Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide Overeaters Anonymous Table of Contents

186 Pages·2016·3.35 MB·English

Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide
1
Overeaters Anonymous
2
Table of Contents
3
4 Reader’s Guide-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Information for Leaders ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Sample Flyer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 Introductory Session ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 Readiness Assessment Questions ----------------------------------------------------------------
10 Introductory Session Homework and
11 Reading for Next Session (Step One) ------------------------------------------------------------
12 Participant Responsibilities -----------------------------------------------------------------------
13 Strong Abstinence Checklist and Writing Exercise -------------------------------------------
14 Closing-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 Suggested Openings and Closings for All Sessions --------------------------------------------
16 Step One Session ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Participant Contact Information ------------------------------------------------------------------
18 Step One Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Two) -----------------
19 Step Two Session ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Step Two Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Three) ---------------
21 Step Three Session -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22 Step Three Session Homework for and Reading for Next Session
23 (Step Four: Session One of Three) ----------------------------------------------------------------
24 Step Four: Session One of Three -------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 General Inventory Guidelines ---------------------------------------------------------------------
26 Resentments Worksheet Guidelines -------------------------------------------------------------
27 Resentments Worksheet Examples --------------------------------------------------------------
28 Resentments Worksheet ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
29 Step Four Glossary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30 Strengths Worksheet Guidelines -----------------------------------------------------------------
31 Strengths Worksheet Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------
32 Strengths Worksheets -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
33 Step Four: Session One of Three Homework ---------------------------------------------------
34 Step Four: Session Two of Three -------------------------------------------------------------------------
35 Fears Worksheet Guidelines ----------------------------------------------------------------------
36 Fears Worksheet Examples -----------------------------------------------------------------------
37 Fears Worksheet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
38 Sex Conduct Worksheet Guidelines --------------------------------------------------------------
39 Sex Conduct Worksheet Examples ---------------------------------------------------------------
40 Sex Conduct Worksheet ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
41 Harms (Guilt and Remorse) Worksheet Guidelines ------------------------------------------
42 Harms (Guilt and Remorse) Worksheet Examples -------------------------------------------
43 Harms (Guilt and Remorse) Worksheet ---------------------------------------------------------
44 Step Four: Session Two of Three Homework ---------------------------------------------------
45 Step Four: Session Three of Three -----------------------------------------------------------------------
46 Other Problem Areas Worksheet Guidelines --------------------------------------------------
47 Other Problem Areas Worksheet Examples ----------------------------------------------------
48 Other Problem Areas Worksheets ----------------------------------------------------------------
49 Old Beliefs Worksheet Guidelines ----------------------------------------------------------------
50 Old Beliefs Worksheet Examples -----------------------------------------------------------------
51 Old Beliefs Worksheets -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
52 Step Four: Session Three of Three Homework and
53 Reading for Next Session (Step Five) ------------------------------------------------------------
54 Step Five Session ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
55 Step Five Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Six) -------------------
56 Step Six Session ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
57 Step Six Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Seven) -----------------
58 Step Seven Session --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
59 Step Seven Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Eight) --------------
60 Step Eight Session ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
61 Step Eight Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Nine) ---------------
62 Step Nine Session ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
63 Step Nine Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Ten) -----------------
64 Step Ten Session -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
65 Step Ten Spot-check Worksheet Examples -----------------------------------------------------
66 Step Ten Spot-check Worksheet ------------------------------------------------------------------
67 Summary of Inventory Worksheet Headings Resentments and Fears --------------------
68 Summary of Inventory Worksheet Headings Sex Conduct and Harms --------------------
69 Step Ten Daily Review ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
70 Self-Will / HP’s or God’s Will ----------------------------------------------------------------------
71 Step Ten Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Eleven) --------------
72 Step Eleven Session -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
73 Step Eleven Session Homework and Reading for Next Session (Step Twelve) ----------
74 Step Twelve Session ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
75 Step Twelve Session Assignments ----------------------------------------------------------------
76 Step Twelve Session Actions: Next Steps --------------------------------------------------------
77
78
79
Reader’s Guide
80
81 This book was developed as a workshop leader’s guide but has other uses,
82 sponsor/sponsee–discussion for example. To make it user-friendly for the widest range of
83 readers, text that is repeated from session to session is set in gray-shaded boxes.
84 Homework for the Introductory and Step One Sessions is handed out at the first session.
85 Thereafter, homework for each Step is handed out at the previous session in order to be
86 completed before that Step is discussed face-to-face. This homework is primarily reading
87 and journaling. Further work is done during the session.
Introduction
88
89 In Overeaters Anonymous, the Statement on Abstinence and Recovery is:
90 Abstinence is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food
91 behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight. Spiritual,
92 emotional, and physical recovery is the result of living the Overeaters Anonymous
93 Twelve-Step program.1
94 Recovering members of OA are abstinent. They may follow many different plans of eating,
95 have widely divergent ideas about a Higher Power, and represent a spectrum of life and
96 compulsive eating histories.
97 What we have in common is deep gratitude to the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous
98 for saving our lives and to Alcoholics Anonymous as the originator of these Steps. We work
99 these Steps daily, along with the other aspects of the OA program. With bodies at or
100 approaching a healthy weight and sometimes experiencing significant improvements in our
101 health, we are no longer tortured by obsession with food. We describe our lives now as
102 filled with joy, purpose, clarity, peace of mind, positive relationships, and strength to face
103 life’s challenges, without using food as a drug.
104 We tell newcomers or struggling OA members who ask how we did it: “Put down the fork
105 and work the Steps.”
106 How do struggling members find abstinence when they have tried everything they know
107 time and again without success? How do abstaining sponsors help more people when they
108 already have multiple sponsees and no more hours in the day?
109 As a path to recovery, this guide provides fifteen scripted sessions to take participants
110 through an accelerated, intensive Twelve Step workshop. Completing the Twelve Steps
111 does not have to take a year or more. The book Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book,
112 describes early members taking many of the Steps—however imperfectly—in the first few
113 days of their recovery, although this guide suggests a slightly longer process. This
114 workshop blends some of the original methods described in the Big Book with ideas

