NorCal Winter 2016 Mini-Conference Sponsorship: Step Up To Recovery How to get one, how to be one.

Transcription

1 NorCal Winter 2016 Mini-Conference Sponsorship: Step Up To Recovery How to get one, how to be one. 1 Event Schedule Welcome! We ll begin the conference with breakfast in Adams Hall. CoDA literature will be available during breakfast and lunch. Cash and checks are accepted. People that have a green dot on their name tag are willing share their experience of being a Sponsor. Everyone is welcome at the Nor Cal Business Meeting and at the no-host Fellowship dinner. Time Morning Sessions Room Time Afternoon Sessions Room 7:45 9:00 AM Registration Entrance 1:00 2:20 PM Emotional Sobriety and Giving Up the Ghosts 8:00 9:00 AM Breakfast & Welcome Adams Hall 1:00 2:20 PM Does Your Label Disable 9:00 9:45 Panel Discussion Adams Hall 1:00 2:20 PM Soul Collage Fireside 10:00 11:20 AM Working the Program 2:30 3:50 PM It s Never About the Thing 10:00 11:20 AM Sponsorship Checklist 2:30 3:50 PM Relationships 10:00 11:20 AM Family of Origin Fireside 2:30 3:50 PM 12 Tips for Sponsors Fireside 11:30 12:45 PM Lunch Adams Hall 4:00 PM Closing Adams Hall 11:45 12:45 PM Nor Cal Business Meeting Fireside 4:30 No-Host Fellowship Dinner at Brookfield s Folsom Blvd Panel Discussion Panel Discussion 9:00 9:45 Step Up to Sponsorship Adams Hall We will begin the conference with a panel discussion led by Rich M. A group of Sponsors will be asked questions about their sponsorship style, best practices and any other questions the audience would like to ask. Morning Workshops Working the Program 10:00 11:20 AM What does working the program mean? In CoDA, working the program means working there are actions to take that build momentum towards recovery! The structure and tools of the program are out there awaiting folks to pick them up and begin making changes in their lives! This workshop is for those who seek to better their understanding around the tools of the program- what can be done, beyond attending meetings, to work the 12 Step Program of Codependents Anonymous. How do we begin to change our lifestyle, our beliefs, behaviors, and choice-making capacities? Find out! Bring a pen/writing pad.

2 2 Presenter: Keir J. is Northern California CoDA s Sponsorship Chair and Greater Sacramento Area CoDA Community s Chairperson. He is a sponsee and a sponsor and continues to work an active lifestyle-oriented program of recovery daily. He has given workshops on the 30 Questions Sponsorship Tool, How to Listen to God, Examining the Seeds of Codependency, and Why Healthy Meetings Matter. He has been working the 12 Steps with sponsors and sponsees for over 6 ½ years. Sponsorship Checklist 10:00 11:20 AM Sponsors and sponsees! This workshop has some helpful clues on how to develop a good sponsoring relationship and how to build a goal oriented checklist. We will practice 3 listening techniques and learn why this helps us in the rest of our lives! There is a reason why our literature says when we help each other we help ourselves too. It is important to explore many different ways to communicate in our 12 step practice. Not all tools work for everyone. This workshop will help you understand what tools are and how they work. Sponsorship is an amazing part of our practice to healthy lives. This workshop is designed to gather more ideas for yourself in your practice as a sponsor or a sponsee. Presenter: Rev. Amy G is an ordained interfaith minister in good standing with the Chaplaincy Institute of Berkeley and the Interfaith congregation of the Healing arts Institute. Rev. Amy G also enjoys 15 years within the recovery families of addiction and codependency using tools such as 12 step programs and community groups as well as spiritual awareness and growth. Family of Origin 10:00 11:20 AM Fireside Family of Origin is what shapes our lives and how we interact with the people around us. Depending on what type of family we were raised in our views can be skewed. When we come from alcoholic or dysfunctional we can follow in those patterns. When we come into CoDA and use the steps and the tools we can break that cycle of dysfunction and have healthy relationships. Presenter: Ann Y. I came into Coda in 2007 because I was not as happy as I wanted to be. Something was missing in my relationships. A friend had mentioned that a mutual friend was starting a CODA group and was I interested. I said not really but I would see what it was about. As soon as they read the patterns I knew it was for me and has been involved ever since. My life and relationships have changed dramatically. I have good solid relationships with my friends and family I have great relationship with my co-workers. Afternoon Workshops Emotional Sobriety and Giving Up the Ghosts 1:00 2:20 Emotional Sobriety is the ability to tolerate thoughts and feelings without the need to avoid them. Freedom is born from one s capacity to pause and reflect between stimulus and response; then take appropriate action. Giving up the Ghost is an invitation to let go of the codependent patterns, traits and survival tools developed while growing up in a dysfunctional family. This workshop provides insights and solutions on how the power of personal choice can break the dysfunctional family rules and provide guidelines to living life on life s terms with balance and grace. Presenter: Jim Y. Hope for a new day and life began when Jim joined CoDA in While in the process of the discovery and recovery of the missing pieces of his authentic self, Jim successfully transformed his life of living in fear and attachment to one filled with faith and acceptance by carrying the message and practicing the principles in all his affairs. He believes that everyone can benefit by lending or taking a helping hand in today s rapidly changing world ~ especially to those who suffer and are lost.

