Category: SCA Los Angeles

Questions & Thoughts

QUESTION:

9/23   How do you chose your sponsor? What are your and their’s expectations?

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:
8/’23   SCA’s “Statement of Purpose” is to help the addict who still suffers. A lot has changed in the last 50 years since SCA first addressed sexual addiction.  SCA’s Outreach team would appreciate hearing from you on what is and isn’t working, not only in your local meetings but in general with how sexual compulsion/addiction is being addressed today?
Anonymous – SCA Los Angeles
SCA originally started in the gay communities of Los Angeles and New York, and is non-discriminating open to anyone suffering from sexual compulsion.  I believe that most therapists and treatment centers still think of SCA as the place to recommend only to their LGBTQ clients.  I think more people are seeking help from professionals first before attending any 12 Step “S” group and not finding their way to our meetings.  Many people are not “acting out” but “acting in”.  With the advent of Apps, social media, free porn, it’s easier to isolate into the disease .  Even on line meetings are a bit isolating. As the nature of the disease has changed, SCA has kept up and produced some of the best literature available. With more Outreach, we can let the the health professionals become better informed about us and we can again become more available.
Gordon B.- Chair, SCA New York Intergroup
My experience is that SCA meeting attendance waxes and wanes. Currently, we are going  through a transition period, in which a number of New York members attend our in-person meetings while avoiding Zoom meetings. Other NY members stick to Zoom but do not attend in-person meetings. We have a growing number of members who do not live in New York. For them, our Zoom meetings are a lifeline to the fellowship. Ideally, it would be great if those members eventually start their own in-person meetings locally. We are not yet at that point.  But we should be grateful for what we have.
As a member of NY Outreach, I get a steady stream of inquiries from people looking for help. Some of them attend a few meetings, then drift away. Others stay. Many newcomers struggle with a sense of shame in admitting to be a sex addictive/sexual compulsive, etc. But I believe that more people than ever are asking for help. The pandemic added to the sense of isolation that many of us feel. Porn usage continues to rise. I believe that our fellowship is doing what we can to help the sexual compulsive who still suffers, both inside and outside the rooms. We can let go of the result.

How to Handle a Zoom Bombing

How to Handle a Zoom Bombing:

(uninvited participants disrupting and vandalizing the virtual meeting room)

Recommended Best practices:

  • Each meeting secretary should claim the host responsibilities by entering a host key or pin as soon as they log into the meeting.
  • Ask someone to serve as a CO-HOST and make that person a co-host. It’s helpful for regular chairing activities (such as for re-muting people who forget to do that) and also you will need the help FAST if a “Zoom Bomb” situation comes up. Here are some recommendations on how to handle a “Zoom Bomb”:
  • Enable the waiting room feature-it is located in the “Security” icon which appears after host is claimed.
  • The hosts needs to accept those in the waiting room to enter the zoom meeting.
  • Anyone can be removed from a Zoom meeting by clicking on their name and remove them or send them back to the waiting room.

IF A MEETING CHOOSES NOT TO HAVE A WAITING ROOM:

  • SUSPEND PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES by clicking on the “Security” tab on the Zoom toolbar. Then Click on the red “SUSPEND PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES” button at the bottom of the drop-down menu. Then Click on SUSPEND – This will:

a. Lock the meeting so no one new can enter.

b. Enable the waiting room.

c. Hide profile pictures.

d. Disable Share Screen.

e. Disable Chat.

f. Disable the ability for people to rename themselves.

g. Disable the ability for people to unmute themselves.

h. Disable the ability for people to turn on their video

  • Open the participants list, SELECT DISRUPTIVE PEOPLE, click “MORE” and then “Put in Waiting Room.” We recommend this over “Report” or “Remove” people as you may be moving quickly and don’t want to accidentally report or remove a fellow from entering the meeting again
  • ENABLE PARTICIPATION ACTIVITIES ONCE AGAIN

Once the room seems clear of uninvited participants, you need to click on “Security” again and:

a. Unlock the Room (click “Lock Room” to uncheck it).

b. Allow Profile Pictures (click to uncheck it).

c. LEAVE THE WAITING ROOM TURNED ON FOR THIS MEETING.

d. Turn on Chat (click “Chat” and a checkmark will appear).

e. Turn on Rename Themselves (click “Rename Themselves” and a checkmark will appear).

f. Turn on Unmute Themselves (click “Unmute Themselves ” and a checkmark will appear).

g. Turn on Start Video (click “Start Video” and a checkmark will appear).

  • You may ask all remaining participants to start their video to verify they are intended participants in the room.
  • Report the Zoom Bombing to your Intergroup via email. Please include details (meeting, time, when the zoom bombing began, and other relevant information.) More information is available here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360041848151

 

SCA Los Angeles 2021 Convention

The 2021 Los Angeles Convention will take place via zoom on President’s Day weekend.

February 12th – 14th

The weekend will start with our Friday evening 6:30 meeting.

Saturday will include meetings, workshops and a zoom social.

Our weekend will conclude with our Sunday morning meeting.

The cost to attend the weekend events will be free.

More information will follow on our website.

www.scalosangeles.org/events/convention

 

2020 New Year’s Retreat in Santa Barbara, CA

Registration for the 2020 New Year Retreat will be opened on September 21, 2019

December 27 –  29, 2019

Mount Calvary Retreat House
Santa Barbara, CA

***PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING COMPLETELY FIRST BEFORE CLICKING A RESERVE LINK BELOW: 

By clicking one of the links below, a new window (or tab) will open and you will be redirected to the PayPal website to pay for your registration.After you have completed your payment you should be redirected back to a form on this website where we will collect some additional information.If, after completing payment using one of the links below, you are not automatically redirected, please close the PayPal tab to return to this page and click here to complete your registration.

STEP 1, Select an option below:

Reserve a SINGLE room ($295 + $5 = $300)
Reserve a SHARED room ($170 + $5 = $175 per person)
Make a difference! Help those who need retreat!

*$5 is added to the cost to defray the PayPal transaction fee.

Now Available for Review

New SCA Conditionally Approved Literature

“The Promises” has now been printed and is being distributed to various intergroups, meetings and individuals. Members are encouraged to read it and make comments and suggestions for the Literature Development Committee to consider and/or incorporate into their recommendations for ISO approval.

Please submit your suggestions to the  following address: iso-lit-comments@sca-recovery.org.

Also let David N. know if you need additional copies mailed to you: davidn4sca@gmail.com