The individual members of S.A.A. make up the Fellowship of Sex Addicts Anonymous. These members attend Twelve Step meetings around North Texas. We have over 60 weekly meetings available.
These meetings can be found in Arlington, Colleyville, Coppell, Dallas, Denton, Duncanville, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Frisco, Lewisville, Longview, Lubbock, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Richardson, Southlake, Texarkana, Tyler, Waco, Wichita Falls and Wylie.
At an SAA meeting you will find members of the fellowship who can help you recover from sex addiction. These sober members will help you understand the disease of sex addiction and can show you how to work the Twelve steps. Their sobriety, peace of mind, serenity and happiness provides the hope that recovery is possible. You might be surprised to hear that we need you as much as you need us. “Not alone, but together, thru a Power greater than ourselves, we can and do recover from sexual addiction.” (Sex Addicts Anonymous, 3rd Ed, International Service Organization of SAA, Inc., 2012, page viii)
If it is your first meeting, just be patient. There is no requirement to say anything. If you have any questions, we encourage you to ask other members of the group during or after the meeting. We encourage you to listen to what others have to share and try to identify and listen for similarities in your own life. Share when you feel the desire to share.
Our hope as a local Fellowship is that you will find a message of hope when you attend an SAA meeting. (See our article on the Program here)
Every meeting is slightly different. Different in the sense that you will find different faces, names, stories and meeting formats. To put it another way the Fellowship is different everywhere you go. Our Twelve Step message remains the same. Being unified behind our common solution is the powerful cement that binds us all together.
Each meeting has a unique format. Some meetings study Twelve Step literature, some discuss recovery topics, some have story or step speaker meetings, and some focus on open sharing. Sometimes you’ll find several of these formats at one meeting depending on the day of the week. We recommend that you attend several different meetings as you look for a sponsor. If you can’t find someone available as a sponsor at one meeting, try another.
If you would prefer to speak with someone over the phone before deciding to attend a meeting, please call the local contact listed for that particular group. If you aren’t getting a prompt response you can phone the HELP LINE 469-251-0423 any day, any time. If we are unable to answer, simply leave a voicemail with your first name and a phone number where we can reach you later.
“In our experience, though meetings are important, they are not sufficient for recovery from sex addiction. We need the spiritual solution offered by the Twelve Steps. To be sure, meetings are where most of us first encounter the steps, learn about the program, find our sponsors, and share with others our desire for recovery. But if we want to actually experience recovery in our lives, there are no shortcuts. We have to work the steps to experience the fruits of working the steps. The steps are the spiritual solution to our addiction.” (Sex Addicts Anonymous, 3rd Ed, International Service Organization of SAA, Inc., 2012, page 99)
Meeting Types:
Several types of meetings can be found in SAA to meet the needs of the addict who still suffers. Some of these meetings are the following:
Mixed Meetings and Gender specific: Most SAA meetings are mixed meetings, meaning that the meetings are open to all individuals, regardless of gender or orientation, who are interested in recovering from addictive sexual behavior. Some meetings decide to segregate themselves by gender. Because of the nature of this addiction, some members feel more comfortable attending single gender meetings. Our 2nd Tradition allows the individual groups to use its members to decide on the type of meeting. “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
Because of our 4th Tradition, S.A.A respects the decision of its member groups. “Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or S.A.A. as a whole.”
Groups will designate one of these three options – Mixed: any gender; Men: male only; or Women: female only.
Open to Visitors/Those seeking help: Open to Visitors are meetings available to anyone interested in finding out about SAA; those who attend need not have admit to sexual addiction. Those seeking help meetings are available only to those individuals who have a desire to stop their addictive sexual behavior.
“Our prayer is that every sex addict who comes seeking recovery will have the opportunity to find it. And keep coming back.” (Sex Addicts Anonymous, 3rd Ed, International Service Organization of SAA, Inc., 2012, page 98)