3 3 Does Your Label Disable? 1:00 2:20 We will discuss how we stay stuck in our spiritual dilemma when we have not developed our own clear identities or boundaries, and unconsciously intertwine our wholeness and self-worth with other people, places or conditions. In codependency, we establish a "label" as a survival skill to navigate life in an unhealthy way. We will look at where our belief system might be keeping us stuck in "label paralysis" and how we can restore balance and well-being to fully live our life. Presenter: Kathleen C. I became involved with Coda in San Francisco in 1994, and felt like a whole new language and insight was being presented to me. I moved to Lake Tahoe in 1997, where there was no Coda fellowship in the area, so I stayed connected through workbook groups, mini-conferences, workshops and my Coda friends. Then we started a fellowship in the Sierras, and I deepened my recovery with regular meetings, step work, sponsorship, service, local fellowship outings and workshops. I have found the promises continue to come true in my life and I stay active in the program and service to keep this feeling of well-being and freedom. Soul Collage 1:00 2:20 PM Fireside The soul collage is an amazing tool for yourself or to use with a sponsor. The workshop explains how to use this as a 9 th step action. Self amends can be. Wry validating and inspiring. Working with a simple healing art project can be empowering and enlightening. No artistic skills needed. I will walk you through the process quickly and easily and then you can re- create more soul collages on your own! Presenter: Rev. Amy G is an ordained interfaith minister in good standing with the Chaplaincy Institute of Berkeley and the Interfaith congregation of the Healing arts Institute. Rev. Amy G also enjoys 15 years within the recovery families of addiction and codependency using tools such as 12 step programs and community groups as well as spiritual awareness and growth. It s never about The Thing 2:30 3:50 This workshop will provide a sponsors' guide in listening for the exact nature of a problem. It's easy to be swayed by an emotional presentation of a problem (The Thing), especially when it reminds you of a similar scenario you have faced in the past. This workshop will provide you with tools to put outside influences aside, and get to the actual heart of the matter; the Exact Nature of a problem Presenter: Karen D. is a Texas native who now lives at Lake Tahoe. Active in other 12 Steps programs, she came to CoDA by the invitation of a friend, and is now an avid fan of the program. As she would say it: I am a sponsor, and I have a sponsor who knows she's my sponsor; I have service commitments at the group and Intergroup level, and I try to be a good example of recovery every day. Relationships 2:30 3:50 After opening with simple physical exercises for body-mind-spirit harmony, we will look at CoDA recovery tools that aid in self-evaluation and transformation for newcomers as well as those who have been in CoDA for a while. Participants review the Recovery Patterns of Codependence from CoDA, which focuses on the healthy behaviors that nurture the roots of recovery in healthy relationships with ourselves and others. We will share our experiences of strength and hope on how to cultivate healthy connections. Connect with a Higher Power of one's own understanding during the closing meditation period.

4 Presenter: Kathryn T. (Santa Cruz) began living the CoDA program of recovery by attending CoDA meetings in the summer off 1987 in Santa Cruz, CA, and once in Delhi, India in After first entering these rooms in 1983 for twelve step programs, recovery and discovery, she has participated in five writing workshops based on three recovery texts since The immediate past Chair of the Regional Committee of Northern California Co-Dependents Anonymous, Kathryn continues to actively work the Twelve Steps of CoDA by setting healthy boundaries, attending weekly CoDA meetings, reading literature, designing and facilitating new conference keynotes & joyshops, sponsoring and being a sponsee Tips for Sponsors - 2:30 3:50 Fireside In this workshop we will discuss how being a sponsor allows us to practice our own recovery as we carry the message of CoDA to others. Presenter Leslie C. Leslie has been working on her recovery for several years. Service and sponsorship have been a key part of her recovery for more than a decade and add immeasurably to her happiness. In addition to sponsoring others, she is currently serving as the chair of Northern California CoDA. My Notes:

5 5 Thank you! We Welcome Your Feedback Thank you to the conference committee, the presenters, and all the wonderful volunteers who helped make this event possible! For more information including meeting schedules, please visit Feedback - Let us know what you think (workshops, food, presenters, venue, etc.)