Our conference committee worked together as a team, with all of us considering that our meetings were as vital a part of our recovery as our regular weekly meetings. Over the past year the Vancouver group has grown considerably, to the point where in May and June we had seven birthday cakes for our members, four members with over two years sobriety, and very soon there may be two members with over three years sobriety. I believe the opportunity for all of us to work on an International Conference was a big part of our ability to stay sober.

As for the conference itself, we took over a small hotel in a quiet suburb of town, where the atmosphere was conducive to Progressive Recovery (our theme). We had approximately 125 people from all over North America with many years of sobriety. We had many speakers as well as focused sharing in small groups. The evaluation forms that we received indicated that people felt the location and program were wonderful, and many of the participants stayed on for a few days afterward and joined us at our regular meetings as well.

Our faith in facing the challenge was richly rewarded in the best currency that a recovering sexaholic can receive — sobriety chips. In closing I have two suggestions for readers out there: firstly, consider the benefits to your group of hosting an International Conference, and secondly, come and visit us here in Vancouver anytime — we love to learn from others.