In July 1985, a 12-Step meeting for sex addiction started in Pittsburgh as an outgrowth of group counseling sessions. All the members had to go on was the pamphlet AA 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. In December of that year, members found out there was a national organization called Sexaholics Anonymous, contacted SA for information and literature, and joined SA in March of 1986. S-Anon, a group for spouses of SA members, was started in May of 1986. The only literature allowed at SA meetings was AA and SA literature, with S-Anon adding their own S-Anon literature.

Later in 1986, a telephone and answering machine were installed. Two or three times a week one of the members would get the messages, call back the inquirers with information about SA, and answer questions. It soon became apparent that some contacts were being lost due to inquirers getting cold feet during the time between their initial call and the callback. We realized that there would be a great benefit in being able to return calls the same day; however, getting downtown every day to do that was impractical. The consensus was that anonymity would be a huge problem in meeting the phone company’s requirements, and that some of the calls are of such a nature that nobody wanted their families exposed to them. Barney W., single at the time, agreed to have the phone in his apartment and to be responsible for the followups.

Anonymity has always been a prime requirement: one break resulted in an SA/S-Anon couple being asked not to come back, and they didn’t.

Eleven SA groups were started through the years, and two S-Anon groups. Six SA groups and one S-Anon group are currently meeting.

Attendance at international conferences

In December 1987, the Friday group came to Barney W. with $600 they had collected and asked him to go to the SA international conference in Los Angeles and to bring back more information and literature and shared ideas for using these tools to further sobriety and recovery.

In 1988, several members car pooled to the Rochester international conference, setting a precedent for attendance at the international conferences in Baltimore in 1990, Chicago in 1991, Rochester in 1994, Baltimore in 1995, and two members met at the Phoenix conference in 1996 without knowing the other was going.

Marathons

Local members have attended several Cleveland marathons. Our first marathon was an SA/S-Anon joint retreat in Greensburg in 1989. Since then we have usually had one SA marathon each spring and autumn in Penn Hills, except in ’94 and ’95 when they were in Wheeling, W. Va., sponsored by the Steubenville, Ohio group.

Twelfth Step outreach

“Sam” was interviewed on a radio talk show in June ’88, and for newspaper articles in June ’87 and May ’89.

An SA/S-Anon couple appeared on a TV show in ’89. They received a videotape of the show which they have shown several times and have lent to selected people. However, the tape has now been lost.

In 1988, Barney W. responded to a request from the Washington County Prison to set up an SA group for the inmates. His meetings with the chaplain, prison officials and inmates bore fruit with the first meeting scheduled for April ’88. Unfortunately, no one else showed up. The chaplain figured that other inmates intimidated those inmates who were going to participate.

Barney W. also responded to a request to tell his story at an education and training seminar for therapists and counselors in January 1990. It was well received, with a lot of questions from the audience and discussion afterwards.

District office set up

Early in 1988, the need for a local central office to serve SA and S-Anon became apparent. A committee was formed to draw up a proposal, which was accepted.

Other history

In 1988, phone bills ranged from $57 to $172 [a month]. Barney W. instituted a policy of asking inquirers to call him back when he returned their initial call. This has worked well and as a side benefit has allowed callers to start the habit of making the calls they need to make. Our 1995 monthly phone bills ranged from $40 to $52, despite having more groups.

While further attempts at expansion have waned, the progress hasn’t. Several people who had stopped attending meetings for a year or two have returned and have rebuilt sobriety and recovery. Also, several longtime members with sporadic sobriety have attained a year or more. In fact, the stockpile of sobriety chips of one year and over is approaching the number of chips for less than one year.

A list of members willing to share their phone numbers intergroup-wide was published in ’91 and updated a number of times. Since there was a greater likelihood of someone outside SA seeing this list, the title Spiritual Awareness was given and this introduction was given:

“If your spirit is troubling you and you wish to talk with an understanding person in confidence, the following persons have agreed to accept phone calls. Please respect their preferences as indicated after their name. Feel free to use just your first name.”

Our literature stockpile included our own bound booklet of the articles found in Recovery Continues before it was published. Some members preferred to get their Essays at the meetings instead of through the mail, so Barney W. called and received permission to provide photocopies of the Essay at the meetings.

We have a small library of audio tapes at the Penn Hills meeting place. Included are both AA and SA tapes and they are checked out at a very satisfying rate. The newcomer and sponsorship tapes have been very popular.

Home group registration was instituted in ’94 because of the large numbers of members attending two or more meetings so that on business affecting the intergroup, voting would be restricted to home group members. This eliminated the possibility of multiple votes by any member.

Our Intergroup elected Tom P. as our regional representative to the National SA Region IV Committee in ’95.