Meetings

"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 of recovery works in our lives."

— Sex Addicts Anonymous, p. 10

The Fellowship of SAA is made up men and women who meet together, usually in local groups, to share our experience, strength, and hope with each other for the purpose of recovery from obsession with sex and compulsive sexual behavior.

Local meetings provide an environment of acceptance, safety, and encouragement for learning how to apply the Twelve Step Program in our lives. Although each group within SAA is autonomous, meetings typically consist of readings from recovery literature and sharing how the Twelve Steps have led to recovery for us. Meetings also offer opportunities for learning how to reach out and to serve other sex addicts.

The only requirement for membership in SAA is the desire to stop addictive sexual behavior. There are no fees or dues. Local groups are self-supporting from voluntary contributions of their members.

The ISO maintains a comprehensive list of registered SAA group meetings worldwide. Meetings in the United States are listed by state, in Canada by province, and in the rest of the world by country.

Types of Meetings

Many types of meetings have been developed by SAA group members to meet the needs of the addict who still suffers. Some of these meetings are the following:

Men only, Women only or Mixed Meetings: Most SAA meetings are mixed meetings, meaning that the meetings are open to all individuals, regardless of gender, who are interested in recovering from addictive sexual behavior. Some meetings decide to segregate themselves by gender in order to make the meeting a safe place for their attendees to recover from their addictive sexual behavior. Because of the nature of this addiction, some members only feel safe attending single gender meetings. We respect this need.

Closed versus Open Meetings: Closed Meetings are open only to those individuals who have a desire to stop their addictive sexual behavior. Open Meetings are open to anyone interested in finding out about SAA; those who attend need not have admitted that their sexual behavior is a problem.

Telemeeting: A meeting for those in recovery from sexual addiction that is held via a telephone conference call.

Online (Web) Meeting: An online meeting is held in real time over an Internet connection.

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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.