’m gratefully serving as the International CFC Chair. I have felt honored to follow the previous CFC Chairs, including Unchatwa, who has been an inspiration to me and others.

We currently look forward to achieving the following goals:

• Get two pamphlets into print: “So, You’re Going to Prison” and “So, You’re Leaving Prison.”
• Fill vacancies among regional CFC chairs, who then can work to fill Intergroup roles.
• Host three sessions at the Chicago Convention, including a joint S-Anon session on “Corrections: A Family Issue.”
• Expand the Sponsor-by-Mail program beyond the 36 prisons and 210 prisoners (so far this year) we have reached.

Our Sponsor-by-Mail program provides the only way for inmates with our disease to have a chance for recovery. We need your help. Volunteer today!

I hope to see you all in Chicago.

In grateful loving service,