Meetings

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, or S.L.A.A., is a program for anyone who suffers from an addictive compulsion to engage in or avoid sex, love, or emotional attachment.  We use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous to recover from these compulsions.   The following behaviors have been experienced by members.

• Having few healthy boundaries, we become sexually involved with and/or emotionally attached to people without knowing them.
• Fearing abandonment and loneliness , we stay in and return to painful, destructive relationships….
• We confuse love with neediness, physical and sexual attraction, pity and/or the need to rescue or be rescued.
• We sexualize stress, guilt, loneliness, anger, shame, fear and envy.….
• To avoid feeling vulnerable, we may retreat from all intimate involvement,…Excerpts from the Twelve Characteristics of Sex and Love Addiction ©1985

You may be experiencing one or all of these characteristics, but only you can decide for sure if S.L.A.A. is right for you.   To help you make this decision, it is suggested that you complete the 40 Questions for Self-Diagnosis.  If you answer yes to any combination of these questions and think you may be struggling with sex and love addiction, you are welcome in S.L.A.A.

MEETING IS CLOSED AND OPEN TO ONLY THOSE SEEKING HELP WITH THEIR ADDICTION

As a fellowship of recovering addicts, Sex Addicts Anonymous offers a message of hope to anyone who suffers from sex addiction.

Through long and painful experience, we came to realize that we were powerless over our sexual thoughts and behaviors and that our preoccupation with sex was causing progressively severe adverse consequences for us, our families, and our friends. Despite many failed promises to ourselves and attempts to change, we discovered that we were unable to stop acting out sexually by ourselves.

Many of us came to this realization when we started attending SAA meetings. In that setting we heard stories similar to ours and realized that recovery from our problem was possible. We learned through the SAA Fellowship that we were not hopelessly defective.

The basic principles of recovery practiced by SAA are found in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although we are not affiliated with AA or with any other organization or agency, we are, indeed, grateful for permission to modify and apply the Steps and Traditions to sex addiction, making recovery possible for us.

Although sex addicts may act out sexually in many different ways, there are common elements that seem to characterize our addiction:

Sex addiction, also known as hypersexual disorder, is characterized by persistent and escalating sexual thoughts and acts that have a negative impact on the individual’s life. Sex addicts struggle to control or postpone sexual feelings and actions. Most sex addicts do not know how to achieve genuine intimacy, forming little or no attachment to their sexual partners.
Eventually, the pursuit of sex becomes more important than family, career and even personal health and safety. As sexual preoccupation increases in terms of energy and time, the sex addict follows a routine or ritual leading to acting out on desires, which is then followed by feelings of denial then shame, despair and confusion.

www.sa.org

In defining sobriety, we do not speak for those outside Sexaholics Anonymous. We can only speak for ourselves. Thus, for the married sexaholic, sexual sobriety means having no form of sex with self or with persons other than the spouse. In SA’s sobriety definition, the term “spouse” refers to one’s partner in a marriage between a man and a woman. For the unmarried sexaholic, sexual sobriety means freedom from sex of any kind. And for all of us, single and married alike, sexual sobriety also includes progressive victory over lust (Sexaholics Anonymous, 191-192).

The only requirement for SA membership is a desire to stop lusting and become sexually sober according to the SA sobriety definition.

Any two or more sexaholics gathered together for SA sobriety according to SA sobriety definition may call themselves an SA group

Opiates Anonymous is a twelve step fellowship whose members have a desire to stop using opiates and all other mind altering substances

FAMILIES ANONYMOUS is a 12 Step fellowship for the families and friends who have known a feeling of desperation concerning the destructive behavior of someone very near to them, whether caused by drugs, alcohol, or related behavioral problems. When you come into our rooms you are no longer alone, but among friends who have experienced similar problems.  Any concerned person is encouraged to attend our meetings, even if there is only a suspicion of a problem.

Your identity is protected in our meetings.  We know each other by our first names, only.  Anonymity of our members is paramount to the success of our program.  Not only is anonymity an underlying principle of the program, but it is so important that it is part of our name.

You have nothing to lose but your pain and anger

We are an anonymous Twelve program of women and men who grew up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional homes. We meet with each other in a mutually respectful, safe environment and acknowledge our common experiences. We discover how childhood affected us in the past and influences us in the present. By practicing the Twelve Steps, focusing on The Solution, and accepting a loving Higher Power of our understanding, we find freedom from the past and a way to improve our lives today.

A Twelve-step program for a fellowship of people who have a desire to stop and stay free from using cocaine and all other mind-altering substances. They share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from their addiction.

As a fellowship of recovering addicts, Sex Addicts Anonymous offers a message of hope to anyone who suffers from sex addiction.

Through long and painful experience, we came to realize that we were powerless over our sexual thoughts and behaviors and that our preoccupation with sex was causing progressively severe adverse consequences for us, our families, and our friends. Despite many failed promises to ourselves and attempts to change, we discovered that we were unable to stop acting out sexually by ourselves.

Many of us came to this realization when we started attending SAA meetings. In that setting we heard stories similar to ours and realized that recovery from our problem was possible. We learned through the SAA Fellowship that we were not hopelessly defective.

The basic principles of recovery practiced by SAA are found in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although we are not affiliated with AA or with any other organization or agency, we are, indeed, grateful for permission to modify and apply the Steps and Traditions to sex addiction, making recovery possible for us.

Although sex addicts may act out sexually in many different ways, there are common elements that seem to characterize our addiction: