Below is the summary of our November Delegate Meeting. Please feel free to reach out to the delegate liaison (delegateliaison@cosa-recovery.org) if you have any questions. Attendance: Fourteen members were on the call. Eleven delegates and three board members (Emily, Sandy, Beth) were in attendance. Delegate takeaways: Unity Prayer's title changed to I Put my Hand in Yours due to the recently obtained permission to reprint this reading. The proper formatting is now included in the meeting guide. You'll also find it on the COSA website here: http://www.cosa-recovery.org/otherprayers.html. Please use in this new format and with title change to honor the request from Overeaters Anonymous Fellowship feedback is due February 5, 2017, on the revised Welcome and the Step Five draft of the basic text. Links to draft literature and guidelines for feedback are provided here: http://cosa-recovery.org/litindev.html. Delegate comment: Step Five draft may not be consistent with the Welcome and wonder if we can review Step Five or take feedback about how we might improve references that better reflect our Third Tradition. Answer: You are encouraged to give feedback on any concerns you have with the draft literature. Please follow the feedback guidelines and note the specific line number of each phrase you have feedback on. Video Conference Participants at the Annual Delegate Meeting: We hope delegates can attend the Annual Delegate Meeting in person or via Zoom but please be aware of the possible Zoom limitations. Limitations can occur with the volume or video that might impact your full participation. Please reach out to the delegate liaison if you have any questions. Fundraising for Delegate attendance: Discuss with your meeting groups how they might set aside funds to allow your attendance at the May Annual Delegate Meeting and the COSA convention. Some groups start now setting aside funds monthly, while others use different options. Please e-mail Emily at chair@cosa-recovery.org if you have any questions. Registration: Registration will be available in January and involves a two-step process for registering; one for the delegate meeting and one for the COSA convention. Be on the lookout for the registration information coming soon. Mentor Program: If you re a new delegate please consider signing up to be matched with an experienced member to help you through the process and answer any questions you might have. Contact the delegate liaison at delegateliaison@cosa-recovery.org if you are interested in participating as a mentor to new delegates or if you are new!
Board Updates: Meeting Database The Board is working on transferring our meeting database to a more secure space. It was previously stored on the computer of a service person managing the database. That person has left the service position, giving the ISO the opportunity to look closely at methods to better secure and manage this crucial information. Literature Sales were lower in the 2015-2016 service year and we are reaching out to the fellowship to find out what might be standing in the way of ordering. So far, we ve heard that some may be waiting for the basic text. Yet, this is several years out and will have different information than what is currently in our available booklets. We have booklets on a variety of topics, including a complete set on the Twelve Steps which contain questions to help COSAs work the steps, one at a time. The booklets will remain a vital tool, even after the basic text is released. Funding the Literature in Development Coordinator to attend the Delegate meeting Board is discussing how to help the volunteer in this service position attend the Annual Delegate Meeting, as their attendance will be crucial for the next few years as we vote on the coming chapters of the basic text and prepare for upcoming chapters. Fundraising A thermometer was added to our website to track our fundraising progress for the year. We have also discovered that less than a quarter of our 128 face-to-face meetings contributed in 2016 to the International Service Organization of COSA. We are in the process of reaching out to all face-to-face groups to either thank them for their support or check in to discuss ways to help them contribute to the ISO. We will also be reaching out to individuals via e-mail to encourage giving. Separately, a board member is looking into how to set up planned giving. If you are a group that has not been able to support the ISO please reach out to info@cosa-recovery.org to find out ways to accomplish this. Delegate Question: Should some groups consider fundraising opportunities for the ISO? Answer: Yes, we would love that! There are lots of ways to try to put aside funds. You might send around a separate envelope specifically for ISO or groups might decide to send a percentage, even if small, of your weekly, monthly or yearly funds.
