Service Opportunities in SIP
Without my therapist telling me about SA, I might not be alive today. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all helping professionals understood how effective SA can be?
Without my therapist telling me about SA, I might not be alive today. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all helping professionals understood how effective SA can be?
I knew from the start of my journey in SA that our founder, Roy K. wrote Sexaholics Anonymous (the “White Book”) and then later learned that he also wrote Recovery Continues, Discovering the Principles, and several SA pamphlets. However, for many years, I wondered who writes all our other wonderful SA literature and what’s involved in the publication process. Then the opportunity arose to do international service, and I volunteered to join the Literature Committee.
We have seen many miracles. As a worldwide fellowship, SA carries some heavy responsibility. The Support for Institutions and Professionals Committee (SIP) is organized to address one of these responsibilities head on: sharing our message with various helping professionals and larger institutions. We, who have personally benefited from the miracles of the 12 Steps can now take part in informing those who help people every day.
“What can we do so that more women attend our meetings? What can we do to support women in SA? What can we give women when they come into our meetings? What are we doing wrong that women leave our meetings? How can we encourage more women in service?”
Have you heard of the SA Board of Trustees? Do you have any idea what service the Trustees provide our fellowship? Have you ever thought that you might be a candidate to serve as a Trustee? Whatever your answers to these questions, we invite you to read on and learn more about this particular service opportunity.
The program teaches us that we cannot keep what we do not give away. Step Twelve tells us that service is an integral part of recovery. There are many opportunities for service within the SA Service Structure. These opportunities are all described in the SA Service Manual, available for free download off our website sa.org. There are opportunities within your local home group, the intergroup that services your home group, the regional assembly that serves your intergroup. Lastly, at the international fellowship-wide level, there are opportunities at the General Delegate Assembly, the Board of Trustees, and their committees. As current chair of the Board of Trustees, I’d like to focus on the Board of Trustees and our Committees and the opportunities for you, the SA Member, to serve.
Who are we? We are the Public Information Committee who serve under the Board of Trustees. I call us the band of creatives. We reach out to the general public, telling the world SA is here to help those who identify with us. Today, addicts are immersed in the digital world. Many of them will never stumble upon vital information about sexaholism and SA. That is where we come in and why we need your help.
I write with gratitude for SA, the guidance of our Higher Power, and the excellent and dedicated work of the Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee worked diligently throughout 2022-23 knowing there would be a high number of Trustees rotating off the Board this past July. Needless to say, replacing needed vacancies was a critical challenge. Since April, five Trustee candidates were approved by the Nominations Committee and passed on to the BOT for consideration. All five candidacies were subsequently approved by the Trustees and forwarded to the GDA. Three candidates Gary P., Jack H., and Mathew M. have been GDA approved. Currently, two potential Trustee candidates await GDA interviews. The Nominations Committee continues to actively seek and invite applications for Trustee candidates.
Can you help? SA’s Board of Trustees is served by a number of committees who assist it in administering the policies and decisions of the General Delegate Assembly. One of these is the Legal Committee whose mission is “to advise the Trustees on legal matters affecting the Fellowship.” (SA Service Manual, Ch. 13, p.2)
As of January 15, 2023, we are approaching 1000 Registered meetings of out of an expected 1700. We have extended the deadline once from December 31, 2022, to January 31, 2023. For several reasons, we have not yet approached the critical mass we had hoped for