Meetings

“Our fellowship is open to women and men, regardless of age, race, religion, ethnic background, marital status, or occupation. We welcome members of any sexual identity or orientation, whether they are gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, or transgender.”

— Sex Addicts Anonymous, p. 1-2

An SAA group consists of two or more individuals who, using the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of SAA, meet regularly for the purpose of recovering from their addictive sexual behavior. At our meetings we read SAA literature and share our experience, strength and hope with each other, focusing on how the SAA program works in our lives.

In meetings we learn how to live in the solution. Meetings keep our focus on recovery and on the importance of maintaining abstinence. Especially in the beginning of recovery, they give us a sober place to go rather than engage in addictive behavior. We suggest you attend a number of different meetings before deciding whether SAA is for you. Attending a variety is helpful, as each has its own format and atmosphere. Meetings are the heart of the fellowship.

Live Meetings

Many cities have women-only meetings and some women are comfortable attending women-only meetings. Most cities and towns have mixed meetings and many of us have gotten sober in these meetings as well. No one type of meeting works for all women. This is a personal decision. Click the Meetings tab to find a list of meetings in your area.

Telemeetings

Every day of the week, women can attend women-only meetings on a teleconference. There are also mixed teleconference meetings available. Many of us stay sober using this format. Others of us use both live and telemeetings.

SAA meetings are run by members

There are no professional or outside facilitators. We meet as equals, sex addicts helping one another to achieve sexual sobriety and to practice a new way of life. Because of the sensitive nature of sexual addiction, many of our groups are "closed", meaning that only those with a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior may attend. Anyone else interested in finding out more about SAA may attend "open" meetings.

Seventh Tradition

Annual Appeal

2011 Annual Appeal to members

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Contact Us

Phone

USA / Canada:
1-800-477-8191
elsewhere:
+1-713-869-4902

Postal mail

ISO of SAA
PO Box 70949
Houston, TX 77270 USA

Email

info@saa-recovery.org

Confidentiality Statement “Be advised that under Texas State law, disclosures of abuse or neglect of minors must be reported to the authorities. SAA staff can provide more information on reporting and disclosure issues.”

The 12 Steps

  1. We admitted we were powerless over addictive sexual behavior - that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other sex addicts and to practice these principles in our lives.

The 12 Traditions

  1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon S.A.A. unity.
  2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
  3. The only requirement for S.A.A. membership is a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior.
  4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or S.A.A. as a whole.
  5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the sex addict who still suffers.
  6. An S.A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the S.A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
  7. Every S.A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
  8. Sex Addicts Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
  9. S.A.A., as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
  10. Sex Addicts Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the S.A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
  11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, and films.
  12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.