File Format Category: ONLINE

Use this guide with suggestions of what to say and what not to say when speaking to someone about OA for the first time.

DOs

• I am open to talking about my recovery.
• I mention how much my weight has changed, and I may show my pre-OA photo.
• I am positive and happy when talking about OA.
• I am always willing to give out the New Prospect Card and my phone number.
• I emphasize the peace of mind I have found in life around food.
• I suggest that people come to a meeting and just listen. Nothing is required of them.
• I mention OA to my doctor and other health care professionals.
• I carry the message as part of my action plan.
• I am concise when talking about the OA program, leaving room for curiosity.
• I explain the concept of “just for today.”
• I mention that OA is a nonprofit organization and there are no membership dues or fees.
• I share how OA has helped in all facets of my life.
• I explain some of the program’s Tools.
• I give examples of my unhealthy eating behaviors from before OA (such as eternal dieting, starving, bingeing, constantly weighing myself).
• I say that our program is modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous and that my problem is similar to alcoholism. OA is for people who use food just like alcoholics use alcohol.
• I offer to meet them at their first meeting if at all possible.

DON’Ts

• I don’t tell people that OA is the only way.
• I try not to sound like a preacher or give a speech.
• I don’t judge other people, and I don’t label them as compulsive overeaters.
• I don’t talk about another’s shape or weight, only my own.
• I do not mention specific spiritual or religious beliefs.
• I don’t speak about OA to someone new unless he or she shows an interest.
• I don’t try to “sell” the Twelve Step program or exaggerate about it.
• I don’t promise anything.
• I don’t put down diets or methods of weight loss; I don’t compare OA to other programs.
• I don’t give too much information about meetings and how it all works; the best way to understand is to come to a meeting.
• I don’t give unsolicited advice or suggestions.
• I don’t rush people into making a decision.
• I don’t argue.
• I don’t shut the door. Even if someone is not interested now, he or she may be interested in the future.
• I don’t try to give away what I don’t have.

Why Carry the Message?

“Service is its own reward.” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, p. 142)

“When I give service, I receive more than I could ever give.” (Voices of Recovery, Second Edition, p. 328)

“I don’t have to wait until I am perfect to do service.” (Voices of Recovery, Second Edition, p. 252)

“Service gives me practice at freeing myself from the bondage of self.” (Voices of Recovery, Second Edition, p. 284)

“Only by working with those who are not yet free [from the disease] do I fully realize that freedom.” (For Today, p. 252)

“We now have a message of hope to carry to other compulsive overeaters.” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, p. 81)

“When all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 15)

“Most of us who’ve worked this program will be unable to keep the recovery we have unless we share our experience, strength, and hope with others.” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, p. 82)

“Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 89)

“Those of us who live this program don’t simply carry the message; we are the message.” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, p. 87)

© Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 15, 89 reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Step Twelve

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Tradition Five

Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion, for this I am responsible.

The Twelve Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

The Twelve Traditions

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.
6. An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence, the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Permission to use the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

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OA-Board-approved
© 2015 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 9/23

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

Why is a bylaws or a summary of purpose (SOP) document needed?

Either bylaws or a summary of purpose is required by OA Bylaws, Subpart B to register a service body with Overeaters Anonymous.

What is useful about having bylaws and policies?

At the intergroup, service board, region, and world services levels, there are agreed-upon practices that work best if they are clearly defined and recorded. We have elected officers and committees with ongoing responsibilities to be carried out. We have agreed-upon budgeting and spending practices. Bylaws and documented policies and procedures provide a set of guidelines for how our individual service bodies have agreed to operate. Bylaws and a policies and procedures manual can help new service position holders learn how to carry out their duties as well as inform the membership how the group has agreed to do things, such as define job descriptions, fund delegates, plan events, assist new groups, and more. Bylaws and policies and procedures help us convey a unified and consistent message of recovery and are a way to share our collective experience, strength, and hope.

How do you create bylaws or a SOP?

1. For the sample documents listed below, see the Document Library page on the OA website (oa.org/document-library); click on “Service Body Resources” under the Categories field. You may check with your region trustee about which of the following you need:
   1. Intergroup Bylaws
   2. National Service Board Bylaws
   3. Specific Focus or Language Service Board Bylaws
   4. Summary of Purpose
2. Form a committee of three to four members to develop the document. Enter information into the sample.
3. Add additional sections or items to ensure the document covers what your service body feels is necessary. Avoid including policies or procedures for tasks that may be temporary or change frequently. Such items are more appropriate to include in a policies and procedures manual.
4. Throughout the development process, present sections of the document to the entire service body for group-conscience guidance on how your service body wants to conduct its business.
5. Present the document as a whole to the entire service body for review, final edits, and group-conscience approval.
6. Submit a copy of the completed and signed document to your region trustee for review. An electronic file is preferred.

What is a policies and procedures manual?

