I viewed men as toys or saviors but never as human beings. They filled my time until I found THE ONE who became my god. The fear of not being loved or accepted drove me into depression, misery and fear of abandonment. I believed that the ONE would fix me and fulfill my fantasies and dreams. But each time I sank deeper into a living hell, taking the abuse and telling myself that I was the problem.
There was a sexaholic walking down the street. He’d been there before, but this time, as he was walking, he met God. Now God had something in His hand and it looked good to the sexaholic.
SA has grown so much in the last forty years it’s hard to know where to begin. From its humble beginnings in Los Angeles, CA, SA has exploded into an International Fellowship. Today, SA is comprised of twelve regions with four within Europe and the Middle East and our newest region in Central and South America.
The Europe and Middle East Region (EMER) of Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) was formed on 8th December 2011 by the vote of five SA Intergroups — in Flanders (Belgium), Ireland, Israel, Netherlands and UK. Six more — Finland, Francophonia (Be/Fr/Lux), Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Spain — have since joined and one (Israel) has left to form a Region of its own.
I had been in the program for several years before I finally met Roy K. I remember Roy’s passion for spreading in his conversations as well as his writing the message, his courage, and his principles.
For the past 25 and-a-half years, my life and my recovery have been interwoven with Roy’s. I was first introduced to the concept of sobriety through the SA brochure that he had written. Over the years this man was always available to talk to me and share with me his experience, strength, and hope of recovery.
I remember when I first met Roy, in 1983. He appeared nervous around me, but not nearly as nervous as I felt around him. I expected to find a number of sober women who could tell me how to stay sober. I found only a few women, and none of them had six months of sobriety in our program. In fact, I had the longest sobriety time behind Roy and Jess L.—and I only had one month!
Roy, this resolution of appreciation from the fellowship of Sexaholics Anonymous to you is long overdue. It is a humble attempt on the part of the General Delegate Assembly, as servants of SA, to put into words our sincere gratitude for your life and work on behalf of our Fellowship.
In the summer of 2001, I spoke with women in other 12 Step fellowships who identified themselves as having SA issues. At the time, only two women were active in SA groups in San Diego. Other women were reluctant to come to SA because the fellowship was mainly men. I began to think how lovely it would be to gather all of these women in one room so that they could hear that other women have similar issues.
Sex was the dominant thing in my mind from my earliest memory. I was deeply obsessed about what was under my cousins’ dresses from the time I was in first or second grade. Lots of kids tried to play doctor, but for me it was an intense preoccupation.
