The following is being posted to the SCAnner, ISO List, Inreach Committee List, Outreach Committee, Fiduciary Committee, Online Intergroup Ops. List, and members of the Sunday and Wednesday telephone meetings.
The Sunday telephone meeting recently celebrated its second anniversary, and the Wednesday telephone meeting is steaming towards its first, in October! Happy anniversary to all our members!
There are now some 205 members registered for Sundays, and 140 members registered for Wednesdays. In other words, our total membership has tripled in the past year! Members to date hail from various parts of the USA, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Sundays are usually attended by between 10 to 15 members, and our biggest meeting so far has been 18 members. Wednesdays are usually attended by between 5 to 10 members, and our biggest meeting so far has been 15 members.
Both meetings are weekly at 4 p.m. New York/Eastern Time, 3 p.m. Chicago/Central Time, 2 p.m. Denver/Mountain Time and 1 p.m. Los Angeles/Pacific Time. They both last for one hour, with the line being left open and time allowed afterwards for fellowship and informal conversation.
Each meeting has a separate group email list which is open to members who have attended six or more telephone meetings. Each email list is closed and only circulated to those members who are on it. In this way, members are able to be in contact with each other in between meetings if they like, similar to the workings of a phone list at face-to-face meetings.
In view of the substantial growth to date, and looking towards the future, this year saw the adoption of a Telephone Meeting Service Structure by Online Intergroup and the Sunday and Wednesday telephone meetings. This sets out the various service roles involved in running the telephone meetings such as the Telephone Meeting Steering Committee, Telephone Meeting Coordinators, Telephone Meeting Moderator Captain, and Telephone Meeting Moderators, and formalizes their respective duties.
We currently have 11 trained moderators who chair the meetings, meaning that 5% of our members are actively involved in service. We are grateful for this service but would like to see the pool increase. It is not difficult to learn the additional Calliflower features that are needed to chair a phone meeting once you are familiar with attending the meetings and signing on to Calliflower online. Moderator training takes about an hour. Anyone interested in chairing can let any of the existing chairpersons know, or send an email to the OI Moderator email address which is supplied to all members on registration.
Upcoming plans are for a standard reading list to be drafted for readings at the telephone meetings, to give chairpersons some guidelines for what would generally be appropriate reading at the meetings. It is intended that the list will focus on SCA literature, other “S” literature and other 12 Step programs’ conference approved literature, but still be flexible. The general thrust of the effort is that SCA’s primary purpose of staying sexually sober ourselves and helping others to achieve sexual sobriety is paramount, and that the newcomer especially has to be borne in mind where readings are concerned, as well as those in early recovery.
The telephone meeting flyer has been updated to include the new telephone meetings access link at the new Online SCA web address Online Intergroup purchased earlier this year. The flyer is now being distributed throughout the fellowship in three versions, the international one being that reflecting the 4 p.m. New York start time. We have included additional formats for Pacific (Los Angeles) and Central (Chicago/St. Louis) times in view of the substantial SCA populations in those areas. Please circulate these to your members, groups and intergroups as appropriate.
Telephone meetings are a great means of recovery for those who are unable to get to face-to-face meetings, for those who have limited meetings in their area and/or want to supplement their face-to-face attendance, for those members who are travelling, who are perhaps confined by illness, or who have special concerns about anonymity and the like. Above all, telephone meetings are a great way to keep sober!
The Calliflower conference call service we use provides local numbers in many cities worldwide, and Skype-to-Skype or Google Voice calls are free. If you or someone you know are interested in attending a telephone meeting, but are not yet registered, please sign up via the SCA Online Intergroup website at http://www.onlinesca.org/telephoneaccess.htm.
Thanks to all those who have helped to make the telephone meetings a success!
In service,
Kevin – SCA Toronto
& Online Intergroup