Policies and procedures are a set of agreed-upon practices that amplify the information contained in your bylaws. For example, your bylaws may say that you elect officers and committee chairs. Your policies and procedures manual may then cite the basic requirements of each job.

Policies and procedures can be changed more easily and quickly than bylaws.

Policies and procedures explain how a policy or bylaw is to be implemented and practiced. This helps with long-term consistency.

Note that, unlike bylaws, policies and procedures do not need to be submitted to your region trustee or the World Service Office (WSO).

What does the region trustee do with the bylaws you submit?

Your region trustee will review the document to be sure it is not in conflict with OA, Inc. Bylaws, Subpart B prior to the registration of your service body with the WSO. Your trustee may make suggestions in accordance with the Twelve Traditions, the Twelve Concepts of OA Service, or for reasons such as clarity. Your service body is encouraged to seriously consider incorporating the suggestions. If changes are made, follow numbers 5 and 6 above.

After your trustee confirms that your bylaws are in agreement with OA, Inc. Bylaws, Subpart B, your trustee will forward the approved copy to the WSO and your service body. The trustee will also keep a copy of your bylaws on file.

What happens next?

It is good practice for your service body to review your bylaws and policies and procedures manual annually to ensure that any pertinent changes made at the World Service Business Conference (WSBC), as well as possibly changing local needs, are reflected in the documents. An annual review will help ensure that your documents are consistent with your current practices. Your updated bylaws then need to be submitted to your trustee and the WSO.

Introduction

“These Twelve Traditions are to the groups what the Twelve Steps are to the individual. They are suggested principles to ensure the survival and growth of the many groups that compose Overeaters Anonymous.”
—The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous

The Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.
6. An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence, the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Permission to use the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

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Spiritual Principles in the Twelve Traditions

A spiritual principle is associated with each of the Twelve Traditions.

Enjoy these to learn more:

• Service and My Recovery Podcast Series
• Take a Walk Down the Traditions (videos)

For an in-depth study of the Twelve Traditions, read The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition available from our bookstore.

Introduction

“Our way of life, based on these Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, has brought us physical, emotional and spiritual healing that we don’t hesitate to call miraculous. What works for us will work for you too.” —read the full Introduction to the Twelve Steps.

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

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Spiritual Principles in the Twelve Steps

A spiritual principle is associated with each of the Twelve Steps.

Listen to these podcasts to learn more:

• The Importance of Working all 12 Steps
• In All Our Affairs
• How and Why does a 12-Step Program Work for Compulsive Eating

For an in-depth study of the Twelve Steps, read The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition available from our bookstore.

As we work the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program of recovery from compulsive eating, we have a number of Tools to assist us. We use these Tools—a plan of eating, sponsorship, meetings, telephone, writing, literature, action plan, anonymity, and service—on a regular basis, to help us achieve and maintain abstinence and recovery from our disease.

A Plan of Eating

As a Tool, a plan of eating helps us abstain from compulsive eating, guides us in our dietary decisions, and defines what, when, how, where, and why we eat. (See the pamphlet A New Plan of Eating for more information.) This Tool helps us deal with the physical aspects of our disease and achieve physical recovery.

Sponsorship

We ask a sponsor to help us through all three levels of our program of recovery: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Find a sponsor who has what you want and ask that person how they are achieving it.

Meetings

Meetings give us an opportunity to identify our common problem, confirm our common solution, and share the gifts we receive through this Twelve Step program. In addition to face-to-face meetings, OA offers telephone and other types of virtual meetings that are useful in breaking through the deadly isolation caused by distance, illness, or physical challenges.

Telephone

Many members call, text, or email their sponsors and other OA members daily. Telephone or electronic contact also provides an immediate outlet for those hard-to-handle highs and lows we may experience.

Writing

Putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper, or describing a troubling or joyous incident, helps us better understand our actions and reactions in a way that is often not revealed by simply thinking or talking about them.

Literature

We read OA-approved literature, which includes numerous books, study guides, pamphlets, wallet cards, and selected Alcoholics Anonymous texts. All this material provides insight into our disease and the experience, strength, and hope that there is a solution for us.

Action Plan

Creating an action plan is the process of identifying and implementing attainable actions to support our individual abstinence and emotional, spiritual, and physical recovery. This Tool, like our plan of eating, may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted as we progress in our recovery.

Anonymity

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities (Tradition Twelve). Anonymity assures us that only we, as individual OA members, have the right to make our membership known to others. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television, and other public media of communication means that we never allow our faces or last names to be used once we identify ourselves as OA members (Tradition Eleven). Within the Fellowship, anonymity means that whatever we share with another OA member will be respected and kept confidential. What we hear at meetings should remain there.

