1. You. How are you doing? Are you sober? According to the SA concept of sexual sobriety? How long? Are you comfortable with it? If you’d care to, we’d love to have you write something about where you’re at or what’s been happening in you in the Program. What’s it like on the inside? Can you share honestly at depth in meetings? How’s your relation with others? Your marriage? Progressive victory over lust?
2. Your Group. How’s your group doing? Any sober members? How long?
What is the quality of recovery in your group? Is there a growing base of sexual sobriety and spiritual growth? Is recovery there? Is God there?
Is your group using the SA literature? How?
What meeting formats are you using? How are they working out? Any suggestions? Enclose a copy of yours if you feel it might be helpful or if you want to share it.
Is the AA literature being used? How?
Do you have any Step Study meetings? Using AA’s Big Book? Twelve and Twelve? The SA book?
Is any other literature being used?
Has your group followed through on all its leads received from GSO? Please report on what has happened with your leads.
3. First Step Inventory. What’s been your experience with the First Step inventory, if any? Pros and cons. (We’ve added a caution at the end of this section in the most recent printing of the booklet to the effect that a First Step Inventory should never take the place of the person’s First Step experience—acknowledgement at depth of one’s powerlessness over lust and the unmanageability of one’s emotional life.)
4. Literature. What’s your feeling about the SA brochure and booklet? Be specific. If you wish, you may write detailed comments or mark up a copy and send it to me at the above address, but only those who’ve read the whole thing, please.
By the way, for those who don’t know, the SA material has been bound and printed in booklet form (122 pages). Available for $5.00 from the General Service Office at the above address. (Make checks payable to SA GSO.)
5. Seventh Tradition. What’s your feeling about having your SA group help support SA world services as AA does? In AA, groups are encouraged to contribute regularly a portion of what’s left over from passing the hat after all group expenses are met. The operation here at GSO is not yet fully self-supporting as our Seventh Tradition would have us be. For example, the actual dollar cost of getting this newsletter out will run about $200 when actual expenses are added up. The SA phone bill runs over $100/month. Our office help (non-sexaholic) has been running as much as $150/week (at $5.00/hour). (Of course, no one else is paid anything; all other work is voluntary.) $700/month is probably an average figure for total expenses. Do you want your group to help support this effort?
6. The Work at GSO. It’s time to report on the work at the General Service Office. Since June 1981, we have responded to about 6500 inquiries from the public, have written hundreds of letters to SA members near and far, trying to help them get and stay sober and start their own groups. All correspondence received is filed in steel file cabinets and kept confidential. Member and group files are updated daily and correspondence filed. Leads to all areas other than California and foreign are sent out to responsible groups or individuals. Contact with the various media is maintained in a professional courteous manner, even though we’ve granted no interviews. Information is constantly being sent to agencies and institutions. There is much contact maintained with loner members in prison or in isolated areas which involves considerable letter writing on a personal level, often enclosing free literature. Hundreds of phone calls are made to members and non-members alike (we subscribe to MCI for lowest possible long-distance rates). The SA literature has been prepared, edited, and printed here. We’ve sent out thousands of pieces of literature since 1979.
