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How SCA Operates
The Twelve Traditions influence how our
meetings operate, as well as how SCA operates as a fellowship. Here
is a brief explanation of how each Tradition influences SCA.
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Our common welfare should
come first; personal recovery depends upon SCA unity. As an
organization, SCA tends to move slowly and deliberately, not taking
action unless there is a sense that members are agreed with that action.
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For our group purpose there is but one authority
-- a loving God as may be expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders
are but trusted servants; they do not govern. At every level
of SCA, decisions are made by "group conscience." That is, issues
are discussed thoroughly, and we are typically not satisfied with bare
majority votes to set a policy. We want members to feel ownership
of the fellowship and the decisions that are made. We have no
"gurus," and we deliberately rotate service positions to insure that a
diversity of experiences with recovery are recognized. Everyone
should be given an opportunity to serve in some manner.
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The only
requirement for SCA membership is a desire to stop having compulsive
sex. In general, someone is a member of SCA if they say they
are. If it is clear that someone has no desire to stop having
compulsive sex, however, the group may ask that person to leave.
Such a measure is rarely taken and is considered as carefully and
collectively as are policies decided by group conscience.
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Each group
should be autonomous, except in matters affecting other groups or
SCA as a whole. SCA groups may be formed by two or more
members and are totally self-governing. A group might be asked to
stop calling itself an SCA group if it is clearly violating the
Traditions, but such an action would be considered extreme. In
areas where there are several SCA groups meeting, an Intergroup is
typically formed to assist with the development of the fellowship in
that area and with reaching out to sexually compulsive people who still
suffer. The International Service Organization (ISO) of SCA
consists of representatives from meetings and Intergroups. ISO
carries out some of the same outreach tasks as Intergroups, except on an
international scale. ISO also drafts and approves literature for
distribution to meetings. Click here
to see the bylaws of the SCA International
Service Organization (ISO).
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Each group has but one primary purpose -- to carry
its message to the sexual compulsive who still suffers. SCA
exists to provide a safe place for sexually compulsive people to share
their experience, strength, and hope with recovery from the disease
brought about by their sexually compulsive behavior. Each SCA
group should be focused on recovery from the disease of sexual
compulsion. Groups that focus, even inadvertently, on staying in
the disease, as opposed to recovery, typically do not continue over
time.
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An SCA group ought never
endorse, finance or lend the SCA name to any outside enterprise,
lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary
purpose. SCA remains a safe place because its members agree
that the focus is on telling each other our stories so that we might
recover. Focus on outside entities, such as treatment centers,
religious or self-help movements, or even philosophies of therapy can take us away
from our primary purpose and make meetings unsafe for some people.
SCA deliberately operates at minimal budgetary levels to avoid quarrels
over money at any level.
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Every SCA group ought to be fully
self-supporting, declining outside contributions. SCA takes
money only from its own members. ISO does sell literature, but it
assumes that anyone wishing to purchase SCA literature qualifies for
membership at the time of purchase. There are no dues or fees
required for participation, and each group takes responsibility for
insuring that its expenses are paid promptly and that a prudent reserve
is held so that the group may continue even during difficult times.
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Sexual Compulsives Anonymous should remain
forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special
workers. SCA is operated solely by volunteers, serving on a
rotating basis. This tradition allows SCA to hire paid employees,
if the need were to arise, but at the moment no SCA member receives any
payment, other than reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, for that
member's services to individual meetings, Intergroups, or ISO.
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SCA, as such, ought never be
organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly
responsible to those they serve. As a member-operated
organization, SCA relies on individuals and committees to accomplish its
work. These committees are organized around the completion of one
or more specific projects, such as developing a piece of literature or
operating a conference or retreat for the benefit of members residing in
a certain area. Committees are expected to report their work
regularly to the group (a meeting, Intergroup, or ISO) who appointed
that committee.
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SCA has no
opinion on outside issues; hence the SCA name ought never be drawn
into public controversy. Just as SCA does not endorse outside
entities, so SCA does not take positions on controversial issues, even
if its membership might have expertise necessary to make appropriate
judgments about those issues. SCA avoids controversy to maintain
its meetings as a safe place to recover.
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Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal
anonymity at the level of press, radio, television and films.
Well-known people who are sexually compulsive need a safe place to
recover as much do as little-known people. SCA aims to reach out
to the sexual compulsive who still suffers, but we do not measure our
success by the number of people who attend meetings and work a program
of recovery. Rather, we stay anonymous at a public level, so that
people won't come to SCA or stay away from SCA due to who any of its
members might be. For example, as both perpetrators and victims of
sexually compulsive behavior are welcome at SCA meetings, those meetings
need to provide a place where each member can share honestly with other
recovering people, no matter what might be the story of anyone else in
the room.
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Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our
traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
SCA tries to treat each member equally, and each member is valued
for being at a particular meeting, willing to share in that meeting's
recovery. Anonymity helps to maintain that sense that we are all
merely recovering people who do so by sharing our stories with each
other. There is no competition to see who can recover the
quickest. We each recover one day at a time. As being
anonymous helps us to be honest enough to recover, we jealously guard an
individual's anonymity. If we meet a fellow program member, we do
not acknowledge our common membership in SCA except in private. We
do not disclose to others what is shared at a meeting. Likewise,
the group conscience of meetings typically asks each member not to share
things that might trigger other members, such as specific details
of acting-out experiences, locations of acting-out places, or names of
acting-out partners. Our program is a spiritually-based one, and
sharing about the spiritual process one goes through in recovery is the
desired focus of each SCA meeting. All and all, we try to treat
each other as imperfect creatures, striving for a higher level of
recovery, one day at a time.
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