Service

Any form of service—no matter how small—that helps reach a fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own recovery. Members who are new to OA can give service by attending meetings, sharing, and putting away chairs. All members can also give service by putting out literature, welcoming newcomers, hosting a virtual meeting, or doing whatever is needed to help the group. Members who meet specified requirements can give service beyond the group level by serving at the intergroup, service board, region, or world service level.

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.”

See the full Tools of Recovery pamphlet for more information.

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

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OA Board-approved
©1989 … 2011 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 6/2022.
#512

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

The Spiritual Principles of the OA Program

The Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of OA Service have Principles related to them. They are listed here:

The Principles in the Twelve Steps

(as listed in Step Twelve of The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition)

• Step One: Honesty
• Step Two: Hope
• Step Three: Faith
• Step Four: Courage
• Step Five: Integrity
• Step Six: Willingness
• Step Seven: Humility
• Step Eight: Self-discipline
• Step Nine: Love
• Step Ten: Perseverance
• Step Eleven: Spiritual Awareness
• Step Twelve: Service

The Principles in the Twelve Traditions

(as listed in the The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition)

• Tradition One: Unity
• Tradition Two: Trust
• Tradition Three: Identity
• Tradition Four: Autonomy
• Tradition Five: Purpose
• Tradition Six: Solidarity
• Tradition Seven: Responsibility
• Tradition Eight: Fellowship
• Tradition Nine: Structure
• Tradition Ten: Neutrality
• Tradition Eleven: Anonymity
• Tradition Twelve: Spirituality

The Principles in the Twelve Concepts of OA Service

(as listed in The Twelve Concepts of OA Service)

• Concept One: Unity
• Concept Two: Conscience
• Concept Three: Trust
• Concept Four: Equality
• Concept Five: Consideration
• Concept Six: Responsibility
• Concept Seven: Balance
• Concept Eight: Delegation
• Concept Nine: Ability
• Concept Ten: Clarity
• Concept Eleven: Humility
• Concept Twelve: Guidelines
  • (a) Selflessness
  • (b) Realism
  • (c) Representation
  • (d) Dialogue
  • (e) Compassion
  • (f) Respect

Blessed Beyond Anything

“Having worked the Twelve Steps, what did I learn about the Principles?

Honesty. I learned to look truthfully at ugly things that I am powerless over yet make my life unmanageable.  It takes honest vision to fully understand there is a problem and that I have no way to solve it myself.

Hope. I came to believe I can have a relationship with a Higher Power who can do things for me that I can’t and that I can be restored to sanity.  There is hope that the painful parts of my life can change and that HP has a better plan for me.

Introduction

The Twelve Concepts of OA Service help us apply the Steps and Traditions in our service work, which is an important part of the OA program. The Concepts define and guide the practices of the service structures that conduct the business of OA.

These Concepts depict the chain of delegated responsibility we use to provide service throughout the world. Although they focus on OA world services, the Concepts direct all OA’s trusted servants to well-considered actions for group participation, decision making, voting, and the expression of minority opinions. The Twelve Concepts support our primary purpose of carrying OA’s message of recovery to the still-suffering compulsive eater.

The Twelve Concepts of OA Service

1. The ultimate responsibility and authority for OA world services reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.
2. The OA groups have delegated to World Service Business Conference the active maintenance of our world services; thus, World Service Business Conference is the voice, authority and effective conscience of OA as a whole.
3. The right of decision, based on trust, makes effective leadership possible.
4. The right of participation ensures equality of opportunity for all in the decision-making process.
5. Individuals have the right of appeal and petition in order to ensure that their opinions and personal grievances will be carefully considered.
6. The World Service Business Conference has entrusted the Board of Trustees with the primary responsibility for the administration of Overeaters Anonymous.
7. The Board of Trustees has legal rights and responsibilities accorded to them by OA Bylaws, Subpart A; the rights and responsibilities of the World Service Business Conference are accorded to it by Tradition and by OA Bylaws, Subpart B.
8. The Board of Trustees has delegated to its Executive Committee the responsibility to administer the OA World Service Office.
9. Able, trusted servants, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are indispensable for effective functioning at all service levels.
10. Service responsibility is balanced by carefully defined service authority; therefore, duplication of efforts is avoided.
11. Trustee administration of the World Service Office should always be assisted by the best standing committees, executives, staffs and consultants.
12. The spiritual foundation for OA service ensures that:
    1. No OA committee or service body shall ever become the seat of perilous wealth or power;
    2. Sufficient operating funds, plus an ample reserve, shall be OA’s prudent financial principle;
    3. No OA member shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority;
    4. All important decisions shall be reached by discussion, vote and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity;
    5. No service action shall ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy; and
    6. No OA service committee or service board shall ever perform any acts of government, and each shall always remain democratic in thought and action.

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Spiritual Principles in the Twelve Concepts

A spiritual principle is associated with each of the Twelve Concepts.

For more information about the Twelve Concepts, read the pamphlet The Twelve Concepts of OA Service, available at bookstore.oa.org.