WHATSAPP DOC

The WhatsApp SCA Group is over a year old and has over 90 members.  You can easily download WhatsApp on your cell phone.  SCA Speakers will be sharing their experience, strength, using SCA Literature.  There have been some recent changes to our format to include one recorded long share on Wednesdays and readings of the SCA Daily Meditations. Members can now respond via recorded voice or by text.

To join the Saint Louis Whatsapp Group or invite others to join go to:  https://chat.whatsapp.com/J4hvQ5EZYdc0JxfNtO0yc1This is like having a meeting in your pocket that you can take anywhere.  For anyone new to the Fellowship, please go to the SCA Website, sca-recovery.org , to find in-person meetings or more information.

ISO Upcoming Elections

The SCA’s International Service Organization (ISO) will hold service position elections at it’s April 19-21st annual ISO conference. Three Executive Committee positions will be elected, or re-elected: Inreach Committee Chair, the Director-at-Large, and the Fiduciary Committee Chair/Co-Chair.

The Fiduciary Committee is responsible for the daily business of the ISO.  It maintains ISO’s financial records and is responsible for its budget and for its bank accounts, whose signatories are designated by ISO.  It publishes and distributes ISO approved SCA literature in a timely manner.  It manages literature sales and inventory.  It handles legal records, including copyrights of ISO literature.  It maintains the ISO Archives. It produces minutes of ISO and Executive Committee meetings.

Anyone who has been a SCA member for 2 or more years and who currently has one or more years of sobriety on their Sexual Recovery Plan is welcome to submit their name for consideration. Any member can nominate another member who meets those requirements. Please contact the Nominating Committee’s Tony D.  at inreach@sca-recovery.org.”

QUESTIONS & THOUGHTS

Question: How can “Dating” be one of the tools of the SCA Program, when most of my slips are from Dating Apps and Websites?

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Please submit your Thoughts, Feelings or Experiences about this question to the e-mail address below. You can also submit a SCA related article, poem, post or etc. to be considered for publication to the same address:

scannereditor@sca-recovery.org

Thoughts:

Since coming to SCA NY in April of 2006 I have seen the numbers of attendees at meetings go down even before Covid-19.  I’ve also observed that there are a core group of members who are very loyal to the program attending meetings regularly and doing service in the program.  I’ve also been happy to see a constant arrival of newcomers who “keep it green” and are proof that the outreach program is working.

Rather than focusing on the popularity of the program as a measure of its success, I am content to be grateful that this wonderful twelve step based program of recovery for compulsive sexual behavior is here for me when I need it, which I find is often.  — Gregory S.

 

The Tools of Dating and Socializing are unique to SCA and can be used to help build, support and aide in our recovery. However, like some of the other tools, they can be stressful to start to use.  I know that even going to meetings at first was a reason for me to “act out”. When I got to the point where I felt I was ready for a “healthy” relationship I found I needed to define what “dating” was to me.  So I created a “Dating Plan”.  There were so many ways meeting new people could screw with my head that I found that I needed to be honest with myself on what I was doing.  I needed to know if the date was going to be casual or serious before bringing sex into it.  In trying this out I found I had to actually discuss this with the dates.  What a concept! Strange I know, but it really helped me deal with all the feelings that can come up with dating and to maintain my sobriety according to my SRP (Sexual Recovery Plan). — Gary S.

 

Questions & Thoughts

Question: I’ve heard that “you’ve got to hit a bottom for the program to work”. How do I know if I’ve hit BOTTOM?

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Please submit your Thoughts, Feelings or Experiences about this question to the e-mail address below. You can also submit a SCA related article, poem, post or etc. to be considered for publication to the same address:

scannereditor@sca-recovery.org

Thoughts:

My view on “hitting bottom” is best expressed by the late David N., who wrote most of the Afterword for our Characteristics Commentary (P. 52 of the SCA Recovery Book) his words: “Some have suggested that we hit bottom when we stop digging: we finally realize how deep the hole in us had become.”