Delegate Comment: It was nice to see the Board share what our fundraising goal is and what our expenses are, and repeating this message in several ways. This is important for all groups to be connected and supportive, and to understand how it impacts them. Response: We will be sharing more info in the Balance and e-mails to groups to help get the message out. Delegate Business Item We received a delegate business item on wording of the relationship a COSA might have with a sex addict to qualify for COSA. For clarification purposes, the nature of a relationship a COSA has with a sex addict is immaterial. It does not have to be a spouse, a partner, a child, or a friend. Anyone who has been affected by compulsive sexual behavior is welcome. Another CoSA group The board is working to sort out confusion regarding a group calling itself Colorado CoSA. Someone mistook their group for ours in recent months, which brought this group to our attention. In their case, CoSA stands for Circles of Support and Accountability. We are working to connect with this group to make it clear we are separate from them. It is extra confusing because Colorado CoSA works with sex offenders. Outreach We had a booth at the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) conference this October in Austin, TX. COSA board members talked to attendees (therapists and other professionals) who deal with the effects of compulsive sexual behavior, and who were looking for information on COSA. Convention Committee Registration information will be released soon. We are working on meal pricing for the banquets at the 2017 Convention in Orlando, Florida. Look for registration details in the coming months. Meditations The board agreed to add language to our e-mailed meditations, which are excerpts taken from the Balance, to indicate that these excerpts are personal shares. This was in response to feedback from a fellowship member who expressed concern that mediations may not properly reflect our Tradition Three. We will also add a reference, in our mediations, to specific COSA booklets on topics discussed.
Delegate Question on Meditations: what will be added in these now? Answer: We will just be clarifying that the meditations are personal shares, not conference-approved literature. There will also be links to booklets that relate to the topic being shared. Delegate Suggestion: Improve the SUBJECT line by adding the specific topic versus just saying FREE MEDITATION so the fellowship can go back to it easily. Also add the literature/booklet for sale towards the top of the meditation. ESH from two Delegates (Linda and Kerry) Both shared their perspectives on being a critical link and the challenges they ve faced with what to share and how. Some decide to send info out via e-mail, as well as announcing updates in their meetings. It s a process of repeating information to make sure it sinks in as many groups' members are new and they don t fully understand everything when heard just once. Set aside time to have special business meetings to get input and report information, both prior to and after convention. Sharing board and committee information throughout the year is important as well as getting members input. Our meetings wouldn t exist without our support of the ISO (critical meetings and contact info, booklets, etc. on our website). Some fellowship members may only be familiar with Step work and their own meeting, so reminding our groups of what an Intergroup does, as well as the ISO, is helpful and important. At the convention we are trusted servants and we listen to our meeting group s input and intent, yet when at the Annual Delegate Meeting we may hear additional information that may add value before a final vote. So it's important to discuss the authority needed in order to properly support them (the local group or meeting) at the Annual Delegate Meeting. It s a service role to be a delegate and it's important to find opportunities to share how it helps in your own personal recovery. The progression of recovery may look like this: focusing on your health first, then the health of your meeting, the health of the region, and the health of the ISO as a whole these are all service levels and are important. It s critical to understand that you are the conduit between the ISO and your meeting group for information, services, and support available. When we go to the Annual Delegate Meeting and the convention, it broadens our connections to other COSAs from around the world and allows us to learn about their recovery practices and it may create new support networks. We are expanding our length of reach and knowledge for our groups by sharing critical information (to and from the ISO and sharing about our own needs). It is very important to entrust your delegate to make a informed decision/vote after hearing all the information received both from their home groups as well as from others at the Annual Delegate Meeting.
Comment: Wonderful feedback from our two experienced delegates! Meeting ended with the Serenity Prayer. Next Delegate Meeting topics: Delegate Roles and Responsibilities Delegate Business Items/forms Documents that will be coming up for review Next Meeting: Thursday, January 19, 2017, 6pm Pacific / 7pm Mountain / 8pm Central / 9pm Eastern Join from PC, Mac, Linux, ios, or Android: https://zoom.us/j/619817626 Or iphone one-tap (US Toll): +14086380968,619817626# or +16465588656,619817626# Or Telephone: Dial: +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll) Meeting ID: 619 817 626 International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=srdkvojyrkyfvopvybmovoj8oeh_encn