I am a true “loner” living in a remote area in northern Maine. The closest SA meeting to me is about a five-hour drive away. Yet for the past four years, I have attended an SA meeting almost every day. I have been sober for more than two-and-a-half years and I have sponsored several people. How? I go to meetings, have a sponsor, and work the Steps. What meetings?! Phone meetings! They are not quite the same as face-to-face meetings, but they work for me. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer face-to-face meetings. But there just aren’t enough people up here who admit to being sexaholics to start one.

Phone meetings have connected me to recovering sexaholics from all around the globe. Some are in situations similar to mine. Others are in places that have a few meetings a week, and they use phone meetings to help achieve a “90 in 90.” Still others check in first thing every morning year after year. There are Daily Sobriety Renewal meetings, book study meetings, Step study meetings, and a “special topics” meeting where I have talked about things I normally don’t share in SA meetings. There are at least eight meetings of some kind every day!

Recognizing that phone meetings are saving my life, I have started to give back. I regularly chair meetings, have served as group secretary, and currently serve as my home group’s Group Service Rep (GSR) to the phone “Virtual Intergroup” (VIG). The VIG operates very much like a face-to-face Intergroup. We discuss issues that affect all of the phone meetings and make recommendations for solutions. We also maintain a centralized point of contact with the teleconference services that provide our meeting “locations.”

The VIG is part of the SA regional service structure, and sends a representative (usually via our teleconference service) to the Mid-Atlantic Region meetings.

Because of my remote location, the only time I get to face-to-face SA meetings is when I travel. Nevertheless, I always print out a fresh copy of the list of phone meetings, and carry it with me, just in case I need a meeting at an odd time.

I am so thankful for the phone meetings and for every caller who has shared his or her recovery with me over the years.

In gratitude,