HOW DO I FIND A SPONSOR

[jennyjenny]

Need to find a sponsor...I'm new to this but not 12 step groups

[Jackie]

Welcome to FAA,

Like other 12-step groups we urge you to go to as many meetings as you can each week. There is a list of phone meetings, online meetings and local F2F (face to face) meetings listed on this website (home page, choose meetings). Reading our literature will help you to gain an understanding of food addiction and that can be purchased on this website. There is a form that can be downloaded and faxed in if you want hard copies mailed to you (or you can just mail the form with payment). Some of our literature is now available in PDF format for immediate download - I did it and it's quick and easy (I put it on my hard drive of my computer for those times when I want quick access for a meeting or to do a bit of that daily reading of 12 step literature - we urge our members to read other 12 -step literature as it's helpful in understanding addiction and I personally love the AA "Big Book" - Alcoholics Anonymous). Like they say in other 12-step groups - get to the meetings, read the literature and find a sponsor and it's true for this 12-step group also. A sponsor can help you to avoid the pitfalls and potholes and they are like a mentor - someone who you can ask questions and they will share their e/s/h (experience/strength/hope) with you. There are many different ways of sponsoring - some like to tell their sponsees exactly what they need to do and they expect these suggestions to be followed to the letter and others have a more gentle approach - they try to find out where their sponsee is on the road and to gently guide them - and all shades of gray in between. And all of the approaches work, it's about finding someone who you feel comfortable with and whose abstinence you admire; and the best way to find a sponsor is to take numbers of those who say things at meetings that you relate to. And when you call them,then ask them a few simple questions as a way to get to know them better - can tell so much from how they answer - from what did they have for breakfast, how did they find their sponsor, are they working the steps, how long have they been in FAA, how long have they been abstinent and do they have any tips on how to get started. FAA doesn't keep lists of available sponsors because things can change in a heartbeat (we're all only one bite away from being back in the disease), and it's best for each person who is sincerely interested in finding a sponsor and working this program of recovery to take that responsibility of talking with members and getting to know them better.