1 Adopted at the World Service Business Conference in 1988; amended in 2002, 2009, and 2011.
115 described in our OA literature. Whichever path we take, we learn to trust a Higher Power,
116 clear away the wreckage of the past, and help others in order to enjoy lifelong abstinence,
117 one day at a time.
118 Only the first half of Step One has anything to do with food and compulsive eating. The rest
119 of the Steps all deal with living. Some members have the mistaken belief that if they can
120 follow a plan of eating for a short time and get their weight “under control” life will be
121 great. We have a better solution: Work the Steps. The Big Book promises that if we
122 surrender control to a Power greater than ourselves, “We will intuitively know how to
123 handle situations which used to baffle us” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 84). However,
124 that promise appears after Step Nine. Abstaining OA members, who have incorporated the
125 Twelve Steps into their way of living, work the Steps daily. The Steps help us stay abstinent
126 by identifying the causes of our compulsion and by learning healthy behaviors. How can we
127 learn to use these Steps in order to be abstinent and to have a life that is happy, joyous, and
128 free?
129 The Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide provides detailed directions on how to organize
130 and run a fifteen session workshop leading OA members through all Twelve Steps.
131 Although the structure of this guide describes holding weekly two-hour sessions, the
132 workshop could be configured in another way—as long as each session’s entire contents
133 stay intact, the workshop moves along at a rapid pace, and participants have adequate time
134 to do their homework between sessions. Regardless of the duration, this workshop is
135 designed to be closed to new participants after the Introductory Session; each session
136 builds on the previous ones, and consistent membership fosters the trusting and
137 supportive atmosphere conducive to in-depth Step work. Because it is closed, this
138 workshop cannot be registered with OA World Service as an OA meeting.
139 Using the OA-approved literature referred to in this guide,2 participants can work the
140 Steps, not just study or read about them. They can read, reflect, write, discuss, and take
141 action as described in the Steps. These actions include writing and giving away an
142 inventory, asking their Higher Power to remove shortcomings, making amends, taking a
143 daily inventory, praying and meditating, reaching out to others, and practicing the
144 Principles embodied in these Steps in all aspects of their daily lives. There are homework
145 assignments between each session. Participants are expected to attend all sessions,
146 complete assignments, and contact other participants between sessions. In addition,
147 participants are expected to simultaneously continue their regular OA practices: attend
148 meetings, make outreach calls, work with an abstinent sponsor, follow a plan of eating, and
149 so on. If there are no available abstinent sponsors who can support participants in this
150 workshop, participants are encouraged to work together as partners in recovery.
151 Participants who benefit most are those who are willing to go to any length to recover.
152 They probably have some familiarity with the OA program, have admitted they are

