IDEA Workshop (International Day Experiencing Abstinence)

Opening (10 minutes)

• Serenity Prayer
• Readings: Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Abstinence and Recovery Definitions
• Welcome
  • Those returning to the rooms after an absence or in relapse and suffering in the rooms
  • Those struggling and worried about relapse or in recovery and here to share experience, strength, and hope
  • Read highlights from the Welcome Back: Suggestions for Members in Relapse and for Those Who Care pamphlet
• Logistics
  • silence cell phones
  • restrooms locations
  • breakout rooms
  • agenda
  • handouts

Leader: “There are many ways people work the program and stay in recovery, so we will start with three speakers who are recovering in OA after relapse.”

Speakers (45 minutes, 15 minutes each)

Introduce speakers who will speak about relapse and recovery.

• Speaker One
• Speaker Two
• Speaker Three

Seventh Tradition

Break/Break into Groups (15 minutes)

• Exercise 1
  • Food Plan: Identify A, B, C foods and what to do about them. (25 minutes)
• Exercise 2
  • Tools: What are the nine Tools, and which ones can you use right away? (25 minutes)
• Exercise 3
  • Steps One Through Three: What does each Step mean, and how can you apply them? (25 minutes)

Positive Sharing / Sponsor Introduction / Closing (15 minutes)

Leader: “Please join us in reciting the Serenity Prayer.”

There will be three facilitators in each small group; each one facilitates their topic for about twenty-five minutes. Then the workshop coordinator will announce a switch to the next topic (and next facilitator). You are encouraged to bring a photo.

Please help ensure that the environment in the group is welcoming, is filled with hope and empathy, has an atmosphere of meeting people where they are, and supports carrying the message in a gentle way with no judgment and no shame.

Here are guidelines for timing on your twenty-five-minute exercises.

Food Plan Exercise (about 25 minutes)

• Tell your story of relapse and recovery and talk about your food plan. (1 to 3 minutes)
• “Identifying Your Trigger Foods” worksheet: The group discusses what A foods are, and each person writes their own A foods. Next, discuss C foods, and have each person write down their own C foods. Last, discuss B foods and have each person write down their own B foods. (15 minutes)
• Facilitator talks about building a food plan knowing your ABCs. If time allows, discuss eating behaviors. (2 minutes)
• Individuals share what they are willing to abstain from. (3 minutes)
• Individuals write what they shared about on their Action Pocket Card.

Tools Exercise (about 25 minutes)

• Tell your story of relapse and recovery and talk about how the Tools help your recovery. (2 to 3 minutes)
• “How Will I Use the Tools?” worksheet: Review the nine Tools and share briefly how you use them. (10 minutes)
• Individuals share about Tools that have helped them and/or ask questions related to the Tools. (10 minutes)
• Individuals write on their Action Pocket Card which one to two Tools they will start using immediately.

Steps One Through Three Exercise (about 25 minutes)

• Tell your story of relapse and recovery and how Steps One, Two, and Three have helped your recovery. (1 to 3 minutes)
• Steps One through Three Worksheet: Review Steps One, Two, and Three and share briefly on them. (5 minutes)
• Facilitator picks one question from each Step for the group to discuss and/or write and share about if there is time. (20 minutes)
• Individuals write on their Action Pocket Card what they will do to apply Steps One, Two, and Three in their lives.
• Facilitator can use the remaining time for questions, making sure individuals have their cards.
• Optional: Individuals can buddy up with someone and sign the Recovery Insurance Policy, which can be found on oa.org in the Document Library.

(front)

MY ACTION PLAN — Just for today, I will… Apply Steps One, Two, and Three today by: Call:

(Back)

MY ACTION PLAN — Just for today, I will… Abstain from the first bite of these columns A (red-light) foods: Use these one or two Tools to help me:

Column A	Column B	Column C
“Alcoholic” foods (red-light foods) Foods that trigger you	“In Between” foods (yellow-light foods) Food that are sometimes problematic	“Clean” foods (green-light foods) Foods that generally aren’t a problem
These are foods you never have just one of; foods that you turn to (consciously or unconsciously) when your feelings are particularly pleasant or unpleasant.	These foods may or may not call to you; you might overeat them in certain settings, but they don’t seem to trigger cravings or the obsession to binge.	You can take or leave these foods; they are clearly not comfort foods and – more often than not – you don’t overeat them.

Steps One, Two, and Three: Some Questions to Consider

Step One: “We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

1. What am I powerless over?
2. What are the consequences of my disease—the ways my life becomes unmanageable?
3. What is the history of my destructive eating?
4. what have I done to attempt to control my eating and/or weight?
5. Which goods and eating behaviors have caused me problems?

Step Two: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”

1. In looking at my life, how have I acted in insane and/or irrational ways while eating?
2. What miracles have I seen or heard about in my OA groups?
3. What miracles or improvements do I see in myself when I’m abstinent?
4. What are some Powers greater than me?
5. How can I define a “Higher Power”?

