I’m grateful to have celebrated five years of sexual sobriety this past August. I don’t believe I would be sober (or three years married!) without help from my Higher Power, Who has helped me find progressive victory over lust. Through the fellowship of SA, my Higher Power has given me the tools that others have used to surrender lust, one day at a time.

Some of us come into these rooms crawling on our hands and knees because we know we have no option other than to stop our destructive way of life. Others, like myself, are pushed into these rooms and—if we are fortunate—we too discover that we had no other options, that our lives are unmanageable, and that we are insane.

I’m a lust drunk from England, sober for 20 years—since April 12, 1995—by the grace of God and the fellowship of SA. But my road to SA was a long one.

I’m Bernd, a sexaholic from Munich, and I’m grateful to have been a part of the Munich team that organized (with God’s help) the German-Speaking convention this year. The convention was held in Zavelstein near Stuttgart. The theme for the weekend was “Honesty.”

At EMER’s first Regional Convention in Warsaw in 2013, five women met from five countries (Luxembourg, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Poland). We had never met before, and most of us were the only women in our home meetings. This was a wonderful experience, and we started two projects: a Women’s Skype meeting and an EMER Support for Women Committee.

On May 15-17, SA’s Europe and Middle East Region (EMER) held its third annual Regional SA Convention, with S-Anon participation, in Birmingham, UK. After our first convention in Warsaw in 2013 and our second in Jerusalem last year, our UK fellows took the initiative to host this annual event.

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.

He would tell anyone who would listen that SA saved his life.
On March 10, 2015, Fenner U., one of SA’s longest-standing and staunchest members, went home to be with God.

My name is Jim B., and I’m a sexaholic in recovery. For the past three months, I’ve been working on my Fourth Step with the guidance of my sponsor. The journey has led me through the gamut of emotions, and it has given me a significant amount of insight into how my past characteristics have manifested themselves and impacted others.

There I was in an Israeli prison, walking through a security checkpoint to visit an incarcerated SA member. What an ordeal! First, I had to empty my pockets. Then I had to take off my shoes. After that, I had to take off my socks and walk barefooted on a tile floor where other barefoot people—from all backgrounds—had been walking.

When I was eight years old, my mother would ask me (her only child), “Will you help me by drying the dishes and stacking them on the counter?” I enjoyed the activity and felt I was part of the team.

As I type this, it’s 2:34 a.m., and I have reached a little over eight months of sobriety. I just experienced what I believe may be the first depths of recovery but I’m not sure. When I first entered through the SA doors and was shown how to surrender my lust by my sponsor, my life changed in that moment.

I came into SA in October 2014, on the advice of a friend in another Twelve Step program. I started working the Steps with a female sponsor (the only SA woman in my area), but the situation did not work out, so I asked one of the men in my home group to be my sponsor. But this did not work out so well either.

The first thing I remember from my childhood is that I spent every waking minute reading stories of beautiful, fragile princesses, who would be rescued by handsome princes on white horses. I would spend many hours going through every detail so that I could be just like a princess, so that when my prince arrived I would be ready to go with him and live happily ever after.

I came into SA a little over three years ago, when I was 19. By the grace of God and thanks to this program, I have been blessed with sobriety one day at a time since my first meeting, a few days after my sobriety birthday on March 8th, 2012. I’m grateful for this opportunity to share my experience, strength, and hope with the fellowship—as well as the events that led up to it.

We are grateful to our members for our excellent 2014 financial results. We finished the year on target compared to budget! I’m excited to see members spread the word in so many directions: globally, through literature, and into the digital world.

At our meeting in February 2015, the General Delegate Assembly (GDA) voted unanimously to permit ESSAY subscribers to make up to 10 copies, either in print or electronically, to share with others. This decision is in furtherance of our primary purpose to carry the message (Tradition Five) while still protecting the integrity of our copyright.

How is your program going? Are you enjoying all of the sobriety, serenity, and sanity that your Higher Power has for you? Are you looking for opportunities to be of service to God and others? Do you want to foster new friendships with those who are seeking a shared solution to a shared problem?

In countries where there are no SA groups, SAICO depends on member volunteers to carry the SA message to those who seek help. SA’s International Committee (IC) is attempting to organize those volunteers to focus on specific areas where help is needed. We are currently looking for volunteers to answer inquiries from several countries.

On January 1, 2014, a new SA group was started in Zwolle, the Netherlands. We meet on Wednesday in a room that was kindly rented to us by an organization that deals with all kinds of addictions. The members of this meeting, however, felt that we needed another meeting in Zwolle, on another night.