2 The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous; Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition (the
Big Book); AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions; Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition; and the OA daily readers,
Voices of Recovery and For Today
153 compulsive eaters or have compulsive food behaviors, have given up searching for other
154 solutions to their problem, and are willing to be abstinent one day at a time. They must also
155 be willing to devote the time and attention this recovery process requires. They should
156 understand that this rigorous workshop represents just one way to stay abstinent and
157 work the Steps; there are as many approaches to Step work as there are individuals in OA.
158 Ideally, an abstaining OA member who has worked all Twelve Steps will lead the group.
159 Responsibilities could also be shared with a co-leader. Participants are encouraged to give
160 service by leading this workshop themselves after they’ve completed it. However, this
161 workshop is designed to produce results even if there are currently no locally qualified
162 sponsors to lead it.
163 The goal of this guide and workshop is to help as many people as possible achieve and
164 maintain abstinence. Based on the experience of recovering OA members, the way out of
165 despair and hopelessness into a life beyond our wildest dreams is through working all
166 Twelve Steps. Together we can do what we could never do alone.
Information for Leaders
167
168 The leader (and co-leader if responsibilities are shared) will:
169 Initiate the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step Workshop.
170 • Determine if there is enough interest to start the workshop. We recommend
171 four to twelve participants. Speak with others to get an idea of how many are
172 interested.
173 • Specify that the workshop is fifteen, two-hour sessions. Potential group
174 members should be willing to commit to attending all sessions.
175 • Specify that this is a closed workshop. There can be no new members after the
176 first (Introductory) session. As such, it cannot be registered as an OA group with OA
177 World Service.
178 • Select a meeting time, place, and frequency. Meeting weekly allows time for
179 completing homework assignments between sessions. Do what works for the group,
180 but keep in mind that it is very important to complete an entire session as a single,
181 intact unit during the two hours allotted for that session.
182 • Produce and distribute flyers about the workshop. A sample flyer is included on
183 page tbd.
184 Facilitate the workshop.
185 • Open and close the meeting space.
186 • Start and end the workshop on time.
187 • Guide participants through each session.
188 • Decide how responsibilities will be shared if there are co-leaders for the
189 workshop.
190 • Collect the Seventh Tradition during each session to pay rent and other costs as
191 needed.
192 • Gather the materials. Prepare what is needed before the beginning of every
193 session in order to avoid feeling rushed or forgetting something. Read through the
194 next session’s script. Make sure to have enough handouts for all participants.
195 Sometimes they get two of each.
196 • Explain the homework until Step Four is completed. At the appropriate time,
197 hand out the homework sheets, read them aloud to the participants, and ask for
198 questions.
199 • Provide contact information during the Introductory Session. It will be on the
200 Participant Contact Information list following the Step One Session.
201 • Remember that this workshop is presented in fifteen, two-hour sessions. Each
202 session is written as a script for the leader to read. The script includes the amount of
203 time allowed to complete each section as well as handouts and homework related to
204 that session.
205 • Stick to the time indicated in each section of the script. It is important to get
206 through all of each session’s material during that session. Each session builds on and
207 reinforces the previous session. New material presented prepares participants for
208 the homework following the session. The workshop conducted as outlined helps
209 participants learn structure, order, and discipline.
210 • Observe the time guidelines in the script. If workshop participants ignore the
211 timer, let them finish their sentence. Then politely stop them. If this isn’t done
212 consistently, the timer will be ignored. Say something like, “I’m sorry, Susan. Time is
213 up. Thank you for sharing. Who would like to share next?”
214 Bring necessary supplies.
215 • Timer. We recommend using a timer that keeps track of seconds in case the leader
216 wants to give the speaker a ten- or thirty-second warning that his or her time is
217 almost up.
218 • Container such as a basket, jar, or envelope for collecting the Seventh Tradition
219 • Envelopes addressed to the facility where the rent is to be paid
220 • Leader’s copy of all required texts: The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of
221 Overeaters Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition (the Big Book3), AA
222 Twelve and Twelve, Overeaters Anonymous Third Edition, Voices of Recovery, and For
223 Today.
224 • Extra pens and paper
225

