Greetings to all fellow SCA members,
The annual conference of SCA’s International Service Organization (ISO) took place May 3rd-5th in Chicago, IL.
Among other business matters, the ISO did the following:
Voted to unconditionally approve the previously submitted (2018) commentary on The Twelve Traditions of SCA . This is now SCA conference-approved literature, and it will be published and made available for purchase later this summer.
Voted to approve 2 SCA stories of personal recovery to be made available as part of a forthcoming SCA Big Book. There are currently a number of such personal recovery stories that have been previously submitted to ISO, and the Recovery Book sub-committee is charged with continuing the editing process so that more of these can be approved next year.
ISO also voted to again provisionally approve (for one year) the 2018 submitted piece on The Promises. This will be reviewed and edited by the Literature Development Committee, along with recent submissions on The Promises by other contributors.
As is the case for all provisionally approved SCA literature, copies of The Promises piece will be made available to interested members. We encourage any comments, criticisms, praise or suggestions concerning The Promises document to be sent to iso-lit-comments@sca-recovery.org.
Speaking of the “SCA Big Book”, I feel that we are getting closer to that long-awaited date when it will become a reality. This project had been discussed and worked on for at least the past 15 years. Still to come are commentaries on the 12 Steps and also on the 14 Characteristics. The Recovery Book sub-committee continues to work on these, and the Literature Development Committee will also review them, along with the recently submitted (but not approved) Toronto & Online Intergroup commentary on the Characteristics.
Tony D. has volunteered to remain as Literature Development Coordinator for the next 12 months. And thanks to Mike O, who has served as Recovery Book sub-committee chair for the past few years. He will stay on as a working member of that committee.
—The SCA member survey —
ISO has recently sent emails to all intergroups and to other meetings announcing the upcoming SCA worldwide Member Survey, which will become live on our website www.sca-recovery.org during September & October 2019.
The purpose of this survey is to assess the general health and functioning of the fellowship as a whole. To this end, the Fellowship Inventory Committee has developed an online survey to help assess how well the fellowship is living up to its primary purpose of helping sex addicts achieve and maintain sexual sobriety. This survey will be conducted during September and October 2019. It will be available online to all SCA members worldwide, and our goal is to reach as many SCA members as possible.
In order to facilitate the broadest participation in the survey, we are requesting the assistance of all SCA intergroups and individual meetings in identifying Survey Liaison volunteers to help inform members of the survey and to encourage them to take part.
More will be announced at your meetings during July and August.
ISO continues to develop its outreach program to the Sexual Compulsive who still suffers. Our Outreach Chair—Rich K., along with Noel F and Jonathan D. from SCA in LA—have successfully launched a digital and print “how to” guide which will reach out to more people thru the social networks. Other intergroups and meetings are encouraged to learn more, and to consider using this tool in their own local outreach. Contact outreach@scalosangeles.org for more information.
ISO re-elected the following Executive Committee members:
—-Gordon B.for a 2-year term to continue as the ISO Chair until 2021
—-Rich K. for a 2-year term to continue as ISO Outreach Chair until 2021
ISO elected Alexandra Katehakis to serve for a 2-year term as the Outside Director on the Executive Committee. (2021). Dr. Katehakis is a certified Sex Addiction Therapist and the Clinical Director of the Center for Healthy Sex in Los Angeles. She has written a number of books, and has spoken at many S-program conferences, including SCA in LA.
Dr. Katehakis replaces Linda Engstrom, who served two full 2-year terms as our Outside Director. We thanked Linda for her devoted service to ISO since 2015.
Remaining on the Executive Committee now beginning the 2nd year of their respective 2-year terms are:
—David N. Fiduciary Chair (2020)
—Gary S. Inreach Chair (2020
—Jim M. Director-at-Large (2020).
ISO also approved a by-law change, explicitly defining partial-term service and how it affects term limits for officers.
I would like to thank all members of the SCA Chicago Host Committee , led by John S, who provided for all ours needs during the May ISO Conference, and who made feel at home. A special thanks Diane V., our recording secretary, and to Mike O., our technical director for the Conference. Thanks also to Russell P., our Treasurer, to Greg I., our webmaster, to Matthias P., our international meeting list coordinator, and for all who have done service throughout the year.
yours in service,
Gordon B.
ISO Chair