Step Three: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

1. In what ways am I willing to adopt a whole new attitude about weight, body image, and eating?
2. How do I feel about completely turning my life over to a Higher Power for guidance?
3. How can I turn my will and my life over to a Higher Power and to the ideas I hear about in OA?
4. Why do I need to follow this new path?
5. How can I truly work Step Three?

Tool	What is it?	What Will I Do?
Plan of eating	A plan of eating defines “what, when, how, where, and why we eat” and helps us abstain from compulsive eating.
Sponsorship	Find someone who has what you want (physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually) and ask that person how they are achieving it.
Meetings	Meetings give us an opportunity to hear others with our problem and to hear about our common solution through the Twelve Steps. When you can’t get to a face-to-face meeting, try phone meetings, online, and/or non-real-time meetings. (See oa.org/find-a-meeting.)
Telephone	We can get help by staying in touch with others between meetings. We can call, text, and email for help when we’re feeling restless, having a hard time, or just need to connect.
Writing	Writing about our thoughts and feelings is very helpful, and can make it easier see what’s going on with our feelings, actions, and reactions.
Literature	We read the OA Twelve and Twelve (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, 2nd ed.), the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.), For Today, Voices of Recovery, the AA Twelve and Twelve, and other OA- approved books and pamphlets. Reading literature frequently can help us become abstinent and learn how to apply the Twelve Steps in both hard times and good times. (See bookstore.oa.org.)
Action plan	An action plan can be a list of things to do that will help us get and stay abstinent. Just like our plan of eating, it may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted to bring structure, balance, and manageability into our lives.
Anonymity	I can feel safe in OA, because I know that what I say in the meetings or to another OA member won’t be repeated. Anonymity means I won’t tell anyone that you’re in OA, but I can tell anyone I want to that I’m in OA.
Service	Doing service helps me. Even small acts like putting away the chairs after a meeting or talking to a newcomer help me feel more connected in OA. As OA’s responsibility pledge states: “Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this, I am responsible.”

NARRATOR: A large person walks onto the plane.

HUSBAND: Oh, no. I know I shouldn’t be like this, but I hope she doesn’t sit near me. (Bertha sits down next to husband.)

HUSBAND: (whispers) She’s going to take half my seat. I get claustrophobic.

WIFE: (leans slightly over husband to talk with Bertha) Hi. Are you staying in Albuquerque?

NARRATOR: Wife is wondering if maybe Bertha’s going to the World Service Business Conference too.

BERTHA: I’m flying to Albuquerque, but just for one night. I’m visiting a friend and then heading to Santa Fe. Are you staying in Albuquerque?

WIFE: Yes. I’m going to the Overeaters Anonymous World Service Business Conference.

BERTHA: Oh, I tried OA years ago, but it wasn’t for me.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Would you care for a drink or a snack?

BERTHA: I’d like a soda and … how much are the cookies?

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: They’re $3.50 each.

BERTHA: I’ll have three please. (Turns to the wife) I usually don’t eat these, but I missed lunch.

WIFE: I used to do that too. I’d order the biggest thing of sweets and eat that instead of my lunch. I would try to exercise it off but never could exercise it all off.

BERTHA: I know what you mean.

WIFE: I found that for many things, I couldn’t eat just one. One was too many and a thousand not enough. I finally came to OA and was told that if I believed in a Higher Power I could get better. I had tried everything else, so why not?

HUSBAND: Yeah, she came home one night and said they told her that if she believed in a Higher Power, she would get better. I got tired of all of her diets, going to the gym, biking, running. Really, I was tired of her being so distracted and sad. I couldn’t figure out why she kept gaining weight. She only ate carrots, salad, and protein.

WIFE: (chuckles) That’s because you never saw what I ate when you weren’t home. I ate healthily around you.

BERTHA: I don’t know how God could help me. Why should God bother with my weight problem when there are bigger problems to deal with?

WIFE: I don’t know how it works, but I know that when I started each morning by asking my Higher Power to help me stay abstinent, I was able to stay abstinent. I had met a lady at the gym who was in OA. She told me I only have to give up my binge foods today. Just for today, I wouldn’t eat them. I decided to try—I had tried everything else.

BERTHA: I don’t know if I believe in God anyway.

WIFE: You can choose your own Higher Power. It could be the people in OA who have become abstinent, the Force, a sequoia tree—anything bigger than yourself.

BERTHA: I live so far away from the city. I doubt if there are any meetings near me.

WIFE: The cool thing is that there are all kinds of virtual meetings—phone meetings, online meetings—even Facebook pages.

BERTHA: I think I will try OA again once I get back from vacation.

WIFE: Here is my phone number. Can I have yours?

BERTHA: Sure. My number is 555-555-5555. I’ll call you when I’m back

WIFE: That would be great. When do you return? If I don’t hear from you, I’ll give you a call. Have a great vacation. It was wonderful talking with you.

BERTHA: I’m really glad we met. I think I’m ready to try again.

Download the PDF in English