3 In this workshop, we refer to the book Alcoholics Anonymous as the Big Book. The page numbers cited are for the
Fourth Edition.
226
Overeaters Anonymous
227
Workshop on the Twelve Steps
228
A 15-session workshop designed to help participants
229
achieve and maintain abstinence through working all Twelve Steps
230
231
June 12 – September 18, 2016
232
Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
233
June 12 is the Introductory Session
234

235
The following OA-approved literature will be used in the workshop
236
sessions and homework assignments:
237
238 • The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous
239 • Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition (the Big Book)
240 • Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions by Alcoholics Anonymous
241 • Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition
242 • Voices of Recovery
243 • For Today
Participants need their own copies.
244
Workshop Location:
245
Holiday Inn, 1122 Willow Lane, Hometown, XA 12345
246
Questions? Contact Donna R: [phone]
247
248 This is a closed workshop for 4 to 12 participants. No new members may join after the
249 Introductory Session. Participants commit to attend and fully participate in all sessions.
Introductory Session4
250
251 Explain the Fundamentals of the Workshop (15 minutes)
! Opening (15 minutes)
• Serenity Prayer
LEADER
“Welcome, everyone. Would those who care to, please join me in the Serenity Prayer?”
LEADER READS
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to
change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
• Check-in (5 minutes)
LEADER
“Welcome, everyone, to the __________ of our Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step
Workshop. Let’s do a brief check-in. Please turn to the person next to you and, in a few
sentences, let’s share whatever we need to set aside about our day in order to be fully
present. We have five minutes.”
[Leader sets the timer.]
• Meditation (3 minutes)
LEADER
“We will now meditate for three minutes, being open to our Higher Power’s guidance in
our recovery.”
[Leader sets the timer.]

4 This book was developed as a workshop leader’s guide but has other uses, sponsor/sponsee–discussion for
example. To make it user-friendly for the widest range of readers, text that is repeated from session to session is
set in gray-shaded boxes.
252
• Workshop Goal
LEADER
“The goal of this workshop is to help us achieve and maintain abstinence. In OA, the
Statement on Abstinence and Recovery is ‘Abstinence is the action of refraining from
compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a
healthy body weight. Spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery is the result of living the
Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program.’ Based on the experience of recovering OA
members, the way out of despair and hopelessness into a life beyond our wildest dreams is
through working the Twelve Steps. Together we can do what we could never do alone.”
• Twelve Steps (5 minutes)
LEADER
“To help us focus on our work, we will now read the Twelve Steps of Overeaters
Anonymous. Please open The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous
to page 213. May I have a volunteer to begin reading? Please take turns.”
[Volunteers read the Steps.]

253
254
255 LEADER
256 “There are many ways to work the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous. To recover
257 from the fatal disease of compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors, it’s vital that we
258 work all Twelve Steps. In this workshop we will learn one way to do this. If we’re willing to
259 follow directions and fully participate, this workshop can help us become and remain
260 abstinent and be well on our way to recovery in fifteen sessions.
261 “Each session of this workshop is designed to last two hours. Because it’s important to get
262 through all the material in each session, we’ll use a timer to help us stay on track. We begin
263 each session with a check-in, a short meditation, a summary of the previous session’s Step,
264 and a question about whether we’ve taken that Step. If you haven’t, discuss this with a
265 sponsor to determine any action you need to take. Keep moving forward. Because of time
266 constraints we will not discuss the previous session’s homework. It’s up to us to do our
267 homework between sessions. However, this is not a “do-it-yourself” workshop. To
268 discourage isolation and encourage fellowship, share the homework with a fellow
269 participant and a sponsor.