Our OA Responsibility Pledge states:

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

Where are the people who were at your first meeting? How many of them are still coming to OA? There are many things that each of us and our groups can do to keep people coming back.  In an effort to extend the hand and heart to those who share our compulsion, we offer the following suggestions for membership retention. 

Overall

  • Inclusivity is essential.
  • Warmly welcome newcomers.
  • Reach out to struggling members.
  • Focus primarily on the OA message.
  • Remember that service binds us together.

Ideas, Actions, and Resources for Individuals

  • Study The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, which strengthens our recovery and keeps us in the solution. 
  • Focus on the miracle of physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery. 
  • When sharing your experience, strength, and hope, share about your progress in working the Twelve Steps.
  • Let go of judgment about another person’s recovery or relapse.
  • Let go of expectations for yourself and others.
  • Be open to change and new ideas.
  • Speak your truth at every level.
  • Be an example of recovery. This is a program of attraction, not promotion.
  • Encourage people in their recovery and support those who do not “get it” right away.
  • Emphasize abstinence from the beginning, making sure that members know that it is NOT okay to binge. 
  • Remember that our common solution is found in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of OA, which help us deal with life. 
  • Welcome all who attend meetings, being careful not to form cliques. Put principles before personalities.
  • Stick to the message of OA, leaving outside issues at the door.
  • Honor everyone’s anonymity, which is the spiritual foundation of our program.
  • Welcome newcomers to your meetings. Warmly welcome returning members back.
  • Reach out to help a group member in trouble. Remember, relapse is not contagious, but recovery is!
  • Work together to reach common goals.
  • Encourage sponsorship:
    • Stick to the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
    • Use the OA Tools of Recovery and OA-approved literature when sponsoring.
    • Share that sponsoring and doing service are rewarding, exciting, and beneficial to your strength and hope.
    • Attend or hold sponsorship workshops to encourage members to not be afraid to sponsor.
  • When working with a newcomer or as a temporary sponsor, use the OA pamphlet Where Do I Start? Everything a Newcomer Needs to Know found in the OA bookstore and the sponsorship guide Temporary Sponsors: Newcomers’ First Twelve Days found on oa.org.
  • Make outreach calls to people you do not normally call. Reach out with love.
  • When newcomers are present, avoid using too much OA jargon, and/or explain the terms, phrases, and references you make to ensure inclusivity.
  • Participate in Twelfth Step Within Day on December 12th by reaching out to someone you have not heard from in a while. Do this every month on the 12th.
  • Avoid overloading yourself with service work; strive for balance. 
  • Work with a struggling sponsee or member using OA resources Been Slipping and Sliding? A Reading and Writing Tool and From Slip or Relapse to Recovery, both found in the OA Document Library.
  • Use Carrying the Message, found in the Document Library on oa.org, as a guide to what to say and not say when talking to someone about OA for the first time. 
  • Keep in mind that staying abstinent is the best service you can do. Discuss the Strong Abstinence Checklist and Writing Exercise, found in the Document Library on oa.org, with your sponsee.

Ideas, Actions, and Resources for Meetings

  • Remember that what is said at your meetings, stays in your meetings.
  • Remind members not to engage in cross talk during meetings.
  • Have volunteers call newcomers to answer any questions they may have. 
  • Make meetings and special events fun!
  • Have volunteers phone, email, or text members who have not been at the meeting for a while. Build a network of support.
  • Use OA-approved literature only. Using outside literature implies OA endorsement.
  • Have a good supply of OA-approved literature at in-person meetings.
  • Hold newcomer meetings.
  • Hold regular group conscience meetings.
  • Start and end group meetings on time.
  • Meet on holidays. Our disease never takes a holiday!
  • Provide service opportunities that have no abstinence requirements at the group level so that everyone can benefit from giving service.
  • Rotate service, rather than allowing one person to continually lead or run the meeting.
  • Limit sharing time so that all have an opportunity to share. Encourage additional sharing outside the meeting. Problems can be shared one-on-one outside the meeting.
  • Social gatherings are welcome before or after the meeting, but during the meeting, focus on the OA program of recovery.
  • Ask people to give service.
  • In OA, “the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.” There are no special requirements for members to be able to share.
  • Keep it simple. People are more important than rules.
  • Celebrate success as often as possible. Coins and medallions are available in the OA bookstore.
  • Create a phone chain, whereby the group leader or secretary calls one or two members, who then call one or two other members, and so on, to share information and support during holidays, inclement weather, or at other times. 
  • List local meetings in large and small local newspapers.
  • Encourage members to post information cards about meetings in grocery stores, libraries, and other public places. (Be sure to get permission where warranted.)
  • Send strong speakers to meetings in areas where attendance is declining or there is a lack of abstinence.
  • Have your service body sponsor a Service, Traditions, and Concepts Workshop, found in the Document Library on oa.org.
  • Encourage your service body to regularly post online and/or distribute a newsletter to keep all groups informed about area events.
  • Online meetings may post a link to Where Do I Start? Everything a Newcomer Needs to Know, available on oa.org and in our OA bookstore.
  • Support returning members by having copies of the pamphlet Welcome Back: Suggestions for Members in Relapse and Those Who Care, available in the OA bookstore, on hand.
  • Participate in group inventories using the OA Group Inventory and Strong Meeting Checklist, both available on oa.org.
  • Start and support recovery-from-relapse meetings using the Suggested Recovery-from-Relapse Meeting Formatat oa.org.
  • Encourage and support OA Step-study meetings using the Suggested Step-Study Meeting Format at oa.org.
  • During a group conscience meeting or as a topic for a discussion meeting, review OA’s Unity with Diversity Checklist found at oa.org.
  • Podcasts and recordings on different OA topics can be found on the oa.org Podcasts and Videos page.
  • Encourage diversity in OA by promoting specific focus meetings, which can be found on oa.org’s Find a Meeting page. Once on Find a Meeting, click “Additional search options,” then “Specific focus” to find specific focus meetings.

Most of all, do it with love and
KEEP COMING BACK, NO MATTER WHAT!

These suggestions are not intended to be all-inclusive. We can take many other positive actions to encourage members to keep coming back. Share what works and what doesn’t work with your fellow OA members around the world through OA newsletters and blogs at intergroup, region, and world service levels. 

OA is a Fellowship in which thousands of compulsive overeaters find and share recovery. It is a program of attraction and a positive way of living. Together we can recover and together it works when we all keep coming back!

OA Board-approved
©1995, 2001, 2015, 2019 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All Rights reserved. Rev. 12/2025.

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