Professional Therapists
Sex Addicts Anonymous® Wants to Work With You
Cooperation with the professional community (CPC) is a goal of SAA®
Welcome Therapists
We strongly believe that SAA® complements professional therapeutic treatment in the ways we will explain below. SAA® and you have a common purpose: to help the sex addict who still suffers. We welcome your comments and suggestions about this web page or any other outreach effort; they help us work more effectively with you.
What is Sex Addicts Anonymous® or SAA®?
SAA® is a Twelve Step program, run by its members, not professionals. The members can form very strong interpersonal bonds because they have the malady of sex addiction in common, and there is deep mutual understanding not always available in clinical, therapeutic settings. This can reduce the level of shame that many sex addicts feel, and allow them to open up and stop hiding, perhaps for the first time. In this environment of love and acceptance, members can accept hard truths and the need for change. Members can truly thrive with the healing that comes from “working the program”.
A successful SAA® program consists of meetings, working the Twelve Steps with a sponsor, literature, phone calls, and other connections between meetings. The focus at meetings is on helping the addict work the Twelve Steps (adapted from AA®) for the purpose of recovery. Meeting formats range from open discussion to step study to recovery planning. For more on this see our page on “Types of Meetings”. Strict anonymity and confidentiality are observed, to encourage honesty and openness in sharing.
The only requirement for membership
is a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior
Meetings are open to anyone who has a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior. There is no other requirement. The fellowship is open to everyone regardless of age, race, religion, ethnic background, marital status, or occupation. Members of any gender identity or sexual orientation are welcomed, whether they are gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, or transgender. No one has to hide or change their sexual orientation or marital status to participate fully in SAA®.
We Are All Equal
We have found that the steps are best worked with the help of a more-experienced member, called a sponsor. We also encourage contact with other members between meetings to stop the isolation that only worsens our condition.
As with other Twelve Step groups, the emphasis is on treating our addiction as a spiritual malady. We incorporate working the steps with meditation and prayer to build the firm spiritual foundation essential for recovery from sexual compulsivity. However, SAA® is not a religious program. We help every member to identify their guiding power which need not be a deity in the traditional sense. The program works as well for atheists as it does for theists. By sharing experience, strength, and hope with one another we grow spiritually, as a Fellowship, so that we may carry the message of recovery to others.
Recovery Literature
Sex Addicts Anonymous®
"Green Book"
The Sex Addicts Anonymous® “Green Book” is the foundational text of our recovery program. It defines the Twelve Steps® and Twelve Traditions® and contains real stories of our members’ journey from addiction to sobriety.
How Can We Connect With You?
We can give you a free subscription to the bimonthly publication, The Outer Circle which contains articles written by members of the fellowship. You can also sign up to receive e-mail or paper mail announcements for things such as open speaker meetings and retreats or workshops for sex addicts. We can also send you pamphlets and other literature to help you introduce us to your clients. Most importantly, we would be glad to set up a time to come and talk to you and your practice about SAA®. Please call or email our CPC Coordinator or our Outreach Coordinator to make arrangements.
We hope that you will find the material contained in this presentation to be useful to your practice.
Additional Information
Contact us if you have specific questions about our program of recovery, any meeting in the Triangle Area, or if you’d like to communicate directly with a volunteer member in recovery.