Eventually, my overwhelming desire to sexually act out led to a period where I despaired of ever being able to stop my behaviors. For me, that was “hitting bottom”. I gave up trying to dig further, and looked up, but couldn’t see the sky. I decided that I might as well go to a Twelve-Step meeting —which I had been avoiding—to see if I might find some possibility of breaking out of my downward spiral.  — Anonymous

SCA TORONTO, CANADA

Toronto Meetings:  All SCA meetings in Toronto are Closed, i.e. for sexual compulsives only. We ask that only those qualifying under SCA’s Third Tradition “The only requirement for SCA membership is a desire to stop having compulsive sex” attend our meetings. Members of SCA also work on issues such as Love Addiction, Romantic Obsession and Sexual Anorexia, and individuals with these and similar problems are welcome at our meetings.

Please see the Area Meetings page for a list of SCA meetings in the Greater Toronto Area: https://sca-recovery.org/WP/meetings/tuesday-evening/?tsml-day=2&tsml-query=INPERSON&tsml-region=canada

Questions & Thoughts

QUESTION: 11/’23 “I don’t like bothering other people with my problems.” Do I really need a Sponsor in order to do the SCA Program?

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Please submit your Thoughts, Feelings or Experiences about this question to the e-mail address below. You can also submit a SCA related article, poem, post or etc. to be considered for publication to the same address:

scannereditor@sca-recovery.org

THOUGHTS:

Back in AA’s early days, a sponsor was a member who would visit hospitals and “drying-out” facilities and offer to take responsibility for one of their patients. That meant not only that they would encourage them to go to AA meetings and work their recovery, but also might find them housing (Including inviting them into their own homes) and agree to be financially responsible for their sponsee.That level of commitment changed many years ago, and has never existed in SCA.  The third tool in the SCA Recovery Book says “Sponsorship is two people with the same problem helping each other to work the program. It can provide a framework for a Sexual Recovery Plan and for doing the Twelve Steps, and can bring emotional support at difficult times.”

I found a sponsor in my first few months of SCA. He guided me through making my Sexual Recovery Plan and helped me with my Step work, though I was also a member of an independent Step writing group. These days, I don/t often need to call my sponsor: in fact he more often calls me. But that’s fine.  For me, Sponsorship is a relationship of trust, honesty and mutual respect. I help him, and he helps me—as the SCA tool suggests. But I also have other program friends to whom I can turn. 
To summarize: having a Sponsor greatly helped me in early recovery, especially by encouraging me to work the Steps. I no longer feel that I need a Sponsor, but I value our relationship.
Gordon B. (NY)

Questions & Thoughts

QUESTION: 10/’23 How has your concept of a “Higher Power” developed in the program?

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Please submit your Thoughts, Feelings or Experiences about this question to the e-mail address below. You can also submit a SCA related article, poem, post or etc. to be considered for publication to the same address:

scannereditor@sca-recovery.org

 


THOUGHTS: From WD

       Before recovery, I thought of God as having a script of exactly how things were supposed to play out. “Doing God’s will” meant figuring out what the script is and running it perfectly. Failing to follow the script meant disappointing God. This script of how God wanted things to play out didn’t necessarily have any connection to what I wanted; my will was just a thing to be overcome in following God’s will.
This created a lot of unspoken resentment in me. When I was working the third step, this resentment came to the surface. How can I trust in the care of a God who treats me like a chess piece to be moved around in whatever way serves his endgame? Why would God give me free will if the goal was simply to act like an automaton, doing whatever the programmer dictated?
Then I asked myself, “Who in my life represents the care of God to me?” I realized that my fellows in the program, among others, were living images of the care of God. And how do they treat me? Do they say, “I have decided that this is what you need to do, regardless of whether you want to?” No. They may give advice. They may say, “That doesn’t seem like a great idea; you may want to think it through.” Or, “This seems like something that you might want to consider doing.” But in their love and care for me, they ultimately want me to develop my own will and my ability to choose my path in life.
And if this is how the people who represent the care of God treat me, then perhaps that is how God treats me as well. It has been a difficult shift in perspective to make. But I am learning to see God not as the one who dictates every decision I should make, but rather as the one who wants me to grow and mature in using my own will to make good choices that lead to my happiness and fulfillment.

WD